Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace
by Storm Aurastar
Summary: CHAPTER 51 IS UP! — Lucario has been Deleted, and Pikachu has been Erased. But Pikachu is in a much worse situation than Lucario… Also, Samus thinks Liquid Snake is a total pain in the *insert informal word for "rear end"*. Now on hiatus until the Author has finished with her final exams!
1. Three Months Later…

_**Hello, there! Welcome to my first Super Smash Brothers Fanfiction.**_

_**Have you ever wondered what the Super Smash Brothers would do after Tabuu and the Subspace Army were defeated? Well, here is a story of their **_**Life at the Mansion**_**! Please enjoy!**_

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers belong to Nintendo. Nope, not me or you or anybody else. Just Nintendo. GOT IT?**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Three Months Later…<strong>

* * *

><p>…everything was back to as it was before the turmoil began.<p>

Just three months ago, they had united into a team that fought against him.

The leader of the Subspace Army.

The master of evil.

Tabuu.

Before this battle—the final one they would fight—they had faced many enemies, from Petey Piranha to Rayquaza to Galleom to Duon to various others. When they first set their eyes on Tabuu, they had not been expecting to be almost instantly transformed into their trophy forms by his deadly wings.

Fortunately, a few of them regained their normal forms, thanks to a special badge from a certain penguin king from Dream Land. These surviving fighters traveled through a vast maze of worlds that Tabuu had created, collecting the trophies that were their fallen allies and fighting Subspace versions of them.

At last, everybody rejoined into their huge team and faced Tabuu again, this time with two more allies who had been possessed by Tabuu to do his dirty work.

Then Tabuu prepared to transform them into trophies with his wings—again.

They could not move. They could not scream. They all simply watched as doom drew closer to them as every second passed.

This time, there was no one and nothing to help them and change them back into their fighting forms…

Or _was_ there?

They would have been completely defeated and unable to be saved if it had not been for a certain blue hedgehog who had arrived at the last possible moment and ripped through Tabuu's wings at a supersonic speed.

Saved. The fighters were saved.

And that was when the ultimate battle of all battles began.

It was not such an easy task. Tabuu had whips, beam-shooting allies, throwing stars, not to mention his somewhat shredded wings (which he could still use)…

But when the fighters were about to drop down with fatigue, they all unleashed their attacks with the greatest power they could put into them…

…leading to the death of the master of evil.

Finally, Tabuu was defeated.

Everyone was free to go home.

But where _was_ home? Their homes were all destroyed.

Then one of the two new allies suggested creating a new home for all of them in the midst of a peaceful world. Of course, everybody agreed.

So, as some of the fighters worked to create this new home, the rest of them traveled through distant worlds, making peace with their inhabitants and restoring what the Subspace Army had demolished.

When they returned, the other fighters had finished their project.

What was the result?

The Smash Mansion.

Home to the courageous fighters who weren't just any bunch of fighters now…

They were the _Super Smash Brothers_. Or, as most people would know them as…

…the _Smashers_.

-ooo-

"Okay, I know you're sick of me saying this for the…oh, I don't know…the fifty-third time, and I know that you think three months is long, but I can't believe we fought Tabuu just three months ago!" exclaimed Fox McCloud. "Oh, and not to mention building the Smash Mansion and restoring all the other worlds and all that…"

Falco Lombardi groaned. "Actually, that's the fifty-_fifth_ time you said this to me."

"Okay, _whatever_. But I just can't!"

"Fifty-sixth time, now…"

"Jeez, I got the point, Falco!"

"Yeah, yeah. It's true that three months sounds long, but if you're doing a lot of construction work and fighting and peacemaking, three months seems kind of short. But we're the _Smashers_. We can do anything!" Falco grinned.

Fox quirked his brow. "Oh? Anything, huh? Does that mean that we can go wreck stuff like the Subspace Army?"

"Erm, no… But you oughtta know that I didn't mean that when I said 'anything'!"

"But the word _anything_ means, well, _anything_."

Falco snorted. "Gee, McCloud, that's the greatest definition of _anything_ I've heard."

"Why, thank you."

"No prob."

"Now shut up."

"Shutting up, Sir McCloud."

"Whatever."

"Heh-heh."

The two Smashers watched the sun go down in the distance from the roof of the newly built Smash Mansion. Shades of yellow, orange, red, blue, and purple colored the evening sky.

"The sunset's beautiful, isn't it?" Falco asked.

Fox nodded. "Sure is, Falco. Sure is…"

-ooo-

They were only a few minutes into their game when chaos ensued.

"Aagh! Luigi, stop making yourself into a bubble! What, you want to make me your bodyguard?"

"But bro, you got-a the Ice Flower and now you have-a freeze power! I don't have any special ability. You can freeze the Piranha Plants-a while I can only-a jump over them! And plus, it's dark. What if I step on a Piranha Plant and lose a life?"

"FORGET ABOUT THE LIVES! YOU'VE GOT _SEVEN_ AND I'VE GOT _THREE_!"

The two plumber brothers were sitting in their room, bickering over a game of _New Super Mario Bros_. They were currently in an underground place where there was no source of light. The place was filled with Piranha Plants, which breathed fireballs at Mario and Luigi as they made their way through the darkness.

And, for the umpteenth time, Luigi had decided to put himself in a bubble for safety while Mario was busy freezing the Piranha Plants.

As a result, Mario was so steamed that he couldn't even talk normally—which, for him, was to put an "-a" after a few of his words.

"LUIGI! You just made me lose another life!"

"…Oops. Fine, I'll-a help."

Luigi shook his Wii Remote, causing himself to float toward Mario, who popped him and freed him from the bubble. The two brothers ran through the place, dodging fireballs and searching for a pipe so they could get out of this hellish stage.

"Look-a! A question block!"

Luigi made his character run toward the block and bump into it. A Fire Flower grew out of it, and Luigi ran up and got fire power.

Mario nodded with approval. "Now-a you can burn-a the plants and I'll freeze them-a!"

Luigi did so and blasted fireballs left and right at the Piranha Plants. _Yippee, the argument-a is resolved._

-ooo-

"NO, KIRBY! THOSE ARE ALL THE PIES FOR DESSERT!" screamed Peach.

Too late! The pink puffball had already swallowed all twenty pies whole. "Yum!" he exclaimed. "Apple pie. My favorite!"

"It is _my_ favorite, too!"

Meta Knight, the rival of Kirby, had walked into the kitchen just in time to see Kirby eat up the pies. He drew his sword and brandished it. "Kirby, I challenge you to a duel!"

Kirby paled. "I-I don't know how to fight with a sword!"

"A true Smasher must never refuse a fight! _HIIIIIYAAAAAAAAA!_"

Kirby ducked under the blade, turned tail, and ran for his dear life. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"You will _pay_, Kirby! You will _pay_!"

As the chase went on, King Dedede entered the kitchen and chuckled. "Kirby getting chased by Meta Knight? Heh, this'll be entertaining."

Peach sighed. "Why must Meta Knight have to have such a big temper, and why must Kirby have to have such a big stomach…?"

"All knights have big tempers. I think. And that puffball could eat the entire kitchen if he wants. His tummy's a big, black hole."

"And he's only the size of _Jigglypuff_!"

"Yup. That's the amazing part."

Peach groaned. "And thanks to him, I have to make twenty more pies… Or maybe even more, if Kirby wants…oh, how many would suit him?"

"I'd say ten pies for now. Though I've got a feeling that not even five hundred and forty-two pies would fill him up."

"Well, that's true…"

Then King Dedede snickered. "Peppers."

"What?"

"Put some peppers in one of Kirby's pies. That should teach him not to eat up our dessert without permission." King Dedede cackled at his brilliant plan.

Peach giggled. "Good idea!" She opened her cookbook. "All right, for the pie's crust, we'll need…" She began to read the ingredients. "…Two cups of flour, one teaspoon of salt, three-fourths of a stick of unsalted butter, five tablespoons of apple cider, one egg, milk, and sugar and cinnamon mix. For the filling, we'll need two tablespoons lemon juice, one-third cup of white sugar, one-third cup of brown sugar, one-fourth teaspoon of salt, three tablespoons of flour, half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder, eight McIntosh apples…" She slammed the book and smiled. "And let's not forget those twenty red-hot chili peppers!"

-ooo-

Meanwhile, in the Pokémon's room…

Pikachu stared openmouthed at Lucario. "Seriously, Lucario… How long can you meditate?"

Without turning around or even opening his eyes, Lucario replied, "I can go on for three days. Why ask?"

"Well, if _I_ tried, I couldn't sit there for three seconds!"

"A Lucario has a very good sense of concentration…" Red the Pokémon Trainer looked at Pikachu. "A Pikachu, though, is full of energy. That makes it really hard to sit still for more than one minute."

"Awww…"

"Maybe Lucario can sit there for three days"—Red looked doubtfully at the Pokémon—"though I don't really think that's true—because he's the Aura Pokémon. Maybe it's got something to do with Aura."

"Yeah, maybe…"

Suddenly, Lucario jumped up from the mat he was sitting on. "There!" he announced. "I'm done. I've been meditating for nine hours straight!" Then he glowered at Pikachu. "Though I could've done much longer than that if it hadn't been for _Pikachu_ here to interrupt my thoughts by asking, 'Seriously, Lucario… How long can you meditate?'"

Pikachu blushed. "S-s-sorry…"

_"NOOOOOOOOOO!"_

Jigglypuff was sitting on Red's bed, staring at the screen of her Nintendo DSi with a horrified expression on her face. "What's wrong, Jigglypuff?" Lucario asked. "And what are you playing?"

Jigglypuff grimaced. "I'm playing _Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia_," she said sorrowfully. "And I was doing the catch-Darkrai-with-your-Capture-Styler mission and Darkrai beat up my Styler—for the twenty-second time! And I'm not kidding!"

"You actually bothered to _count_?" Pikachu asked incredulously.

"Yep. Okay, I know it's kind of stupid, but I do it anyway to keep track of how many times I failed to capture Darkrai."

"Here, let me do it for you," Lucario offered. As Jigglypuff handed him her DSi to him, he explained, "I've played _Shadows of Almia_ many times already, and I know just how to capture Darkrai without getting my Capture Styler—or, in this case, _your_ Styler—wrecked." He began to play. "Oh, great, I'm back here in the maze thing… Luckily, I know the way perfectly. Aha, here's Darkrai!" He started the process of capturing the Pitch-Black Pokémon. "Darkrai, in many people's opinions, is one of the most irritating Pokémon. He teleports around the place, he bombards you with Dark Voids… Oh, there he goes with the Dark Voids! You have to spin the Capture Disc very carefully when Darkrai starts showering the place with Dark Voids or whatever they are. Oh, no, he's doing the gigantic-Dark-Void thing. Hey, wait a minute!" He snapped the lid of the DSi shut to put it in Standby mode, and he asked Jigglypuff, "Who is your partner Pokémon?"

"Pachirisu," Jigglypuff answered.

Lucario grinned. "Excellent." He opened the DSi again and resumed the game. "You see, Pachirisu has an assist move that paralyzes the Pokémon you're trying to capture. It's best to use Pachirisu as your Assistant Pokémon when you're capturing a difficult Pokémon like Darkrai. When Pachirisu paralyzes Darkrai, he is unable to move around or attack. While he is paralyzed, you spin the Capture Disc around and around and around as fast as you can. Come on, just a little more…"

Lucario spun the Capture Disc furiously around the screen, grinding his teeth with determination. Then…

"YES!" He flopped back on the ground. "He is caught! This is the first time I caught Darkrai without taking any damage."

Jigglypuff took back the DSi, grinning from ear to ear. "Thank you so much, Lucario!"

And she hugged him.

Well, to be more exact, his face.

-ooo-

Out in the courtyard, Ike and Marth were dueling a ten-minute battle, just for the fun of it.

As they fought, Marth asked loudly over the clang of the swords, "Ike, how do you handle that big of a sword?"

_Clang._

"Don't ask me how!" Ike yelled back. "Maybe it's because I'm strong?"

_Clang._

"Well, that's what everybody says!"

_Clang._

"How do you move so fast?"

_Clang._

"Um… Because I handle a much smaller sword and I'm smaller than you?"

_Clang._

"How do you know you're smaller than me?"

_Clang._

"I heard Master Hand say that!"

_Clang._

"Speaking of Master Hand, where's Crazy Hand?"

_Boom._

The two Smashers stopped swinging their swords. "Swords don't go _boom_, do they?" Marth asked.

Ike shook his head. "Of course not. But blowing up something does…"

"IT'S CRAZY HAND!" they shouted together.

Just then, Pit arrived. "Ike! Marth!" he hollered. "There's a hole in the wall! Courtesy of Crazy Hand!"

"What did he do this time?" Ike bellowed.

"He found Kirby's pot of soup and he dropped in a Bob-omb and a Smart Bomb! And then the Bob-omb and the Smart Bomb and the pot went BOOM!"

Marth paled. "Oh, no."

The three Smashers looked at each other.

_"WE'RE GOING TO REPORT YOU TO MASTER HAND FOR THAT, CRAZY HAND!"_ they exploded.

Then they all dashed off in the direction of Master Hand's office.

-ooo-

Popo and Nana, the two Ice Climbers, were sitting at their desk, searching on Google for funny comics.

"Here's one!" Nana said.

Popo stared at it. Then he chuckled.

"_Ohhhhh_, I get it!" he said. "You know, Lucario has his 'high risk, high return' thing? So Lucario blew himself up with a Smart Bomb so he could have lots of damage! And when he has lots of damage…"

"…his moves deal more damage!" finished Nana. She had seen Lucario defeat Primids and Floows and Towtows with a single Aura Sphere when his damage was dangerously high.

"But there _is_ a bad thing to it," said Popo. "When he's got a lot of damage, he's more vulnerable, too!"

"Yeah." Nana sighed. "I remember him telling me that he—"

Popo put his hand on Nana's mouth. "Shhh! You hear that?"

Somewhere downstairs, there were a lot of voices.

Loud voices.

"…blew up my pot?" somebody shrieked. It sounded like Kirby. "It had fresh vegetable soup in it!"

"Crazy Hand did it!" somebody shouted back—probably Pit.

"Fix it! FIX IT!"

"I have no idea how to fix a pot!"

"How about a chamber pot?"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF—? OH, BE QUIET, YOU LITTLE—!"

_"WAIT A MOMENT! ALLOW ME!"_

The booming, telepathic voice echoed through the Smash Mansion. Popo and Nana immediately knew who it was.

Master Hand!

"Master Hand can fix Kirby's pot in no time flat!" Nana exclaimed. "With a snap of his fingers, it's done!"

_SNAP!_

"Yay! Thanks, Master!"

_"It was nothing, Kirby."_

"Just as you said it!" Popo said. "_Snap!_ It's done!"

_"And now that your pot has been repaired, I must get back to my office,"_ the Ice Climbers heard Master Hand say._ "I have a lot of paperwork to do. Good evening."_

"Um, excuse me, Master Hand?" Pit asked.

_"Yes?"_

"What about the wall and everything within a ten-foot radius of Kirby's pot?"

_"What about it?"_

"Uh, other than Kirby's pot, the wall and everything within a ten-foot radius of the pot got blown up as well."

_"Oh! I apologize, I nearly forgot about them." SNAP! "There. The wall is repaired. And _now_ I must get back to my office. Good evening, Smash Brothers."_

Nana turned to Popo. "Master Hand is so _awesome_, Popo! He can fix things in a second when it takes us Smashers, like, several hours!"

Popo nodded. "Yeah!" Then he frowned. "I just wish Crazy Hand wasn't so…well, _crazy_." Suddenly, he grinned. "Crazy Hand can _never_ escape from Master Hand. Remember what happened yesterday?"

Nana began to giggle. "Yeah! He went to Mr. Game & Watch's room and gave him a Party Ball…"

"And when Mr. Game & Watch opened it, a bunch of Bob-ombs dropped out…"

"And he and his room went _boom_! But Crazy Hand didn't because he escaped just in time, laughing his…oh, I dunno…_hand_ off? It's supposed to be 'head,' but he doesn't have a head…"

"Mr. Game & Watch then reported the little 'accident' to Master Hand, and boy, was he _mad_ when he heard that!"

"Crazy Hand instantly knew that he was in big trouble, so he teleported himself to another dimension and hid there…or at least he tried to."

"Bad move, Crazy," Popo said sagely.

"Master Hand went steaming off to that dimension, and he practically dragged back Crazy Hand to the Smash Mansion!" Nana chuckled.

"And he gave Crazy Hand a pretty harsh tongue-lashing…even though he doesn't have a tongue…"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the Ice Climbers laughed.

"All right!" another voice—Peach's—suddenly announced. "Dinner's ready! Come and get it!"

Popo and Nana's mouths began to water.

"DINNER!"

The door slammed behind them as they zoomed out and down the stairs.

And it fell off its hinges.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yes, you guessed it! The "two new allies" were Master Hand and Crazy Hand. I know, Crazy Hand never appeared in the Subspace Emissary, but hey, this is <strong>_**my**_** story, you know.**_

_**Oho! It's time for dinner! What will happen? Will Kirby eat up all the pies?**_

**Kirby:** If it's apple, YES!

**Meta Knight:** If it's apple, NO! _*starts chasing Kirby again*_

**King Dedede:** If it's apple, and if Meta Knight chases Kirby, YES!

**Kirby:** _*running for his life*_ ISN'T HE ALREADY DOING THAT? _WAAAAAAHHHHHH! HELP ME!_

_**Will the Ice Climbers get their door fixed?**_

**Popo:** Wait, _whaaaaaat_? Our door broke?

_**Will Crazy Hand come spoil the dinner?**_

**Crazy Hand:** YES!

**Master Hand:** NO! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**See you next time in the next chapter of **_**Life at the Mansion**_**!**_

_**By the way, the recipe for apple pie is real. NO, **_**NOT**_** INCLUDING THE TWENTY RED-HOT CHILI PEPPERS, MIND YOU!**_

_**And please review!**_


	2. Dinnertime Chaos

_**On with the story. Here is Chapter 2!**_

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers do _not_ belong to me. They belong to Nintendo.**** Period.**_**  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Dinnertime Chaos<br>**

* * *

><p>Fortunately, Peach had just enough time to bake <em>thirty<em> more pies—ten more than she had expected—and sent out the Koopa Troopa cooks to proudly serve the fresh pies to the ravenous Smashers at the dinner table.

And since Master Hand repaired Kirby's pot, Kirby made a new pot of soup (Master Hand couldn't replace the soup, unfortunately; it had something to do with the "molecular structure of food," as he had said in a very know-it-all way) and spooned out forty-five dishes for the thirty-eight Smashers, one Pokémon Trainer, and Olimar's six Pikmin. More Koopa Troopas rushed out of the kitchen and brought out the soup to the table.

The Smashers ate dinner at this large table every Sunday. Master Hand had said that "there may be some things to talk about, and I want everybody to be listening!" On all the other days, the Smashers ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the cafeteria, picking out their favorites from the buffet tables.

_"Ahhhh…"_ Wario started drooling. Bowser and Donkey Kong, who were sitting next to him, instantly jolted away from the slobber with disgusted expressions on their faces.

"He'd better not fart," Captain Falcon muttered.

"He'd better," Yoshi agreed.

_"All right!"_ Master Hand announced. _"Though I cannot eat (obviously), you can… And there is nothing important to talk about, other than tomorrow being Brawl Day… Ready…"_

Everybody picked up their spoons.

_"…set…"_

Everybody opened their mouths.

_"…HOLD YOUR SPOONS!"_

Everybody dropped their spoons.

"What _now_?" Wolf asked, exasperated.

"Hurry up! I'm starving!" Toon Link complained.

"I thought we were about to start eating!" Samus—not wearing her Power Suit, of course—exclaimed.

_"Squeaky-squeak!"_ the Pikmin squealed.

_"SILENCE!"_ Master Hand thundered.

All the Smashers and the Pikmin instantly stopped jabbering. When all was completely quiet, Master Hand asked, _"Where is Sonic?"_

Well, he got an answer to that soon enough.

"AAAAAAAAAGH!"

A blue blur whizzed past the surprised Smashers, screaming.

_Very_ loudly.

"MAN, I'M GONNA DROWN! _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_"

Zelda sighed. "Of course. It's Sonic."

The blur that was Sonic the Hedgehog zoomed around the room, still bawling his head off.

Because he was covered from head to toe with…

"WATER!" he screeched. "HELP ME!"

"It's just _water_, Sonic," Diddy Kong muttered.

Suddenly, the blue hedgehog stopped in front of Master Hand. "Hey, Master Hand! Get a towel or a heater or a hairdryer for me, will you? Man, I'm so wet! I thought I was gonna drown in the pool!"

"Somebody threw you into the swimming pool?" Lucas asked. "I bet it was Crazy Hand."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, it was him, all right. That hyperactive idiot of a hand—eh, no offense—picked me up while I was running around the Smash Mansion, and he tossed me into the ten-foot-deep part of the pool!" He stuck his pinky into his right ear. "Ugh! I've got water in my ears! This feels worse than the time I went running around like crazy because of that little microchip thingy that got stuck in my ear! It took Chris and Chuck and Amy and Knuckles and all the other guys so long to catch me! And that dunk in the pool… I think that was worse than the time when Dark Oak and his goons ate me up and almost drowned me!" He shuddered at the horrible memory.

"I'll get a towel for you, Sonic," Mr. Game & Watch piped up. Really, he was saying, _"Beep-beep-beep,"_ but thanks to the universal translator that Snake gave to him, everybody could perfectly understand what he was saying. The flat, black Smasher jumped off his chair and ran out of the room.

Sonic watched Mr. Game & Watch go, then sighed. "I don't know why I hate water… I just do. Back in my place, Eggman makes fun of my weakness. Please don't ask why it has to be water of all things."

"Back in Subspace," said Lucas, "I saw you running _through_ the stupid plumes of fire, getting _frozen_ by the stupid Glices, getting _zapped_ by the stupid Subspatial Pikachu, and saying 'woohoo' when you were getting tumbled around by the stupid Floows. Yet you fainted at the sight of the Subspatial Rayquaza's lake. Go figure."

Just then, Mr. Game & Watch returned to the dinner room with a fluffy white towel. "Fortunately, I happened to find a towel hanging right outside near the pool. Here!"

The wet hedgehog gratefully accepted it. "Gee, thanks!" He wrapped it around himself and grinned. "_Ahhh…_ Much better!"

_Knock, knock._

Master Hand whirled around. _"Did somebody just knock the entrance door?"_

Red's Squirtle nodded. "Yep. I heard it, did you two hear it?"

Red's three Pokémon, like Mr. Game & Watch, wore universal translators, also made by Snake. This way, Red wouldn't have to have a translator trailing behind him wherever he went.

_Knock._

"Maybe it's Snake!" Falco suggested. "He's not here."

"Why'd he be _outside_?" Fox inquired with a funny look.

Falco shrugged. "I don't know… Contacting Otacon, maybe…"

Fox still had that funny look on his face. "Contacting Otacon _outside_?"

"But it's a possibility!" Falco protested.

"Contacting Otacon _outside_ when it's _fifty-eight degrees Fahrenheit_?"

"As I said before, _it's a possibility_!"

"B-but what if it's _Crazy Hand_?" Jigglypuff yelped, tumbling off her chair.

Master Hand twitched. _"It does not matter…"_ He floated toward the door and—

_BANG._

The door flew open.

"CRAZY HAND!" Peach shouted. "Where were you?"

The "hyperactive idiot of a hand," as Sonic called him, did not answer; instead he dropped a box with the Super Smash Brothers logo on it.

Kirby nearly choked on his eleventh apple pie. "_Gah!_ Isn't that, like, _Snake's box_?"

_"Looks like the five Deku Nuts did their work!"_ Crazy Hand chuckled in his annoyingly loud telepathic voice.

Snake, who looked like he had been contacting Dr. Hal Emmerich (or Otacon, as everybody called him), was lying in the box, knocked out.

Lucario and Meta Knight, who had befriended Snake during their Subspace adventure, gave a start. "_Five_ Deku Nuts?"

_"Yes, sir!"_ Crazy Hand laughed again.

The Pokémon and the Dream Land knight, who nearly fell off his chair, were at Snake's side in a flash.

"Hey! Snake!" Lucario shook the mercenary's shoulders. "Wake up!"

Meta Knight picked up the remnants of a Deku Nut from the bottom of the box. "If one Nut is enough to stun a Smasher for a few seconds, imagine what _five_ of them will do!"

"He's out cold," Lucario said, worried. "I hope he's okay…"

"Okay? _Okay?_ Of course I am!"

Snake had suddenly woken up from his unconsciousness, his gray eyes staring into Lucario's red ones. Lucario almost dropped him in shock.

"Snake!" Meta Knight cried with relief. "I thought you would be unconscious for several hours."

"Hours." The mercenary snorted. "Who're you kidding?"

"When did you find him?" Lucario asked Crazy Hand.

_"I dunno, I found him outside chatting to Otacon and I quickly snuck in five Deku Nuts and I ran away and then I found Sonic running around the Smash Mansion sometime later and so I grabbed him and went to the swimming pool and dropped him into the deepest part of the pool! Heeheehee!"_

Pikachu groaned. "Arceus, why is this hand so crazy?"

"And how can you-a _run_ away?" Mario asked.

_"Flying and running are same things. Heehee!"_

Red smacked his forehead, exasperated. _This could go on forever…  
><em>

Crazy Hand's giggles died away when he realized somebody was missing. _"Oho, looks like Master Hand's gone! Where is he?"_

An irritated and muffled voice sounded from behind the door Crazy Hand had just blasted through. _"Here, planted on the wall behind the door, all because of an irritatingly crazy hand who barged through with a box that contained a knocked-out Smasher called Solid Snake…"_ Then, in a quieter voice that was still audible enough for everybody to hear, the voice muttered, _"And it is quite a wonder to see that Crazy Hand did not blast out this door…"_

Ganondorf leaped off his chair and swung back the door to see a flattened Master Hand on the wall, twitching.

_"Thank you."_ The hand pulled himself out of the wall (with much difficulty) and faced Crazy Hand. _"Crazy Hand…please be a little less…ah, crazy next time."_

_"Yes, sir! I promise, sir!"_

"I think he's going to forget that promise in exactly two minutes and thirty-four seconds," Snake muttered, climbing out of his box and into his chair at the dinner table. To see if he was going to be correct, he pulled out a stopwatch and started the time.

"I'll bet you twenty bucks that it will be two minutes and thirty-_six_ seconds!" Wolf shouted.

"You're on!"

"I'm _so_ going to win!"

"No, you're not, _I_ am!"

"Amazing, Snake, you sure don't sound like you just got conked out by five Deku Nuts," Lucario remarked.

_"All right, all right, that is enough, you three,"_ Master Hand said sternly. _"Now, let us…EAT!"_

Ten seconds later, the only sounds that could be heard were the _crunches_ and _munches_ and _slurps_ of the Smashers. Master Hand hovered near the table, keeping an eye (wherever his eyes were) on Crazy Hand, who looked as though he was about to throw somebody into Kirby's half-full pot of soup.

And that was exactly what he did.

"HOLY STAR FO—!"

_SPLASH._

Thirty-eight Smashers, one Pokémon Trainer, six Pikmin, and two hands instantly felt a rain of vegetable soup splatter onto them when Falco was sent sailing into Kirby's pot.

Silence. Then…

"HA!" Snake exploded, still looking at his stopwatch—this time with a triumphant grin on his face. "Two minutes, thirty-four seconds!"

Wolf grumbled something incomprehensible as he took out his wallet and dropped a twenty-dollar bill into Snake's outstretched hands.

Just then, Kirby began to choke on his twentieth pie.

"Kirby?" asked Ness. "You all right?"

Kirby did not respond. At that moment, smoke began to leak out from his mouth.

King Dedede turned to Peach, soup dripping from his hat as he grinned. "You didn't happen to put some spicy curry in that pie, did you?" he asked pleasantly.

"Oh, no!" replied the princess, smiling as she carefully wrung out her dress to get out the soup. "However, I do believe I _accidentally_ put in twenty red-hot chili peppers!"

Kirby's eyes widened in horror and shock. He leaped off his chair and ran for his pot.

And that was why thirty-seven Smashers, one Pokémon Trainer, six Pikmin, and two hands got a second free but not-so-refreshing-or-cleaning shower of vegetable soup.

-ooo-

"Thank God that dinner fiasco's over!" cried Link, flopping onto his bed and feeling quite relieved. At exactly eight PM, Master Hand had cleaned the dinner room with a snap of his fingers and wearily dismissed the Smashers to their rooms.

"You got that right," Toon Link said. "At least Master Hand didn't ask us to do it. My back would hurt if I had to scrub off soup stains from the walls. We got to finish our dinner!" He grinned.

"Hold on!" Zelda glared at Toon Link. "Are you saying that you _wanted_ Master Hand to do all the work while you just sit there and relax?"

The cartoon Link flushed scarlet. "Erm…"

"I'll take that as a 'yes,'" Ganondorf muttered.

"Well… I hate to admit it, but…yes…uh-oh…" he murmured, for at that moment, Zelda exploded.

"TOON LINK! IS IT JUST ME, OR ARE YOU BECOMING LAZIER AS EVERY DAY PASSES? DOES MASTER HAND NOT NEED SOME REST? DO YOU THINK WE SMASHERS DO NOT DO CLEANING WORK BECAUSE WE ARE TOO AWESOME?"

"Please… I—"

"WE SMASHERS HAVE TO DO THAT KIND OF WORK, TOO, YOU KNOW! OUR MASTER ISN'T SUPPOSED TO DO ALL OF IT JUST BECAUSE HE CAN FIX THINGS UP WITH A SINGLE SNAP OF HIS FINGERS!"

"I—"

"SHAME ON YOU, TOON LINK! I THINK I SHOULD TELL MASTER HAND WHAT YOU WERE THINKING AS HE CLEANED THE ROOM FOR US—"

"Good evening, every—what's going on?"

Olimar stood at the doorway, his mouth gaping at the strange sight in front of him.

Toon Link stopped cowering. Zelda stopped screaming. Link and Ganondorf stopped staring.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Then Ganondorf finally broke the unbearable silence.

"Er…my apologies, Olimar, you see…" His voice trailed off.

Just then, Mario and Luigi appeared on either side of Olimar, who was still gaping.

"Hello, there," Mario said cheerfully. "What's up-a?"

"We _thought_ we heard some-a yelling," Luigi added with a grin on his face.

"I thought-a it was just our _New Super Mario Brothers_-a game."

"But the sound was-a coming from the wall beside-a us, not from-a the Wii."

"So we decided to-a investigate."

"And here we are-a!"

Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Then, very quietly, Link murmured, "Well, it had something to do with a lazy Toon Link and a very loud Zelda—"

"I heard that!" Toon Link and Zelda said indignantly.

"This wasn't the only room where I heard shouting coming from, though," Olimar said. "Actually, I think the loudest yet is the Pokémon's."

-ooo-

Lucario did not like it when a certain pink Balloon Pokémon Smasher was hugging his face. He especially did not like it when a certain furry pink New Species Pokémon was sitting on his snout.

Mew.

Perhaps the second-most annoying being in the universe (first was Crazy Hand).

No, make that the _most_ annoying being in the universe because she had just stolen and eaten a sack of sugar from the kitchen when Peach and the Koopa Troopas weren't looking.

"LUCARIO!" she shrieked, clinging onto Lucario's snout and shaking his head wildly. "I'M ON A BET WITH JIRACHI!"

"Er, great," Lucario said, careful not to show any signs of irritation in his voice. _Why, oh, _why_ did Arceus make her be in love with sugar…?_

"YEAH! Isn't that, like, GREAT? I'm gonna—"

"How about this, Mew," Lucario interrupted, finally unable to hold it any longer, "MAY—YOU—GET—OFF—MY—NOSE—FIRST?"

"Oops!" Mew grinned, then hopped off and landed on Red's bed. "Can I say it now?" she asked eagerly. She put on a Puss-in-Boots face. _"Please?"_

"All right, _fine_," the Aura Pokémon Smasher said angrily. "WHAT?"

Mew's huge grin grew even huger as she took a deep breath announced deafeningly, "I'M GONNA GET FIFTY BUCKS IF I GET BLASTED BY YOUR AURA SPHERE ON THE BUTT WITHOUT SAYING 'OWEE'!"

"QUIET DOWN!" bellowed Pikachu, who was holding his ears and cowering under Red's blanket, Lucario's sleeping bag, his own four pillows, Jigglypuff's three pillows, and Jigglypuff's nightcap. "I'm buried under seven feet of blankets and pillows and plus a nightcap and I can still hear you, clear as an army of Loudred!"

"So am I!" shouted Jigglypuff's muffled voice. "You're louder that ten thousand Exploud! Jeez, where's that Red?"

"I saw him going into Ness and Lucas' room," Lucario said.

"Humph!" Jigglypuff sniffed. "I should tell him to shut you up in a Poké Ball, Mew!"

"Oops!" the hyper Pokémon said again, giggling. "So, Lucario, can you do it? _Please?_ I'll win fifty bucks if you do it!"

"Excuse me?" Lucario asked. "I think that's a bet that you are guaranteed to lose. If you don't remember (and you definitely don't), you were very gently slapped by Jigglypuff last week and you screamed."

Mew shrugged. "So what?"

"So you're going to lose this bet!"

The little pink Legend pouted. "I'M NOT! I've been training! Mewtwo helped!"

_Very reluctantly, that is,_ a deep voice said in Lucario's head, indicating that Mewtwo was outside and listening to the conversation.

_Well, of course,_ Lucario telepathically agreed. _This is _Mew_ we're talking about. I think you should go now to avoid the chaos._

_Good idea._ The telepathic connection with Mewtwo faded. He was gone.

"So will you do it? _Please?_"

Lucario sighed. "If you stop saying 'please,' I will."

"YAY!"

"…Um. All right, then. Let's go_…_and get this over with," he added to himself.

Lucario and Mew went out of the Pokémon's room and into the long hallway, where light was coming from the lamps on the walls. Lucario glanced back at his room where Pikachu and Jigglypuff were, buried under "seven feet of blankets and pillows and plus a nightcap," as Pikachu had shouted.

_Please make this end quickly,_ Lucario prayed to Arceus—that is, if the Alpha Pokémon was listening. _I don't want to stay with a hyper Mew—please, oh, please—_

"OKAY!" Mew screeched, turning around in midair to face her tail at Lucario. "COME ON! I'M READY!"

Lucario grimaced as he positioned himself behind the hyper Pokémon. _Arceus, I am _so_ going to regret this…_ "Aura Sphere!"

_Bam._

Mew went zooming off through the hallway like a pink, furry rocket. But she hadn't gone even three feet before shrieking one obnoxiously loud word:

"OWEE!"

"YOU LOST THE BET!" yelled Jirachi, appearing out of nowhere and flying after Mew. "You owe me fifty bucks, you idiot!"

The Wish Pokémon disappeared around the corner, leaving an annoyed Lucario in the hallway. Then Lucario turned around, walked back into his room and toward a mass of blankets and pillows and a green nightcap with pale green polka dots on it and said loudly, "You're probably going to have to stay there a bit longer. Mew lost the bet and is very, as you say it in the casual style of language, 'pissed off.'"

The blankets and pillows trembled.

"Hooray," came Pikachu's flat voice.

"Excellent," came Jigglypuff's voice, just as flat.

-ooo-

"Popo… What happened to our door?"

Nana and her brother stared at their fallen door, lying on the ground.

"Apparently, we slammed the door too hard, and it fell off its hinges," Popo said. "Guess we shouldn't be too excited for dinner next time…"

"Master Hand's going to get mad if we tell him that this door needs some fixing," said Nana. "He already cleaned the kitchen, Kirby's pot, the kitchen wall, and the entire dinner room, so why bother to tell him about a door?"

"How about the Koopa guys? Like one of the Koopa Troopas?"

"Do you think they know how to fix broken hinges?"

"I dunno… How about one of the Hammer Bros? If they know how to fight with hammers, I bet they know how to fix stuff with their hammers."

"Huh. Good point. Let's call for them."

"HEY, HAMMER BROS!" yelled the two Ice Climbers.

As if by magic, a Hammer Bro appeared, idly twirling around his hammer. "Yeah?"

Nana pointed to the broken door. "Can you fix our door, please?"

"It fell off its hinges when we slammed it too hard," Popo added apologetically.

The Hammer Bro shrugged. "Sure. Easy as pie."

"Thanks!"

The Hammer Bro then waved them away. "Now, shoo, you're going to get clobbered on the head by a hammer if you stay here!"

The moment the Ice Climbers had stepped twenty feet away, the Hammer Bro instantly became enshrouded in a thick cloud of dust.

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang!_

"There!" The Hammer Bro reappeared, covered in a layer of dust. "Easy, see? Now cough up those ten bucks!"

Popo and Nana started. "What?"

The Hammer Bro grinned. "Just kidding. Now you'd better get in, you two, or else Master Hand's going to be after your blood." He trudged off down the hall.

"Bye!" Popo shouted, waving.

"And thanks for fixing our door!" Nana added, waving as well.

The Hammer Bro waved back. "No problem, kids!"

"Okay, Nana," Popo said eagerly when the Hammer Bro disappeared from view. "Time to surf YouTube!"

They barged into their room, sat at their computer desk, woke the computer from its Standby mode, typed in the password, and went to .

"Let's see…" muttered Nana, typing on the keyboard. "Google… Hmm…" She turned to her brother. "What should we try this time?"

Popo put his hand on his chin. "I dunno… Any sort of anime?"

"We did that all week."

"Random videos, then."

"We did that just yesterday."

"Oh. How about some funny clips from _iCarly_?"

"_Yes!_ We didn't watch any iCarly stuff for a long time." Nana typed in "funny iCarly episodes".

"Ooooooh, Popo, look at this! _iCarly - iStart a fan war - funny clip,_" she read. "Let's check it out!"

The next moment, they were watching the clip from an iCarly episode.

_"We don't have time for this!"_

_"There's always time for soup!"_

_"Welcome. What would you like to order? Would you like some of our new combo salad?"_

_"Who… Who said that?"_

_"It was the drive-thru guy."_

_"…Oh."_

_"French fries!"_

_"What kind of soup do you have?"_

_"They don't have soup!"_

_"Well, then I think I'll have the chicken soup."_

_"…We don't have soup."_

_"Who said that?"_

_"The drive-thru guy!"_

_"French fries!"_

_"Okay. So that's two large French fries."_

_"YAY!"_

_"NO! Just one order of fries!"_

_"Who're you talking to?"_

_"THE DRIVE-THRU GUY!"_

_"Ask him if he's got any soup."_

"THEY—DON'T—HAVE—SOUP!"

_"…Oh."_

"FRENCH FRIES!"

_"Will you quit that?"_

_"Okay. So three large fries—"_

_"NO! Wait—Grandpa? Why can't we just get food at Webicon?"_

"YOU KNOW I CAN'T EAT CORN?"

"WEBICOOOOOOOOOON!"

_"I'M HEARING THE _VOICES_!"_

After the video ended, the only sounds that could be heard were the loud laughs and guffaws of Popo and Nana.

"AHAHAHA! I love that video." Popo grinned from ear to ears. "AHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I demand for a replay!" Nana wheezed.

And so they did.

"_We don't have time for this!"_

"_There's always time for—"_

There was a distant roar of fury. Popo paused the video and looked at Nana.

"Is it just me, or did I just hear something? Other than the video?"

Nana looked toward the closed door. "Sounded like Master Hand."

"Sounded like a _very_ angry Master Hand," Popo mumbled. "What's Crazy Hand done this time?"

-ooo-

The Ice Climbers didn't know it, but Master Hand was not giving Crazy Hand a harsh tongue-lashing, but Fox and Lucas.

_"…HAVE THE _NERVE_ TO DO SUCH AN ACT? TO DO SUCH AN ACT OF _VANDALISM_?"_

Though the dim lantern hanging on the wall didn't emit much light through the darkness of the night, anybody could plainly see that the two Smashers, Fox and Lucas, were grinning widely.

"Gee, Master, calm down," said Lucas casually.

"Yeah, all we did was spray paint our symbols on the wall," Fox added. He gestured to the brick wall behind him and beamed. "Aren't they a _beauty_?"

On the wall, neatly sprayed in red paint, was Fox's Star Fox symbol, a winged fox; beside it was Lucas' EarthBound symbol, the Earth.

_"Well, you may think they are…_beauties_"_—Master Hand spat out the word—_"but spray painting on a wall of our mansion is an act of vandalism!"_

"We can wash them off, don't worry," said Fox nonchalantly. "It's not permanent. Do you want them to be?"

_"NO!"_ Master Hand roared. _"Absolutely _not_!"_

"What's wrong with spray paint?" Lucas asked innocently. "It's just paint."

_"What's wrong with spray paint?"_ Master Hand repeated. _"_What's wrong with spray paint?_ You two, if I come back here and see these ridiculous symbols still on this wall, I swear I am going to _kick you out of the Smash Mansion_!"_

"Kick us out?" asked Fox. "Where are your legs?"

Then Fox and Lucas were sent into the air, thrown by Master Hand (at full force) to someplace a quarter mile away.

_"Bothersome pests,"_ Master Hand grumbled as he floated back into the Smash Mansion.

-ooo-

Fox and Lucas didn't land on hard ground for a whole two minutes. Actually, they didn't land on hard ground at all.

_SPLASH._

"F-Fox," Lucas spluttered, coughing out a mouthful of water, "are we at a lake?"

Fox stood up and looked around, hardly noticing his drenched clothes. "Looks like it."

Lucas paled. "Not just _any_ lake… Doesn't it look like…"

_"Rayquaza's lake?"_ they gasped.

As if to answer their question, a roar shattered the silence and the darkness around them.

_From underwater._

_"QUAZAAAA!"_

"No, I was _not_ wanting this to happen," Fox muttered. "I already fought him twice in Subspace—once with Diddy and the other in the Great Maze; why must I fight him again?"

A green, serpentine Pokémon burst out of the water and faced the two wet Smashers, hovering in midair with a murderous look in its yellow eyes.

Rayquaza.

"DUCK!" Lucas screamed.

_BAM!_ A powerful Dragon Pulse exploded over their heads.

"I remember Pikachu telling me that the worst time to bump into Rayquaza is when it's disturbed during a peaceful moment," Fox shouted, "and we've done just that! What luck!"

"Guess we'll have to fight!" Lucas shouted back, sidestepping as another Dragon Pulse blasted overhead.

Fox charged at Rayquaza and used Fire Fox, surrounding himself with a fiery aura and blasting into the Sky High Pokémon like a comet. Lucas used PK Freeze, knowing that it was extremely effective on a Flying- and Dragon-type Pokémon like Rayquaza.

Then Rayquaza soared into the air and began to circle around.

"MOVE IT!" Fox screeched. "He's about to use Thunder!"

He was right. A colossal thunderbolt struck the place where Lucas' foot was just seconds ago.

"PK Thunder!" cried Lucas, sending a ball of lighting at Rayquaza.

"Fire Fox!" shouted Fox, ramming into Rayquaza again.

_"QUAZAAAAAA!"_ bellowed the Pokémon. It flew into the air and dived into the ground.

Lucas frowned. "What now?"

Then the ground under his feet began to rumble. "Wha…?"

"Lucas!" bellowed Fox. "BELOW YOU!"

Lucas was too astonished to move, so Fox used Fox Illusion to speedily grab the psychic boy and haul him away from the rumbling ground.

He was just in time.

_BOOM!_ Rayquaza burst out of the ground, narrowly missing Fox's tail.

"See, that was a Dig attack," he quickly explained through gritted teeth, "and most of the time it's one-hit KO. So watch your feet when Rayquaza does that again!"

Lucas nodded, still too shocked to speak.

Rayquaza, seeing that the two Smashers were huddled together, talking, decided to use Dragon Pulse for the third time.

_BAM!_

"Ouch!" shouted Fox and Lucas, slamming onto the ground.

"We should watch our heads, too," Lucas muttered. "PK Fire!" he yelled, throwing out a fistful of flames, just as Fox began firing his blaster like a machine gun.

Rayquaza, ignoring the fire and the bullets, opened its mouth and sent out a fourth Dragon Pulse.

"GET BACK!" Fox pulled Lucas by the pants and threw the boy behind him, and he whipped out his Reflector. A greenish shield of light appeared in front of Fox, and the Dragon Pulse that was on its way toward Fox and Lucas was sent back toward a shocked Rayquaza.

_BOOM!_

_"QUAZAAAAAAAAA!"_

"Damnation!" cursed Fox. "He's still not down! _Fire Fox!_"

_"PK Freeze!"_

Fire and ice slammed into the serpentine Pokémon of the sky, causing it to shudder in pain. And then—

"YES!" cheered Lucas. "Trophy stand!" He ran toward the golden trophy stand that had appeared just at the right moment (and apologizing to Fox, since the latter was doing the battle all by himself for a few moments), snatched it, and aimed.

"Fox!" he called. "Move it! Or else I'm going to change you into a trophy!"

The fox looked at Lucas, who was aiming for the best spot to hit Rayquaza and transform it into a trophy. He nodded once and jumped out of the way as Lucas hurled the trophy stand like a Frisbee.

_Bling._

Where a roaring, Dragon Pulse-spitting Rayquaza was just hovering, a trophy of the said Pokémon was now in its place. Next to it was an unconscious Rayquaza.

Lucas fell on his knees, sweating. "Wow."

Fox glanced at him. "Never fought Rayquaza before, eh?"

Lucas shook his head. "Nope."

Fox nodded in understanding. "Actually, this battle is pretty short if you compare it to the amount of time it took me and Diddy Kong back in Subspace. Who've you fought?"

"Er…" Lucas put his hand on his chin. "…Porky and Galleom and Tabuu."

Fox snorted. "Well, of _course_ you fought Tabuu! We all fought him. Hmmm…"

He turned away from Lucas and contemplated the trophy that was sitting twenty feet away from them. "Hmmm…" he said again. "Do you have a Rayquaza trophy in your trophy gallery yet?"

"Nope. And you?"

"No…"

The two Smashers looked at each other.

"MINE!"

And the next moment, they were both on the ground, stirring up a flurry of dust, both determined to be the first one to get his hands on the precious trophy of the Sky High Pokémon, Rayquaza.

* * *

><p><em><strong>The ultimate battle over a trophy of Rayquaza! Who will get it, Fox McCloud or Lucas?<strong>_

**Fox:** _Me!_

**Lucas:** No, _me_!

_**All right, you two, shut up. And will the Ice Climbers' door ever fall off again?**_

**Nana:** Well, if we slam the door again, I guess so…

**Popo:** So let's not slam it again!

**_Will Mew get de-hyperfied?_**

**Mew:** I'M NOT HYPER! I'M JUST SUPER-DUPER-DUPER HYPER! AHAHAHAHAHA! HEY, I'M ON ANOTHER BET! THIS TIME WITH JIGGLYPUFF! A HUNDRED BUCKS IF I GET BLASTED BY PIKACHU'S SKULL BASH WITHOUT SAYING 'OWEE YOWEE'! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

**Pikachu:** _*bored*_ …Skull Bash.

_BAM!_

**Mew:** _*flying off through the hall*_ OWEE YOWEE!

**Jigglypuff:** …You lose. You owe me a hundred bucks.

**Lucario:** I don't care what you say, Mew, but you…are…hyper…extremely…hyper. (Huh, I doubt that she's even listening…)

_**Will Zelda have another temper tantrum?**_

**Zelda:** Me! Temper tantrum? How dare you think that I, princess of Hyrule, would have temper tantrums! Humph! _*indignantly turns away*_

**Link:** _…_But you just did, remember?

**Zelda:** OH, REALLY! YOU THINK I HAD A TEMPER TANTRUM—

**Link:** Hey, you're having one right now.

**_And will Crazy Hand ever get de-crazified?_**

**Crazy Hand:** NO!

**Master Hand:** YES! I HOPE! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_Stay tuned for the next chapter of _Life at the Mansion_! And don't forget to review!  
><em>**


	3. At Night

_**Chapter 3 is here! Well, anyway, enjoy Chapter 3 of **_**Life at the Mansion**_**!**_

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers belong to Nintendo.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: At Night<strong>

* * *

><p>Neither Fox nor Lucas managed to get hold of the trophy of the Legendary Sky High Pokémon that night, for Crazy Hand had appeared in the midst of their fight, grabbed the trophy (cackling madly as he did), and teleported back to the Smash Mansion, leaving the two Smashers sad and empty-handed as they left the unconscious Rayquaza and ill-temperedly trudged back home, their clothes still wet from the lake water.<p>

It was now exactly ten forty-seven PM—seventeen minutes past bedtime. As usual, Master Hand was busy teleporting through the mansion, looking for Smashers and Assist Trophies who decided to stay up late and hide from him.

As Popo had said (very sagely) before about hiding from Master Hand: Bad move.

_"Captains Falcon and Olimar! Back to your room!"_

_Bang._

_"Fox McCloud, what are you doing in the gaming room? Get back to your room!"_

_Bam._

_"Diddy Kong! Steal just one more banana from the kitchen and you are OUT!"_

_Crash._

"Man, I wish Master Hand wouldn't be so noisy," said Sonic, lying on his bed, hands folded under his head as he listened to the _bangs_ of the Smashers and Assist Trophies getting blasted back to their rooms. "I haven't gotten a decent amount of sleep these days."

Shadow the Hedgehog, a black hedgehog with red stripes who was one of the Assist Trophies and also happened to be Sonic's rival, smirked. "Is that because you'd been too busy running these days?"

Sonic sniffed indignantly. "No! Of course not!"

In the darkness, Shadow shrugged. "Whatever you say, Son—"

_BANG._

"Shadow. I am not your son."

"You know very well what I meant, Son—"

"All right, all right, I'm sorry for not knocking the door," said a gruff voice, "but look who I found!"

"There it goes again, Shadow! I am _not_ your son!"

"Again, you know very well what I meant. Sonic!" Shadow ended very quickly. Sonic, satisfied, sat up and called, "Knuckles! Is that you?"

"Yeah. And look who I found."

Knuckles the Echidna, a red echidna with two large, double-spiked fists and a white crescent on his chest who served as a background character in the Brawl Stage Green Hill Zone, held in each hand a large, familiar-looking figure. In his right hand was—

"Tails!" shouted Shadow, sitting up as well.

And in Knuckles' left was—

"Silver!" yelled Sonic.

Like Knuckles, the yellow, two-tailed fox called Tails whose real name was Miles Prower and the white hedgehog with telekinetic powers called Silver served as the two other background characters in the Green Hill Zone.

Knuckles entered the room, quietly shut the door, flipped the switch on the wall to turn on the light on the ceiling, and plopped down Tails and Silver. Sonic and Shadow scrambled out of bed to take a closer look at Tails and Silver.

Yes, he was holding them alright, but it wasn't _them_ exactly. That is to say, they were in their trophy forms.

"They must have been blasted by Master Hand," Shadow said. He looked closely at Silver. "A little too hard, in my opinion."

"I wonder what they were doing this late," Sonic said.

"Well, anyway, we'd better revive them," Knuckles said.

Sonic nodded, then touched each trophy's stand.

_Bling._

_Bling._

"Ugh…" Tails rubbed his eyes. "Where…?"

"You're in your room," Shadow told him.

Tails looked confused. "I am?" He looked around. "But…how did I get here?"

Silver groaned and stood up on shaky legs. "Good question. The last thing I remember is Master Hand yelling at me… To be more exact, he was yelling"—he cleared his throat and spoke in a passable imitation of Master Hand's telepathic voice—_"'Silver! Get back to your room or I shall remove you as a background character in the Green Hill Zone stage!'"_ Silver smiled. "Yep. And then there was a bang and I blacked out, and here I am."

"You were both transformed into trophies," Knuckles explained. Then he looked stern. "And why in the world were you up so late, anyway?"

Tails blushed. "Well, I was doing some nighttime checks on the X-Tornado in the courtyard… Unfortunately, I was caught by Master Hand. If I remember correctly, he was shouting, _'Miles Prower, nobody is going to wreck the X-Tornado or the Blue Typhoon, so get back to your room!'_ And then…bang."

The X-Tornado and the Blue Typhoon were Tails' pride and joy. The X-Tornado was a large, eight-winged aircraft (why so many wings, no one knew), capable of flying at extreme speeds and transforming into two other forms—the X-Cyclone, a robot-like form with land-based capabilities; and the Battle Armor, another robot-like form, this time armed with a sword and a shield. The Blue Typhoon was a humongous starship that could fly far into space, create warp holes, and blast powerful lasers and such. It housed an extremely destructive weapon on board—the Sonic Power Cannon. To use this cannon, Tails would connect all the energy to the cannon while Sonic, inside the cannon, charged up his Spin Dash move. Then, after a few seconds, Sonic would get shot out of the cannon and barrel into the enemy. Usually, it would defeat the enemy in an instant. The cannon had been destroyed the last time it was used, but with much effort, Tails rebuilt it. Though it was one of the largest aircrafts kept in the Smash Mansion (Meta Knight's Battleship Halberd was larger), Master Hand agreed when Tails had asked, "Well, you never know when we'll need a bit of space travel, right?"

Sonic grinned wryly. "Not smashed up yet, huh, Tails?"

"Nope, of course not—hold on, not smashed up _yet_?"

"Son—" Shadow began to scold, but then Tails beat him to it.

"SONIC, NEITHER OF THEM WILL NEVER GET SMASHED UP IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE! I KEEP THEM SAFE; IF THE X-TORNADO GOT SMASHED UP, WHAT WOULD CHUCK THORNDYKE _SAY_—"

"Tails, do you want to get yourself smashed up by Master Hand again?" Knuckles interrupted. "You're awfully loud."

Tails covered his mouth. "Oops."

Silver shrugged. "Let's get some sleep before Master Hand decides to smash us all up."

"Yes, let's," Sonic agreed. "And Shadow, you did it _again_! If I have to remind you again: I—AM—_NOT_—YOUR—SON!"

"SONIC, IF YOU KEEP YELLING YOUR SPINES OFF, MASTER HAND WILL SURELY KICK YOU OUT OF THE SMASH MANSION—"

"Hey, wise guy, you know you're yelling your own spines off?" Tails piped up.

Shadow shut his mouth and started to have a glaring contest with Sonic.

Knuckles sighed. "Seriously, guys, if you want to get some sleep, stop the staring contest _now_."

Everybody snuggled back into their beds.

"Knuckles, it wasn't a staring contest," Shadow said to the echidna. "It was a _glaring_ contest."

"Glaring, staring, blaring, pairing…whatever… Eek! just kidding!" Knuckles yelped when Shadow heard "pairing." "What's the difference?"

"Well, _glaring_ is an angry form of _staring_, and _glaring_ has a 'gl' instead of an 'st'—"

"Eh. Shouldn't have asked you."

Just one second after Shadow turned off the light…

_"WHY THE BLAZES DID YOU LET OUT A RAMPAGING TOWTOW IN THE COURTYARD, CRAZY HAND?"_

Shadow turned the light back on. "Oh, God, Master Hand, what _now_?"

"Maybe it's something related to _Blaze_," Sonic teased. He chuckled at his own lame joke until he noticed that everyone was glowering at him, Silver in particular.

"…What? Was it something I said?"

-ooo-

In the blackness of three Smashers' room…

"Ike? Pit?" Marth whispered. "Saki and Isaac? You awake?"

"Yeah," Pit and Saki, an Assist Trophy, whispered back.

"I am, too," Ike added.

"What is it?" the other Assist Trophy, Isaac, asked.

"Do you think Master Hand will ever stop yelling? According to my clock, it's eleven twenty-three."

"He just yelled something about a rampaging Towtow in the courtyard, right?" Ike asked. "I didn't hear who let it out, though."

Pit rolled his eyes, knowing that the other two Smashers couldn't see him, anyway. "Well, who else would do such a crazy thing like that?"

Marth looked at the dark shape that was Pit. "Of course. Crazy Hand. And speaking of Crazy Hand, he's gotten really crazy nowadays."

"I wonder if Tabuu cursed him with craziness," Saki mused.

Pit snorted. "That would be quite interesting. Tabuu, leader of the Subspace Army and the creator of Subspace and probably the most twisted, evil villain in the universe, summons two big hands and curses one with craziness. Like, _really_? In my opinion, Tabuu was probably too busy to do this craziness magic thing."

Ike, Marth, Saki, and Isaac laughed.

"Wait, Tabuu wasn't busy at all!" Isaac said when he stopped laughing. "Didn't Master Hand say that he wasn't able to get out of Subspace to do the detonate-the-Subspace-Bombs-and-take-over-the-universe thing himself because he was the _embodiment_ of Subspace?"

Pit snorted again. "Oh, so Tabuu's just sitting there in Subspace, drinking a cup of coffee while he tells two big hands—one accursed with craziness—to order around Bowser and Wario and Ganondorf and goodness knows who else to walk around in different random worlds, blasting our faces out with Dark Cannons and changing us into trophies. No offense, Tabuu, but you are the laziest villain I've ever met in my whole life." He paused. "Well, actually, I can offend him all I want because now he's drinking a cup of coffee in heaven because he's dead." He paused again. "No, make that hell. He was a bad boy."

The others all laughed again.

"Pit, you are the funniest person—no, angel—I've ever met in _my_ life," Ike choked. "Are you sure you didn't sneak out when we weren't looking to eat one of those extra cups of pudding we had for dessert?"

"Oh, really!" Pit said sourly. "You think that I'd do that?"

"Well, you're awfully talkative right now," Marth pointed out.

"And when you're hyper, you're usually pretty talkative," Saki added.

"So?"

"So did you steal some pudding?" asked Isaac.

"Of course not."

"Then what's making you so talkative right now?" Ike asked.

Pit stared at the ceiling. "I don't know. I just am, I suppose."

Marth looked at his clock again. "Whoa, it's eleven thirty already. Time flies when we talk, doesn't it?"

"Yes… Oh, and just one more question, Pit," said Ike.

"Yeah?"

"When you're sleeping on your, er, cloud, why can't you sink through it?"

Pit suddenly sat up. "What's wrong with my cloud?" he demanded.

"Well, it's a _cloud_, Pit," Ike said. "Why can't you sink through it?"

Pit rolled his eyes in the darkness. "Because it's a _magical_ cloud. Everyone knows that. But you… Well, I guess not."

With that, he lay back down, rolled over to face his back on the others, and began to snore.

-ooo-

"Hey, R.O.B.?" asked Mr. Game & Watch as he lay in his bed.

R.O.B., a robot Smasher whose initials stood for "Robot Operating Buddy," looked at Mr. Game & Watch. "What? Trouble sleeping?"

Like Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B. talked by making beeping sounds, so he wore a universal translator so everybody could understand him.

"Even though I'm a robot," he continued, "I need sleep, but I can't sleep right now. Mostly I think it's because of all the banging going on."

Ray MK III, a small robot known better by the nickname "Ray" and was one of the Assist Trophies, nodded in agreement. He, unlike Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B., spoke in English and therefore did not need a universal translator. "Master Hand must be very annoyed."

Two other groups of Assist Trophies, the Excitebikes and the Infantry and Tanks, snored on, completely unaware of the conversation that was going on. And then there was a roar.

_"Yoshi, if I find you sneaking over to Link's room again, you are _expulsed_ from the Smash Mansion!"_

_Boom._

Mr. Game & Watch sat up. "I can't believe it!" he said incredulously. "There are Smashers still wandering around at"—he quickly checked his clock—"eleven fifty-three PM!" He then glanced at the Excitebikes and the Infantry and Tanks. "And _they_ didn't even wake up from that yell!"

R.O.B. cocked his head. "I hope Yoshi is the last wanderer."

"I think I know why Yoshi is trying to get to Link," said Ray. "Link told me one time that Yoshi was his first partner when they met in Subspace, and wherever Link went, Yoshi followed. 'It was like a game of Follow the Leader,' he told me."

"I saw Yoshi and Link fighting side by side in the battle against Tabuu!" said Mr. Game & Watch.

"They must be really close friends," R.O.B. remarked.

_"_CRAZY HAND!_ GET THIS BLASTED TOWTOW OUT OF HERE!"_

_"Catch it. You're in charge. Heehee!"_

Ray started. "I thought Master Hand already caught that Towtow!"

Then they heard the sound of something large trampling past their door.

The two Smashers and one Assist Trophy looked at each other.

"Towtow," they said.

Then they heard the sound of something large zooming past their door.

"Sounds like somebody flying," said Ray.

"It must've been Master Hand," R.O.B. said. "If it was Crazy Hand, he'd be giggling the whole way. That hand just never shuts up."

Then, through the cracks of their door, Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., and Ray MK III saw a bright flash of golden light.

"…Master Hand recaptured the Towtow with a trophy stand!" Mr. Game & Watch said after a few moments of silence. "Thank goodness. Now let's get some sleep; it's twelve, so we've only got exactly seven hours and thirty minutes of sleep starting from now."

-ooo-

"Hey, _psst_! Snake!"

Snake took no notice of the whisper as he slumbered on in his room, fast asleep.

"Jeez, Snake, wake up!"

Silence.

"Snake?"

More silence.

"Snake?"

Even more silence.

_"Snake!"_

"WHAT?" Snake roared, suddenly awake and sitting bolt upright in his bed. He peered through the darkness and saw two small figures at his door, which was open. "What do you want?"

"Jeez, Snake!" hissed one of the figures. "You'll wake up Gray and Goroh."

Snake glanced back at the dark figures of Gray Fox and Samurai Goroh, two Assist Trophies. "Don't worry; they're both deep sleepers. Who are you?"

"Snake!" said the other figure. "It's me, Lucas. Ness is here, too."

"Sorry for waking you up," Ness said apologetically, "but it's…well, kind of urgent."

Snake got off his bed and approached Ness and Lucas. "So urgent that you needed to wake me—and quite rudely, too—in the middle of the night?" he asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

Lucas shrugged. "Well, we're sorry…" Then he looked more closely at Snake. "Why were you sleeping in your clothes?"

Snake looked down at himself. True, he was wearing his daily clothes. "What's wrong with that?"

"Don't you have pajamas?" Lucas asked.

"Why must you ask?"

"'Cause I'm curious, that's why!"

"Also, how did you get out of your room? Isn't Jeff a light sleeper? And Master Hand is patrolling the corridors, you know!"

"We got past them. No big deal."

"Er, Snake?" Ness cut in. "I know it's late, but we really, really want to tell you now!"

Snake yawned and glanced at his clock. It read 12:14 AM. "Sure, sure. Go ahead, take your time. And then I'm reporting you to Master Hand and going back to bed."

"Really, we're sorry!" Lucas hissed impatiently. "Come on, please?"

Snake flung his hands into the air—his sign of surrender. "All right, I give up! Now get on with it or else I'm sending Gray Fox at you!"

Lucas shuddered. Gray Fox and his sword were not well liked. And if you angered him, you would be in a world of pain.

Ness squared his shoulders. "So, Snake, everybody knows you have an IQ of 180, which is pretty high for a human being. Well, we two are smart enough to have psychic powers. Look at the size of our heads."

"So," Lucas broke in, "just a few minutes ago, we were discussing about the topic of a new game we're designing. But we didn't know what it should be about."

"And then, we finally found the most perfect topic any Smasher could think of and love!" Ness said happily. "But it's a secret between me, Ness, and you."

"Me?" asked Snake.

"Yes, you!" said Ness. Then he lowered his voice. "So this game's topic is…" Snake bent down so Ness could whisper into his ear.

_"Psst, psst."_

Snake smiled. "Yes, that _is_ the most perfect topic I've ever heard!" he exclaimed. "Good thing you two thought of it. Oh, and sorry for being so grumpy when you woke me up."

"It's okay," said Lucas. "And we're sorry for waking you up so rudely. And sorry for…uh, _probably_ almost waking up the other two guys there."

"Apologies accepted. Now, when should we start working on this game?"

Ness looked at Lucas. "Tomorrow, six in the morning… What do you think?"

Lucas grinned. "I don't mind getting up so early. How about you, Snake?"

The mercenary shrugged. "No. I'm pretty used to getting up early, anyway. Now, let's get some sleep, shall we? We only have about six hours of sleep if we want to get up at six."

Ness nodded. "Yeah. Meet us at our door, okay? We can't work when Jeff is around."

"But why aren't you letting him work with us?" Snake asked. "He _is_ smart, isn't he?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Yes, he is, but he's a nerd at inventing things, not making games. But we two know how to make games. How about you?"

"Well, I never tried, but I suppose I could do it."

"Okay, then," said Ness. "Meet us at our door at six."

"Sure. Good night, Ness and Lucas."

"'Night, Snake. See you at six!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ah, a cliffhanger. What could this new game's topic be?<strong>_

**Ness:** Go away, readers! Stop looking at us! It's a secret.

**Lucas:** Yes, it's so secretive that we're meeting at six AM!

**Snake:** So go away and mind your own business!

**Lucas:** So there! Ha! _*sticks out his tongue*_

**_…Okay, then. If you three say so… Will Pit ever sink through his cloud bed?_**

**Pit:** _*rolls his eyes*_ Looks like you don't know that it's a magical cloud, either. Now stop pestering me about my cloud! _*begins to snore*_

_**Will Master Hand find any more Smashers and Assist Trophies wandering around the Smash Mansion?**_

**Crazy Hand:** I hope YES!

**Master Hand:** I hope NOT! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_See you next time in Chapter 4 of _****Life at the Mansion****_!_**

_**…Oh, yes, and credits to the Sonic wiki for information about the X-Tornado. Credits to the Sonic X episodes for information about the Blue Typhoon!**_

_**And remember to review!**_


	4. The First Brawl

**_At last, here is Chapter 4. Not much to say right now, so enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers do ****_not_**** belong to me. They belong to Nintendo. I repeat, ****_not_**** me! Or you or him or her or them.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: The First Brawl<strong>

* * *

><p>At exactly five fifty-six AM, Snake silently opened his door, stepped outside, and silently shut it. He put his ear against the wall to hear if Gray Fox or Samurai Goroh—two very ill-tempered Assist Trophies—heard the click of the door.<p>

No sound. Good.

The Smasher turned to his left and crept down the hallway, careful not to make a sound. If Master Hand discovered him, he would be kicked out of the Smash Mansion for sure.

He went on until he reached two sets of stairs—one going up to the third floor and above and the other one going down to the first (his room was on the second floor). He paused for a moment, then went down and quietly jumped over the last step.

_Master Hand insisted on making that step squeaky,_ Snake thought as he went on through another hallway. _It's used to catch wanderers or trespassers by surprise…_

He then went on past the doors and stopped at the very last door, where an EarthBound sign was painted in red.

This was Ness and Lucas' door.

Snake looked around and scratched his head, puzzled.

_Didn't they tell me to meet them here? This _is_ the correct room, right?_

He peered through the hallway, just to make sure. The door he was at right now _was_ Ness and Lucas' door, alright.

_Those idiots,_ he thought, irritated. _They tell _me_ to meet _them_ at their door, and instead _I'm_ the one who's here first! Humph. I bet they're still asleep._

From a hidden pocket on his camouflage suit, he pulled out a paperclip and stuck it into the keyhole of the door. _I knew this would come in handy…_

Picking at the lock wasn't so hard. He had been trained to do these kind of things, and had even managed to break through doors with very complicated locks.

Seconds later, Snake was inside. He blinked and looked around.

All around him were little weapons of all kinds—a fireworks launcher, a stick, a baseball bat, a yo-yo…

_A _yo-yo_?_

"Must be Ness' little weapon," Snake said to himself. He remembered seeing Ness whacking Bowser on the stomach with that yo-yo in a brawl two weeks ago.

He quietly tiptoed over to two beds, where two small figures were snoozing. Then he poked at one of them.

"Instead, it's _me_ who tells _you_ to wake up, huh?" he muttered into its ear.

The figure sat bolt upright and flew five feet into the air. _"Waaah!"_

The other figure rolled out of its bed and onto the floor.

_Crash._

"Honestly, keep it down, Lu—_Snake?_"

"Quiet!" the Smasher whispered. He glanced at the third sleeping figure, who appeared to not have heard a sound. _Whew…_

"Hi, Snake!" said the first figure—Lucas. "What's—_mmph!_"

"If you say _one_ more word," Snake said softly, clamping his hand over Lucas' mouth, _"I will wake up Gray Fox."_

"Mmph-mmph, _mmph_!"

"Does that mean 'all right, sorry'?"

Lucas nodded. "Mmph!"

Snake released the boy, who immediately turned to check the clock that was sitting on his dresser.

_"Holy shiskabobs!"_ he almost shouted. "It's six three! C'mon, Ness, we overslept!"

"Exactly what I was going to tell you," said Snake, nodding with his arms folded.

"All right, then let's grab the computers and go!" Ness said. He was already packing two laptops into his backpack.

Two minutes later, with their backpacks loaded with computers, random discs, and other game-designing tools, Lucas, Ness, and Snake snuck out of the EarthBound room and stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"Where to?" Snake whispered.

"Our trophy room," Ness whispered back. "Nobody's there."

"Let's go!" Lucas said. "Oh, and by the way, Snake, how did you get into our room?"

Snake looked at him. Then he shrugged and held up the paperclip. "Simple. I used this as a lock-pick."

Lucas didn't say a word for some time after that, but continued to gawk at Snake. He stayed so unnaturally silent for so long that Ness asked worriedly, "Uh, Lucas? What's wrong?"

Lucas continued to stare at Snake. Finally, he spoke.

"Gee, Snake, you're scary."

-ooo-

Link liked to be the first one up in the morning. But not if it was because somebody was screaming at the top of his lungs outside his door.

"YESSSSSS! One percent finished, guys! It's great for a start, isn't—"

"Shut. Up!" hissed another voice. "We're right outside Link and Toon Link and Ganondorf's room, you know!"

"And it's seven-nineteen AM," added a third voice. "Link likes to be the first one awake (but he's not), but he doesn't like to get woken up by a loud voice, does he?"

_Yes,_ Link thought, _but for you information, one of you idiots has just done so._

"And one percent isn't much, actually," said the second voice. "I'd say a hundred percent is."

The first voice snorted. "That's because a hundred percent means it's _complete_!"

_If those three keep jabbering outside, how can I ever get back to sleep?_ Link glared at the door. _Maybe I should go outside and give them a taste of my sword—_

"You two, let's go," said the third voice. "I can tell that Link is getting annoyed."

_You bet I am,_ Link thought as three pairs of feet shuffled away.

"What was _that_ all about?" muttered Ganondorf, his eyes still closed but his ears open.

"I don't know," Link replied, still looking at the door, "but I wonder what they were talking about… 'Five percent finished,' he said. Hmm…"

Toon Link pulled off his blankets, sat up, and rubbed his eyes, yawning as he did. "People nowadays sure don't care about people who are sleeping… _Ahhh…_"

"I'm getting up," said Link, swinging his feet off his bed and reaching for his clothes, which were neatly folded in a little pile on his dresser. "What's the point of going back to sleep when you're awake?" He then put on his boots and went to the bathroom with his clothes.

"Good point," Ganondorf agreed, opening his eyes and getting up as well.

"You slept in your clothes," Toon Link noted, half-hidden under his blanket.

"Lots of Smashers do," the other Smasher replied. "Snake and Gray Fox, for instance."

"Oh," said Toon Link. For some reason, he looked like he was squirming under his blanket. "I don't, though; it doesn't sound clean."

"We wash our clothes, don't worry," Ganondorf reassured him.

The young Link still looked unsure as he pulled off his blankets. Ganondorf looked at him.

"You dressed under your blanket, didn't you?" When Toon Link nodded, he remarked, "No wonder you were fidgeting around in there…"

The door of the bathroom opened, and Link walked out, dressed in his daily attire. "Now," he said, pulling out his sword (which was in its scabbard) and shield from under his bed and strapping them on his back, "let's all plug our ears, because Master Hand is going to shout into the intercom any minute."

-ooo-

But he was wrong.

_"Well, Crazy Hand, here is your chance. Would you like the privilege of waking up the Smash Brothers?"_

Crazy Hand made a thumbs-up sign. _"You bet!"_

Master Hand handed him the speaker. _"Here. Speak into this. Oh, you _do_ know how to work this, do you?"_

_"'Course I do!"_ replied the other hand, taking the speaker.

As Crazy Hand prepared to speak, Master Hand watched him warily.

_I do hope the Smashers—or at least some of them—are shutting their ears…_

-ooo-

_"WAKEY-WAKEY, SMASH BROS! IT'S _SEVEN THIRTY_ AND IT'S A _NEW DAY_! IT'S MONDAY, YOU KNOW, AND IT'S TIME TO WAKE _UP_!"_

"HOLY BANANAS!" screeched Diddy Kong, tumbling onto the ground with his blanket and pillow and bunch of bananas. "What was _that_ all about?"

_CRASH._

Donkey Kong had joined his nephew on the floor, creating a small quake as he did.

"Why the blithering bananas did Master Hand let Crazy Hand be our alarm clock today?" grumbled the gorilla. "By the way, where'd those bananas come from?"

The little monkey blushed and grinned sheepishly. "Um…I might have _accidentally_ brought them along with me when Master Hand blasted me back to our room…"

-ooo-

_"Good morning, Smash Brothers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and anybody else I may have missed,"_ Master Hand said to them all after they had eaten their breakfasts in the cafeteria. _"I daresay you had a pleasant sleep last night?"_

They replied with incomprehensible mumbles and murmurs. Master Hand's fingers twitched.

_"I think I will take that as a 'no'. And I do apologize for the rather…er…rude awakening this morning."_

"Rude?" muttered Samus, dressed in her Power Suit. "What do you think? I almost had my ears blasted out!"

_"Er. Ahem. Anyway, as you all know, today is Monday. Which means…?"_

"It's the start of a new week, and a bunch of brawling!" Kat said excitedly.

"And a group of Smashers and Assist Trophies will go on a mission each weekday!" her sister Ana exclaimed.

_"Yes. Today, I shall be sending Sonic, Shadow—"_

"Finally!" Sonic said happily. "I haven't gotten anything good to do for who knows how long!"

_"—Silver, Knuckles, and Tails. You five are to return to your world, to where you all live…no, where you _used_ to live. Apparently, Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik has been wrecking havoc there again—"_

_"What?"_ Knuckles raged. "That old Egghead never stops!"

_"_—_and the inhabitants are frightened out of their wits. Your mission is to stop Dr. Eggman, protect the inhabitants, and return here safely. Is that clear?"_

"Yes, Master Hand!" the five friends chorused.

_"Good. Now, may you proceed to do your mission? We wish you the best of luck."_

"Man, this is going to be easy," said Sonic, grinning.

"Hope you stop that Eggman!" Pikachu yelled.

"And be careful," said Red.

"Good luck!" Knuckle Joe shouted.

"Thanks!" said Tails. "Hold on, guys, I have to check the X-Tornado and the Chaos Emeralds."

"And I need to go to our trophy room and revive the trophies of Amy, Blaze, and Cream and Cheese," added Sonic. "Wait for me if you get back here before me, okay, Tails?"

"Sure, Sonic…um?"

The speedy blue hedgehog had already disappeared before Tails had even finished his sentence. He blinked a bit, then shrugged and said as he walked after Sonic, "Well, anyway, since Shadow will need a Chaos Emerald for Chaos Control, I'll take one out of the X-Tornado. Be right back!"

The Chaos Emeralds were seven mystical emeralds, containing great energy that Sonic, Shadow, and Silver could use to transform into their near-invincible and much more powerful forms—Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver. The emeralds could also be used for Chaos Control, a phenomena that could warp time and space. Shadow often used Chaos Control to teleport from place to place effortlessly.

"How _does_ Eggman wreck havoc, anyway?" Zelda asked Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles.

Silver shrugged. "Well, you could say that he tells his robots to do all the work. Old Egghead is too lazy to do the work himself. So I'm expecting to see an army of robots scaring the people when we get there."

"Sure, of course he's lazy," Knuckles said. "I've never seen him work out. No wonder he's so fat."

"He did, but just once," Shadow said. "And he absolutely hated it. I believe Bokun forced him to…"

Just then, Tails arrived, holding a red Chaos Emerald in his hand. "Hey, Shadow! Catch!"

The black hedgehog easily caught the emerald in his right hand. "About time you came, Sonic. We're all ready."

Sonic had just reappeared in the room where all the rest of the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters were, dragging three others after him—Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog who wore a red dress and red boots and had a huge temper and a huge hammer called a Piko-Piko Hammer; Blaze the Cat, a lavender cat with pyrokinetic powers who wore a violet robe and red high heels and had a great fear of heights; and Cream, a cute rabbit who wore an orange dress and large, orange shoes and had a Chao friend called Cheese, who was zooming after Sonic as fast as it could, panting as he flew.

"That's great!" yelled Sonic, screeching to a halt. "Let's go!"

"Really, Sonic, couldn't you have explained to us what was happening?" Amy asked grumpily. "You woke us up and the next thing I knew was that you were practically pulling my arm off just to get back here!"

_"Amy, it would not be such a good idea to lose your temper now,"_ Master Hand said.

"Okay, okay! But next time, instead of dragging me off first, tell me first, and _then_ drag me off."

"Oh, so I still get to drag you, huh?" Sonic asked brightly.

"NO, THAT IS _NOT_ WHAT I MEANT!"

"Seriously, you two, Eggman is probably destroying someone's house as we speak," Cream broke in.

_"Chao,"_ Cheese agreed.

"Well, then let's go now," said Blaze. "We've wasted enough time dawdling around… Ready, team?"

"You bet we are!" Knuckles replied eagerly, balling his hands into fists. "Let's give ol' Eggy a knuckle sandwich, shall we?"

"YEAH!" the other missioners cheered.

"Let's go, Team Sega!" Tails exclaimed.

Amy looked at him. "Team _what_?"

Tails turned red. "Well, I thought I could give our team a name, and then I thought of Team Sega…and you all know that the games about us are made by the Sega Company…"

Sonic shrugged. "What's so embarrassing about it, buddy? It's a great name!"

"Thanks, Sonic!"

"Oh, um, Tails?"

Tails turned to Blaze. "Yeah?"

The cat bit her lip. "Um… Please… Don't fly the X-Tornado too high." Everybody knew that Blaze had severe acrophobia, which was an intense fear of heights.

Tails stared at her. "Blaze, how can the X-Tornado fly when it can't fly high?"

Blaze sighed. "Well… If you must fly it high…so be it…I think."

The nine missioners—four hedgehogs, an echidna, a fox, a cat, a rabbit, and a Chao—filed out through the door in a line. After a few minutes of Tails' occasional shouting and Sonic's cheerful yelling and sounds of the X-Tornado powering up, the other Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and Master Hand heard Shadow holler, _"Chaos Control!"_

There was a blinding flash of red light. Then Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese, and the X-Tornado were gone.

-ooo-

Five minutes later, everybody who was not part of the mission was gathered around Master Hand in the Brawl Room. They were all wondering the same thing.

_Who will Master Hand choose for the brawl?_

Brawls at the Smash Mansion were not ordinary ones. Master Hand called it "virtual brawling," because two, three, or four Smashers—depending on if it was a one-on-one brawl, a three-person brawl, a four-person brawl, or a team brawl—would get teleported into a large television screen and onto the chosen Brawl Stage. Master Hand had told the Smashers that the virtual brawling was for safety concerns. _"Otherwise, you would all be in the hospital wing of the Smash Mansion right now,"_ he had explained.

_"Today, we shall be doing one-on-one brawls,"_ the large hand said. _"Now, let us see the two chosen Smashers. The first shall be…"_

On the television screen, a list of all thirty-eight Smashers began to scroll. First it showed Mario, then Kirby, then Link, Falco, the Ice Climbers, Lucas, Pit…

Everybody held their breaths as the list began to slow down.

…R.O.B., Mr. Game & Watch, Ike, Meta Knight…

_"Lucario!"_ Master Hand announced when the list's scrolling came to a stop at the Aura Pokémon. _"And he shall be fighting…"_

A second list of all the Smashers began to scroll. Wolf, Luigi, Peach, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Yoshi, Red and his Pokémon, Toon Link…

_"Snake!"_

Lucario grimaced. Snake was one of his good friends. Apparently, Snake felt the same.

"It's all right, Lucario," the Smasher said, patting the Pokémon's shoulder. "I mean, it's just a brawl, and a virtual one at that. We won't get any real damage. No big deal, right?"

"Well, I guess so…" But Lucario still sounded uneasy.

_"As for the Brawl Stage, it shall be…"_

A list of all the stages then began to scroll. Lucario and Snake watched the screen intently.

Battlefield, Shadow Moses Island, Green Greens, Green Hill Zone, Yoshi's Island, Final Destination…

_"Spear Pillar!"_ Master Hand proclaimed when the list stopped scrolling and landed on the said stage.

_Like that would make it any better,_ Snake thought with a frown. Spear Pillar was one of the things on his list of I-don't-likes. According to Pikachu, who had been sent there to brawl more times than any other Smasher, it was a stage with "some sort of…eh, 'holy' ground at the top and a tunnel below it." Three Legendary Pokémon would appear at the altar at the back of the stage—Dialga, the Temporal Pokémon that controlled time; Palkia, the Spatial Pokémon that governed space; and occasionally Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon that gave good dreams. "Personally," Pikachu had went on, "I think they're there to be a nuisance to us Smashers as we do our stuff." And was he right!

"Oooh, good luck, Lucario!" Jigglypuff called out. Lucario blushed.

The two chosen Smashers stepped out of the crowd and faced Master Hand, who said, _"This brawl will be a two-stock match, and the only items available are Poké Balls and the Smash Ball. The first Smasher to go past the left and right boundaries, fall off the stage, get blasted into the sky, or self-destruct twice loses the brawl. Understand?"_

Lucario and Snake nodded.

_"Excellent!"_ Then Master Hand snapped his fingers.

-ooo-

Through a pulsing mass of aura, Lucario appeared on the Spear Pillar Stage. The first thing he did was to look up at the sky.

_It's blue. So it could be Dialga or Cresselia… I wonder why Cresselia can't have her own specified color? She appears when it's blue, she appears when it's pink. Humph._

Then Snake appeared on the opposite side of the stage, electricity crackling around his body. He then slowly stood up and gave Lucario a devious grin. "Ready?"

Lucario smiled. "You bet."

_"Three!"_

Lucario crouched into a battle position, aura glowing on his paws.

_"Two!"_

Snake clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes.

_"One!"_

The two of them both braced themselves for the brawl.

_"FIGHT!"_

-ooo-

The moment the word "fight" reached Snake's ears, he was off in a flash, determined to land the first hit.

Unfortunately for him, Lucario was already prepared. He dodged Snake's punch, then countered with a wave of aura.

Snake was thrown upwards by the attack, and he landed with a _thud_ on a floating platform. Lucario joined him on the platform and pounded him with a Force Palm.

"Well," the mercenary said to himself as he hurtled through the air and onto the ground, "I guess I was wrong about the 'land the first hit' part, huh?"

He quickly stood up and kicked Lucario in the chest. The Pokémon staggered back, gasping in pain, then quickly let out an Aura Sphere, which Snake dodged.

A Poké Ball appeared two feet away from Snake. He scooped it up before Lucario could knock it out of way, and threw it.

A Weavile appeared.

"All right, Weavile, do your stuff!" Snake ordered.

The Weavile nodded. _"Weavile!"_

Lucario scowled. "There is no way you're going to 'do your stuff'!" He leaped onto the floating platform above his head, and Weavile started a flurry of False Swipe attacks below him.

That was when the altar behind them flashed.

"The Pokémon is coming out!" Lucario yelled. For a moment, he and Snake forgot that they were fighting as they carefully watched the altar.

The altar flashed several more times, lightning sparking around it. Then, through a cloud of black smoke, appeared—

"Dialga!" Snake exclaimed.

The colossal Steel- and Dragon-type Temporal Pokémon stomped out of the smoke and stopped, looking at Lucario and Snake.

_"DIARUUU,"_ it growled.

Lucario shook his head. "Let's just get on with the brawl."

Snake crouched down and pulled out a remote-controlled missile. He peeked through the eyehole, aimed, and fired.

_Bang!_

"Huh?" Lucario turned…only to see a missile explode in his face. He groaned and held his head, gritting his teeth in pain.

_How could I have been so stupid? I could've easily dodged that damn thing…_

Snake stood back up—and paled when a fully charged Aura Sphere came right toward him.

"That's for nearly blasting my face out!" Lucario shouted triumphantly when his attack slammed into Snake.

_"DIAAAAAAA!"_ roared Dialga from its altar. A bright blue sphere of light appeared directly above Lucario.

"Aaagh!"

He barely made it out. He had quickly dodged the beam of light that came out of the sphere by jumping off the platform (Weavile had disappeared already), but still got his feet slightly burned.

_Curse you, Dialga…_

While all this was happening, Snake was quietly burying something near the right end of the stage. Lucario saw it, though.

"I have to remember to avoid stepping there," the Pokémon said quietly. "Now, let's see…"

-ooo-

Back in the Brawl Room…

"Snake has fifty-seven percent, and Lucario already has seventy-two!" Pikachu moaned, staring at the two Smashers' damage meters from his spot on Samus' shoulder. "Lucario will get blasted off before he knows it!"

Samus patted his head. "Don't worry. Snake will get pretty surprised once Lucario's damage get high enough."

-ooo-

While Snake buried the bomb, Lucario quietly snuck up on him…and _kicked_.

"Oomph!" Snake flew into the air, clutching his stomach. He thudded onto his feet, glaring at Lucario.

_He's getting stronger…_

The Aura Pokémon then punched Snake's shoulder, sending the mercenary landing on the ground toward the left end.

_When danger comes, get into the tunnel._

But before Snake could, a Poké Ball appeared at his feet. He picked it up and chucked it at Lucario.

A Lugia appeared.

"Now get a taste of your own medicine!" Snake hollered, running off the stage and into the tunnel below.

"You think I will?" Lucario followed Snake into the tunnel.

_"GIAAAAAAA!"_ Lugia sent out an Aeroblast from its mouth. Lucario jumped, sidestepped, and did all he could to avoid the powerful blast of air.

"Lugia may be powerful, but its Aeroblast move has terrible accuracy, you know!" Lucario shouted, giving Snake a quick kick.

"Well, when I throw out another Poké Ball and a Kyogre comes out, you'll be sorry that you said that!" Snake retorted, punching Lucario.

A Poké Ball materialized behind Lucario. He picked it up and threw it at Snake.

A Bonsly appeared.

"Now that is just _perfect_!" Lucario grinned, his red eyes gleaming.

Snake snorted. "Seriously. A _Bonsly_?"

Lucario hoisted the Bonsly above his head. _Apparently, he has no idea what's in store for him…_

And then he tossed it.

_BONK!_

The result was Snake zooming off, out of the tunnel, and past the left boundary.

"These guys should definitely be added to weight training classes!" Lucario remarked, giving the Bonsly an appreciative pat before it disappeared.

-ooo-

Samus grinned (nobody knew, though, because her Power Suit hid it well). "It's a shame that no Poké Balls appeared as we traveled through Subspace. Bonsly would be quite helpful."

"True," Ganondorf agreed. "It could knock out a Primid with one blow!"

"Not a Primid," Zelda said, "a Ticken!"

"No," shouted Luigi, "maybe-a even a _Floow_!"

"I'd love to see what Tabuu's reaction would be when a Bonsly gets chucked into his face!" Lucas chuckled at the thought.

_"Enough of the chitchat,"_ Master Hand broke in. _"Let us watch the brawl."_

-ooo-

Snake reappeared on the Revival Pad, his damage back to zero percent. Lucario now had a hundred and twelve percent, which was both good and bad.

"Hi, there, Snake!" Lucario called tauntingly. "Lost a life already? The Smash Ball didn't even appear yet!"

Suddenly, the lights dimmed.

And a small sphere with rainbows flashing around it appeared.

Lucario looked at Snake.

"SMASH BALL!" they both shrieked, diving toward it.

Snake kicked the ball with all his strength, and it flew away from him and toward Lucario. Lucario punched it twice, but it was sent above him and Snake, out of reach.

Now the little ball was hovering above both of them, almost dancing around, tantalizing the two Smashers below…almost as if it were taunting them.

_Try and get me…_

"I've had _enough_!" Lucario hollered. He ran toward Snake, took a flying leap off his back, Force Palmed the Smash Ball—and it broke open.

All at once, an aura of fiery rainbows appeared around Lucario's body, and his eyes' pupils changed from red to gold. He smiled at Snake, who was slowly backing away.

"Well, my good friend, it looks like you're about to get roasted!"

"I won't let that happen!" Snake clobbered Lucario with a sudden triple-punch and double-kick. This was too much for Lucario, who lost the power of the Smash Ball, which was sent out of his body and into the air once again.

While Lucario was lying on the ground, stunned by Snake's sudden assault, Snake dashed toward the ball and punched it twice. It flew above his head, which he followed by flying with his Cypher, and he kicked it.

The same rainbow-colored flames that had surrounded Lucario erupted all around his body, and his eyes turned gold. Lucario was now up again, but this time he had a scared looked on his face.

"Aagh…" he muttered.

"The end has come, Lucario!" Snake cried. He pulled out a radio from a hidden pocket and said into it, _"It's showtime."_

A helicopter appeared over Snake. It lowered a rope ladder, and the Smasher climbed on. Then the helicopter flew up and out of view.

Lucario couldn't do anything but stop and watch. What damage could he do to a helicopter that was very likely armed?

_Damnation. Can things get any worse after this?_

As if to answer his question, Dialga roared once—and time slowed down.

…_Blast._

Meanwhile, Snake was lowered from the helicopter on a rope ladder. He pulled out a grenade launcher and carefully aimed it at Lucario.

"Dialga may have slowed our motions, but we can still think at regular speed!" he said.

And he pressed the trigger.

_Bang!_

Lucario managed to dodge the first shot.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Snake yelled.

_Bang!_

This Lucario avoided by using Double Team.

_Bang!_

This time, the Pokémon got hit. He flew ten feet into the air.

He didn't get to dodge any of the shots that came after that one.

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

As if to make things even worse, he thudded over the spot where Snake had been burying the bomb earlier.

_BOOM!_

"NOOOOOOOOOO…!" he screamed as he disappeared into the sky.

While he was flying away, Snake reloaded his grenade launcher.

Now Lucario was back. He hopped off the Revival Pad, his damage healed. "Bring it on, Snake!" he shouted to the small figure that was clinging on the ladder.

"Well, you asked for it!"

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

Lucario sidestepped, backflipped, and rolled out of harm's way.

_Bang!_

_Bang!_

He dodged these two shots as well.

Snake gnashed his teeth. "Here goes my last shot…"

_Bang!_

Lucario got hit. "Well, it was only one shot. No big deal. I think."

Snake, on the rope ladder, took out his radio again and said, "All right, I'm done. Bring me back to Spear Pillar."

The helicopter flew toward Spear Pillar, and Snake jumped off the ladder and back onto the stage, facing Lucario.

"Oh, hello," Lucario said. "We've both got one life left, eh? It's time for the fight to the finish!"

He sent out a wave of aura out of his paws, which got Snake in the chest and sent him flying backward. In retaliation, he pulled out his remote-controlled missile and fired. The missile exploded directly in front of Lucario, and he, like Snake, flew backward and landed painfully on his back.

Then the two Smashers stood up at exactly the same time, and they charged, fists drawn back for a punch.

-ooo-

"Boy, this battle sure is getting intense," Toon Link remarked, watching the screen. "It's only been a few minutes and their damage meters are already pretty high."

"They're ignoring all the Poké Balls," Bowser said. "Looks like they want to fight without any assistance."

"Who knew that two good friends could fight so fiercely?" wondered Mr. Game & Watch.

-ooo-

Two pairs of fists slammed into each other. Snake was a strong fighter, but since Lucario had more damage they were equally matched.

"Give up?" Lucario asked as he pushed.

"Never!" snarled Snake.

He kicked Lucario's chest, and the Pokémon staggered back, wincing in pain. Then the mercenary took out a grenade, pulled out the pin, and threw it. It rolled toward Lucario and bumped against his foot.

_Boom!_

"AARGH!" Lucario bellowed.

And a second Smash Ball appeared.

"NO, YOU WON'T GET IT THIS TIME!" Lucario roared. He rushed toward it, charging up an Aura Sphere as he did.

"MAYBE I WILL!" Snake darted after the ball, fist drawn for a powerful punch.

Lucario unleashed his Aura Sphere. The Smash Ball flew back from the brute force, and Snake punched it, sending it back toward Lucario.

"HIYA!"

The Smash Ball shattered.

This time, Lucario didn't stop to taunt his opponent. He soared into the air, shouting, _"Watch the power of aura!"_

Snake knew what was about to happen, and started to make a run for it.

_You won't escape, Snake,_ Lucario thought. _"HIYAAAAAAAAAA!"_

A great beam of aura surged out of the Pokémon's paws. It was his Final Smash, Aura Storm! It was so powerful that even Dialga took a step back to avoid the mighty move.

"OH, NO!" Snake screamed, caught directly in the blast.

"OH, YES!" Lucario screamed in reply.

And Snake was sent sailing past the right boundary.

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

Lucario and Snake were teleported back to the Brawl Room, all out of breath. Snake looked at Lucario and held out his hand. "Hey… Good game."

Lucario looked up into Snake's eyes. "Yeah… Good game, friend."

They shook hands, and the Smashers around them applauded.

"Good job, Lucario!"

"That was a great fight, Snake!"

"That Aura Storm was so _awesome_!"

"So was Snake's bomb launcher thing! What's it called again?"

"For the last time, it's called a GRENADE LAUNCHER!"

Master Hand snapped his fingers a few times to quiet down the Smashers. _"Congratulations, Lucario."_

"Thanks, Master Hand." Lucario shook Master Hand's, well, hand (it was more like shaking the hand's finger to him, though).

_"And, Snake, I know you tried your best. You will win next time."_

"I sure hope so, Master Hand." He also shook Master Hand's finger.

_"The first brawl is finished. Now for the second brawl!"_

The Spear Pillar stage on the television screen disappeared, replaced by the two lists that were used before Lucario and Snake's battle.

_"Let us see who the chosen Smashers for the second brawl shall be. The first shall be…Fox!"_

Fox grinned. "Excellent."

_"And he shall be fighting…Wolf!"_

Fox glanced at Wolf. "I take that back."

"You sure will, Fox," Wolf growled.

_"As for the stage, it shall be…Lylat Cruise!"_

"Well, that's good!" Wolf said. "Sort of."

The two chosen Smashers stepped out of the crowd and faced Master Hand, who said, _"Like the previous brawl, this brawl will be a two-stock match, and the only item available is the Smash Ball because I think you two, like Lucario and Snake, are going to ignore Poké Balls as you fight anyway. The first Smasher to go past the left and right boundaries, fall off the stage, get blasted into the sky, or self-destruct twice loses the brawl. Understand?"_

Fox and Wolf nodded.

_"Excellent! Prepare for battle!"_ Master Hand snapped his fingers.

-ooo-

A gray and blue Arwing flew over the left side of the Lylat Cruise stage, dropping Fox out of it. A second later, a dark gray and red Arwing flew over the right side, dropping off Wolf.

The Lylat Cruise stage was located on a high-speed spacecraft called the Pleiades. While the Smashers on board would fight, the Pleiades would zoom through the midst of a battle (Fox was very sure that it was a battle between Star Fox and Star Wolf), into an asteroid belt, through the Earth's atmosphere ("We're so awesome we don' even need _spacesuits_!" Wario had loudly boasted. "But then again, it's just a _virtual_ fight. Phooey."), into the Earth's sky, and back to the battle scene. The stage was called "Lylat Cruise" because the Pleiades would fly through an area of space called the Lylat System as the Smashers battled onboard.

"This is going to be fun." Fox smirked.

"Yeah, this _is_ going to be fun," Wolf agreed, "because I'm going to beat the tar out of you!"

_"Three!"_

Fox pulled out his Blaster.

_"Two!"_

Wolf bared his teeth.

_"One!"_

The fox and the wolf glared at each other and prepared for the brawl that would begin in just one second…

_"FIGHT!"_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Well! Time for the second brawl of Monday! Will Wolf really beat the tar out of Fox?<em>**

**Wolf:** What do you think? He's my rival, so why shouldn't I beat the tar out of him?

**Fox:** If you're my rival, then I guess I should beat the tar out of you, too!

**_Please, no violence yet. Will Lucario and Snake remain as friends after their brawl?_**

**Lucario:** Of course we will. We fought side by side in Subspace, and Snake saved me when I was about to get blasted off by Duon, so we**—**

**Snake:** —will remain as friends as always!

**Lucario:** _*nods*_ Exactly.

**_That's great! As Fox and Wolf beat the tar out of each other (ahem), will they both faint at the same exact time, and will Master Hand have to make a Sudden Death Match (though it seems very unlikely)?_**

**Crazy Hand:** Let's drop those Bob-ombs! I hope YES!

**Master Hand:** I hope NOT! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_See you next time in Chapter 5 of _****Life at the Mansion****_!_**

**_Credits to the Sonic wiki and Sonic X episodes for information about the Chaos Emeralds._**

**_Remember to review!_**


	5. Star Fox VS Star Wolf

_**And here is Chapter 5! Again, not much to say. Enjoy!**_

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers and everything that belongs to them belong to Nintendo. Nope, not me or you or him or her or them or it. Period.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Star Fox VS Star Wolf<strong>

* * *

><p>Fox instinctively pressed the trigger of his Blaster, firing five quick shots. It didn't do much damage to Wolf, however, who in retaliation used Fire Wolf, which Fox narrowly dodged.<p>

Wolf did a backflip to dodge Fox's punch, whipped out his own Blaster, and fired two shots. Since his were much slower than Fox's rapid-fire ones, Fox easily avoided the blasts by jumping onto the platform above him. Wolf, not wanting to be outmaneuvered, followed him.

Fox fired three shots at Wolf with his Blaster, which all got Wolf. Wolf rushed toward Fox and swiped at him with his claws, managing to score a hit. Fox, being the faster one, lunged at Wolf and punched him twice on the chest. Then he quickly turned tail, hopped off the platform, and dashed away.

"What, scared?" Wolf jeered at him, jumping off the platform as well.

"Gee, you think?" replied Fox from the opposite side of the stage.

Wolf used Wolf Flash, which Fox countered with Fox Illusion. The two Smashers crashed into each other, shoulder to shoulder, trying to shove one another away.

Wolf pushed Fox toward the edge of the stage, trying to get him to fall off. Unfortunately for him, Fox saw what he was doing and used his Reflector to stun Wolf a bit and make him stagger back. Then he sprinted forward and struck Wolf on the shoulder with three punches.

Wolf, having quickly recovered from Fox's attack, suddenly lashed out and slashed twice with his claws, which caught Fox on the chest. Fox then did a roundhouse kick and hit Wolf's other shoulder. Wolf gave Fox a strong punch, which hit his arm, then pulled out his Blaster and fired three shots. The first one hit Fox; the other two were reflected by his Reflector, and Wolf was hit by his own two blasts.

-ooo-

"This is getting crazy," Toon Link moaned, watching Fox and Wolf's damage meters increase every second. "Those two already have over eighty percent of damage!"

"They're the hugest rivals in the universe," Peach said matter-of-factly. "Not even Mario and Bowser battled that intensely."

Red winced. "Oh, ouch. Fox just got clobbered on the head. Ouch. Now Wolf just got clobbered on the head, too. What kind of crazy battle is this?"

Falco, however, remained silent. But he was silently cheering for Fox.

_C'mon, Fox, you can do it…_

-ooo-

The brawl had been going on for only a quick ten minutes so far, and Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell were already panting heavily and sweating.

"No… I won't…give up…" Fox muttered, exhausted. "Fire _Fox_!"

His attack caught Wolf completely by surprise. Wolf went flying away from the stage and almost went past the right boundary, but he managed to survive by jumping in midair and using Fire Wolf to grab the edge and scramble back on. But then he got five shots from Fox's Blaster in the face.

Wolf punched Fox, and Fox quickly put away his Blaster to counter with his punch. Then he began kicking at Wolf at lightning speed. Wolf then attacked Fox with a frenzy of claw swipes.

"I'll never give up!" Fox hollered.

"And neither will I!" Wolf hollered back.

At that precise moment, a rainbow-colored ball appeared, hovering in the air.

"THAT'S FOR ME!" Fox lunged toward the Smash Ball and kicked it, only to have it fly away and come to a stop in front of Wolf. Wolf used Wolf Flash and gave a hard hit on the little ball, but that wasn't enough to crack it open. Then Fox rushed over and gave it a nice, good punch.

The Smash Ball shattered.

Rainbows surrounded Fox's body, and his emerald eyes turned gold. He smirked at Wolf, who was slowly backing away, and did a huge leap into the air, shouting, _"Landmaster!"_

He returned to the stage after a moment, this time in command of that undefeatable tank of Team Star Fox—the powerful Landmaster!

Wolf stared at the Landmaster for a moment. Then he regained his senses and barely dodged a blast from the Landmaster's cannon.

_It's impossible to avoid this brute! It practically fills up the whole entire stage! It'll be a miracle if it doesn't tear up the entire Pleiades!  
><em>

He jumped onto a platform and onto the Landmaster's cannon to avoid another blast.

"Hey, Wolf, you know that won't help, don't you?" Fox yelled cheerfully from inside the tank. "You ought to know that, since you've got your own Landmaster!"

With a sudden lurch, the Landmaster flew into the air. Higher and higher it went, until it and Wolf were almost a hundred feet away from the Lylat Cruise stage.

_Oh, crap! I'm gonna get carried out of the top border—_"AHHHHHHHH!"

-ooo-

Everybody flinched when Wolf slammed into the television screen. "That's what I call painful," Ike declared.

"I _have_ figure out how a Landmaster works," said Snake. "Heh, they'd make a pretty good match for a Metal Gear!"

Falco shook his head. "Sorry, but that's a Team Star Fox secret. Wolf somehow found it out, though."

"Does a Landmaster have any weaknesses?" Pit asked.

The Team Star Fox member shrugged. "None that I know of, but what I do know is that you're pretty much throwing your life away if you try attack one…"

-ooo-

When the time ran out, Fox jumped out of his Landmaster, which disappeared into thin air after he did. At the same time, Wolf reappeared on the Revival Pad.

"Well done, Fox," he said after he left the Pad. "That was a pretty nice KO…but I'm still going to beat the tar out of you!"

Since Wolf's damage was back to zero percent, he inflicted more damage on Fox than before, whose damage meter was inching over a hundred and fifty. He hurtled through the air and landed painfully on his back.

_Damnation, I'm going to get killed soon…_

He quickly stood back up and used Fox Illusion, then followed that up with Fire Fox. Both moves struck Wolf, but he didn't get much damage and gave Fox a powerful kick.

That was enough for Fox. He flew off the stage and past the left boundary, losing a life.

"All right! I didn't even use my Final Smash yet!" Wolf danced a brief victory dance before Fox returned on the Revival Pad.

"I hate to admit it," Fox said, stepping onto the stage, "but you're one tough cookie! But that won't stop me from getting the victory!"

The two Smashers fought with their fists and feet for some time after that, not bothering to use any special attacks. Taking a Blaster out of your pouch takes time, right?

-ooo-

"Boy, this is getting scary." Lucas shuddered when Fox, on the screen, punched Wolf's cheek. "Their damage meters are getting higher by the second!"

"Sure is. Oh, ouch," said King Dedede, watching Wolf raking Fox's chest with his claws. "Thank goodness this is just a virtual battle."

"Even so, this is getting sick," Yoshi said, turning toward the door. "I'm going to throw up any time if I stay in this room. I'm out of here!"

"To where-a?" Mario asked.

"The library! It's nice and quiet there… And instead of reading, I think I'll take a quick nap before the next brawl starts… If lunch is next, tell me."

-ooo-

Fox now had fifty-three percent damage, and Wolf had sixty-five. They were still doing hand-to-hand combat, even as the Pleiades rocked unsteadily from side to side, zipping through packed asteroid belts, space skirmishes, and other such disturbances.

"Fox, give up!" Wolf growled. "I'm going to be the one to take you down in the end, anyway!"

"Oh, really?" Fox snapped.

All of a sudden, he began a flurry of punches and kicks that pounded Wolf all over. Wolf started slashing more ferociously in return. The two rivals' damage grew higher and higher, but neither of them noticed. Who would?

And then a Smash Ball appeared.

"And that is MINE!" Wolf pushed Fox out of the way, whipping out his Blaster and firing three shots and the precious little ball. Then Fox cleared out the pain in his head after a short moment and punched the Smash Ball four times.

Still, after all this battering, it wasn't enough to crack the stubborn ball open. Now it was floating on the right side of the stage, hovering over the nonexistent ground, daring Fox and Wolf to try land a hit on it.

Both Smashers made a desperate scramble for the ball, exchanging a few punches as they did. Then Wolf climbed over Fox (giving him a headache as he did) and swiped at the Smash Ball…

…and it splintered in half.

All at once, Wolf's body was surrounded by flames of yellow, red, green, and blue, and his gray eyes instantly morphed into a gleaming gold. He snickered at the shocked expression on Fox's face and said as he soared straight up into the sky, _"We're gonna have fun with this thing!"_

_CRASH!_ A massive Landmaster, looking completely identical to Fox's except for its color, slammed onto the stage. Its power definitely was not completely identical to Fox's, however.

This was Wolf's Landmaster—the more powerful one!

_BOOM!_ A blast from its cannon smashed into Fox, severely injuring him and adding some fifty percent damage to his meter.

_BOOM!_ Another explosion crashed onto his back, sending him a good thirty feet away from the right edge of the stage.

"That's the perfect position!" howled Wolf in triumph.

_BOOM!_

That was all he needed.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

The two Smashers were instantly warped out of the Lylat Cruise stage and back into the Brawl Room. A loud smattering of applause reached their ears:

"Great job, Fox! Nice Landmaster you've got, by the way!"

"You have _got_ to let me have a ride in your Landmaster, Wolf! It's so damn cool!"

"That was a pretty intense match, Fox! Good job!"

"Hey, if Fox has a move called Fire Fox, and Wolf has a move called Fire Wolf, why aren't the flames of Fire Wolf red…?"

"Um, because the Brawl System gave the fire a coloration glitch or something?"

Master Hand snapped his fingers loudly, and the commotion of the excited Smashers ceased. _"Congratulations, Wolf."_

"Thanks, Master." Wolf shook Master Hand's finger and grinned at Fox, who was looking forlorn. "Hey, Fox, what's with the sad face? You blasted me, too, remember? You may win next time, you know."

Fox looked positively taken aback by what Wolf just said. "Uh…well…yeah, I guess so…"

And the two rivals stretched out their hands and shook.

_"Yes, that is exactly right, Wolf,"_ Master Hand said, turning to Fox. _"Do not worry, Fox. This is not the last brawl! Like what Wolf just said, you may win in the next brawl."_

"Yeah… Thanks, Master Hand," said Fox, shaking the large hand's finger.

_"The second brawl is finished. Now, let us have a break!"_

"HOORAY!" the Smashers cheered.

_"Unfortunately, we must wait for Peach and the Koopas to make lunch. So it may be a while before you get to eat."_

"Awww…" the Smashers groaned.

"Oh, you don't even have to wait for a second!" Peach poked her head through the doorway, smiling. "You people and Pokémon and swordsmen and angels and Koopas and Kongs and princesses and—"

"Okay, Peach, we got the point!" Snake hollered.

"—and the ones I missed were so absorbed into the two brawls that I went out to the cafeteria and made lunch already! The buffet tables are all set for lunch. So get going! Chop-chop!"

And she left.

-ooo-

"Hey, Lucario! Over here!"

Lucario, tray of food in hand, turned to see Jigglypuff waving from a table ten feet away. Also at the table were Mario, Luigi, Snake, Pikachu, and Red and his three Pokémon.

"Great-a brawl, Lucario," Luigi congratulated the Pokémon when he sat down.

"Hey, thanks." Lucario glanced at Snake to see if he was looking upset. "Er…"

Snake snapped his head up. "Wha…? Oh, Lucario, drop it. It was just a brawl. That's not enough to make me mad, you know. After all, you're my friend."

That was very true. During the Smashers' epic Subspace adventure, Lucario and Snake met onboard the Subspace-occupied Battleship Halberd. They had saved each others' butts several times, like the time they fought Duon and when they were assaulted by fifty Primids.

"Glad to hear that, Snake." Lucario smiled at Snake, then began to gnaw at a hunk of bread with oran berries in it.

"Wow, you must be really hungry," Pikachu remarked, watching in awe as the bread disappeared into Lucario's mouth.

The Aura Pokémon ate the last bit of bread, took a huge swallow, and said, "You'd be, too, if you had a brawl."

"Speaking of which-a," said Mario thoughtfully before taking a bite of his burger, "who will-a Master Hand choose-a for the third-a brawl?"

"I hope it's me!" Jigglypuff said, popping a pecha berry into her mouth. "I haven't fought in a brawl for a pretty long time!"

"You big liar," said Snake. "You did fight in a brawl kind of recently…against Tabuu, that is. Oh, wait. You fought one just last week, you little squirt!"

The other Smashers laughed, while Jigglypuff looked a little irked.

"Hey, Charizard, why are you roasting that steak?" Red asked suddenly.

Charizard looked up. "Well, being a Fire-type, I prefer things roasted more than usual."

"You're _burning_ it!" Ivysaur pointed out, munching on some greens.

"In my-a opinion, I like-a the way this food-a is right now-a," declared Mario after taking a huge bite out of his burger. "Peach is an excellent-a cook! Yoshi could eat like-a Kirby when he has lettuce in his-a sight."

"Speaking of-a Kirby, look at him-a!" Luigi pointed at a table to their table's left and chuckled.

Kirby had piles and piles and piles of chicken, steak, lettuce, tomatoes, apples, peaches, pears, bread, burgers, tacos, ice cream ("That's for _dessert_, not lunch, you big pink marshmallow!" Pikachu raged), and approximately thirty apple pies (Meta Knight was looking quite envious) stacked on three trays. He opened his mouth and, with a single breath, inhaled the food and ate it all in one gulp. Then he opened his mouth again—not to swallow some more food, but to exclaim:

"I'm still hungry!"

Everybody in the cafeteria laughed. With a shrug, Peach and three Koopas went back into the kitchen and came out with another thirty apple pies.

"Guess the pepper trick last night didn't work, huh?" Snake remarked, looking from his chicken leg to Peach and the Koopas struggling with the pies. With another huge breath, Kirby scoffed down the pies when they were still some fifteen feet away from his table. Again, everybody but Peach and the Koopas, who were looking very surprised, chortled.

"Wait a moment," said Lucario, abruptly looking up from his apple. "Where's Yoshi?"

-ooo-

Yoshi slumbered comfortably in the biggest, plushiest beanbag, snoring in the darkness of the library. On his left was a tall bookshelf with books about Pokémon and their world, and on his right was a shelf of books that were about Dream Land.

Strangely enough, none of these books had authors. In fact, every single book didn't! Lucario, though, was very sure that the god of Pokémon, Arceus, had written most of the books about the history of Pokémon and their world. "And maybe Uxie, the Knowledge Pokémon, had written a few of them as well," the Aura Pokémon had said. "As his name suggests, Uxie is a very knowledgeable Pokémon, and a pretty nerdy one at that, according to Dialga."

The green dinosaur snoozed on, completely unaware that it was lunchtime—his second favorite time of the day, coming after dinner. He ignored the growling of his belly, he took no notice of the shadowy figure lurking around, he turned a deaf ear to the loud Smashers in the cafeteria…

Wait a minute. _A shadowy figure?_

The figure was peering out from behind the shelf of Pokémon books, carefully watching Yoshi sleep. It quietly crept out, still hidden by the large shadow of the shelf, and tiptoed toward the Smasher on the beanbag. It stared down at him for a few moments, then said:

"It's very hard to believe that you, Yoshi, are skipping lunch. Yet I see you here, trumpeting away like a…well…trumpet, while your friends are all in the cafeteria, eating."

Yoshi woke up with a start.

"Waaah!"

-ooo-

After lunch, the Smashers and Master Hand were back in the Brawl Room. Lucario was still feeling anxious.

"Um, Master Hand," he said, "what about Yoshi?"

_"Oh, he will find his way here,"_ the hand replied.

"But what if he is chosen for the next brawl—on an empty stomach?" Lucario argued.

_"Ah…yes. Lucario, may you look for Yoshi, then? Does anybody know where he has gone?"_ asked Master Hand.

Mario raised his hand. "He-a said he was-a going to the library-a for a nap-a."

_"All right… Lucario, may you go to the library and wake up Yoshi? Hopefully, he is still in there."_

"Sure, Master Hand." Lucario walked out the door and out of sight.

_"As for the rest of you, you may talk until Lucario returns with Yoshi."_

"Yay!" Toon Link said happily. "More free time!"

Zelda turned to him. "If you were picked for the next brawl, what stage do you want to fight in?"

"I don't know, Pirate Ship? It's my favorite place, even though there are all those bombs and twisters and things."

"And those are exactly what irritate me the most!" Donkey Kong said. "I lost to you because of a bomb that hit my face!"

"Just be happy that it was just a virtual battle." Toon Link laughed. "Otherwise, you'd have no face right now!"

"Ugh!" Popo shuddered. "You shouldn't have said that."

"I'm just bouncing with anticipation right now!" Jigglypuff exclaimed. Indeed, she was bouncing uncontrollably.

"But you bounce all the time nonstop, Jigglypuff," Red pointed out.

"Sure, but this time it's because I'm really, really, _re__ally_ nervous. Who'll Master Hand pick? Gee, I wish Lucario and Yoshi will come soon."

-ooo-

Lucario made his way down the dimly lit corridor, using his Aura Sight to guide him. No life forces were sensed yet…

Wait! There was an Aura close by! After a careful examination, the Smasher discovered that it was Yoshi's Aura, and sure enough he was in the library. But…

Lucario concentrated on Yoshi's Aura. There was another Aura next to him…

And what was all that awful screaming about?

-ooo-

"Waaah! Waaaah! _WAAAAAH!_"

"Calm down!" the figure ordered. "You will attract Crazy Hand! You don't want that to happen, do you?"

_"Yoshi!"_ screamed the green dinosaur in a frenzy of panic. _"Yoshi, yoshi, yoshi—"_

"Oh, for the sake of Arceus, Yoshi," the figure said crossly, "do you not know how to speak _English_?"

"Sorry—sorry," Yoshi gasped. "You, uh, surprised me—panicked—eh? Hold on!" He peered at the figure. "'Oh, for the sake of Arceus'? Only Pokémon—well, and one human called Red—say that… Hey, who are you?"

The figure shook its head. "Of course. You can't see in the dark as well as I do…"

And it reached toward the wall and flipped a switch.

Light flooded through the area where Yoshi had been napping. He squinted, somewhat blinded, and once his eyes adjusted to the light he looked up at the figure.

A boy who looked like a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old stood next to the wall, one hand on the light switch. He was dressed completely in black, except for the red scarf around his neck. His messy white hair covered the right of his ice-blue eyes.

He smiled. "Good afternoon, Yoshi."

"Waaah!" Yoshi yelled again.

"Well, look who's here!" said an annoyed voice.

Lucario walked around the Dream Land bookshelf, arms crossed. "I can't believe it, Yoshi! _You skipped lunch!_"

Hearing the word "lunch" made Yoshi's belly suddenly growl even louder than before. "…Oops."

Lucario made as if to say something more, but apparently changed his mind and said, "Never mind, eat these. I saved them for you." He handed Yoshi two large apples.

Yoshi gratefully accepted them and popped them into his mouth without chewing. "Hey, thanks!"

"It's about time you woke up, Yoshi," Lucario went on. "The next brawl begins in just a few minutes!"

"Actually, I woke him up," the boy interrupted. "I happened to be passing the library when I heard something, so I decided to investigate."

Lucario frowned. "Investigate?"

"Excuse me, but wouldn't you investigate a supposedly empty room where you can hear snoring coming out of?"

"Oh, right…" Then Lucario raised a questioning brow. "Who are you, anyway?"

All of a sudden, shadows enveloped the boy.

Yoshi yelped. Lucario tensed.

When the shadows disappeared, a Pokémon stood in his place.

It was about the same height as the boy, also completely black. It had red spikes around its neck and tatters that waved around on its shoulders and on its back, and the billowing white plume of hair on its head covered one of its blue eyes.

Then Lucario relaxed. "Ah, I see who you are now, Darkrai."

Darkrai transformed back into the white-haired boy. "None of us Legends ever told any of you Smashers that we all have human forms, did we?"

Lucario shook his head. "Nope, none of you except for Latias."

Darkrai sighed. "Of course. She loves to show off. You know the time when Ash Ketchum met her in Alto Mare?"

"Of course I do. He was so surprised when the quiet girl he met turned out to be the Legendary Latias! Latios never showed Ash his human form, though." He then gave a little groan and said in a lower voice, "Too bad he never knew that Arceus had brought the Latios he met back to life. At least he got a glimpse of him and Latias with another Latios when he and his friends were leaving the city. Why do you all have human forms, anyway?"

"Would you like it if you saw a Pitch-Black Pokémon was wandering through the halls?"

"Oh, I see…"

"Um, hello?" Yoshi said loudly. "I thought Master Hand was going to begin another brawl? Didn't you just say so, Lucario?"

Lucario gave a start. "Oh! Okay, then. Let's go. One more thing, Darkrai," he said to the Legend, "Where were you going before you discovered Yoshi?"

"I was searching for Cresselia," he answered. He put his hand on his chin and looked thoughtful. "According to that Goomba, she was somewhere up in the observatory…"

"What, you're going there to annoy her?"

He smiled slyly. "Exactly."

And he merged into the ground and disappeared.

"Uh… Come on, Yoshi," Lucario said after a moment. "Huh, looks like the Legends keep their abilities in human form… Let's go, we're going to be late."

"I was wondering when you'd say that!" the dinosaur said, following Lucario out of the library.

-ooo-

_"There you are!"_ cried Master Hand with relief when Lucario and Yoshi entered the Brawl Room. _"I was wondering where you two had gone off to."_ To all the Smashers, he said,_ "Anyway, now that Yoshi has joined us, we are ready for the third brawl. Let us choose the two Smashers! The first shall be…"_

The first list of Smashers on the television screen began to scroll.

_"Pikachu!"_

Pikachu clapped his little paws. "Yay! It's finally my turn!"

_"Who shall be fighting…Kirby!"_

Pikachu stopped cheering. "Uh-oh."

"Yay!" Kirby cheered. "I finally get to brawl! Pikachu, let's make this fun!"

"Well…whatever you say, Kirby…"

_"As for the stage, it shall be one I had recently created,"_ said Master Hand. _"It is called…N's Castle!"_

"WHAT?" Red exploded.

_"I have recruited three Legendary Pokémon for this stage. One of the three will appear in the background—Reshiram, Zekrom, and occasionally Kyurem. If you want to know what they do, just think of Spear Pillar. However, you cannot find out who the Pokémon in the background will be by looking at the sky…because there is no sky."_

"N's Castle!" Red exclaimed. "And it includes the three Pokémon of the Tao Trio from the region of Unova, introduced in Generation V—Reshiram, the Dragon- and Fire-type Vast White Pokémon; Zekrom, the Dragon- and Electric-type Deep Black Pokémon; and Kyurem, the Dragon- and Ice-type Boundary Pokémon! Wow!"

Falco was staring at Red all this time. "Boy, you sure know a lot about these guys."

"Actually, I got this information from my friend Hilbert," Red said. "See, he met all three of these Pokémon during his travels through Unova, and he updated the information on his Pokédex and sent it to me. That's how I know about these three Legendary Pokémon."

"And who the bananas is N?" asked Diddy Kong.

"Okay, guys, prepare for a long explanation. According to Hilbert, N is the leader of an evil organization called Team Plasma. Team Plasma's goal is to liberate Pokémon from their Trainers. In other words, they want to keep Pokémon away from Trainers. A man called Ghetsis, who's probably N's dad, had already given a few speeches about this 'Pokémon liberation' thing.

"Hilbert bumped into N a few times and battled him, always turning out to be the victor. After he defeated the Elite Four—they're the four Trainers who are considered to be the strongest in their region; in this case, Unova—he went to battle Alder, the Elite Four Champion, only to find that N had already battled and defeated him. N revealed that he and Team Plasma had been building a castle underground, and it came out of the ground and attached itself to the Pokémon League building. Hilbert chased N all the way to the top of the castle and prepare to battle, but before they could the Dark Stone in Hilbert's pocket—I have no idea where it came from—released Zekrom, the Legendary Deep Black Pokémon. N told Hilbert to catch it, and so he did. Then the two battled their last battle, and Hilbert's Zekrom defeated N's Reshiram. After the battle, Ghetsis came storming into the room and was furious at N. He said that he was just working behind the scenes on his true goal of ruling Unova as the only one with Pokémon. He then challenged Hilbert to a battle, in which Hilbert proved to be victorious."

"So this Ghetsis man had tricked everybody!" Marth realized.

"Yeah. After Hilbert defeated Ghetsis, Cheren and Alder took him away while N told Hilbert that he would continue on with his goal…the right way. And with a final 'farewell,' he flew away on the back of his Reshiram. Hilbert never saw him again, but his friend Looker told him that N was seen with a white dragon. Hilbert never heard another word about him again after that."

"Whoa," said Ike.

"This N guy may be the leader of an evil team," Peach said, "but he sounds kind of nice to me!"

All of a sudden, Red slapped himself. "Shoot. I just gave away the plot for _Pokémon Black_ and _White_."

"It's okay, Red," said Ganondorf.

"Yay!" Jigglypuff said. "Now I know what's the plot in _Pokémon Black_ and _White_!"

"But that'll make the game seem really boring when it actually isn't," Mr. Game & Watch pointed out.

Jigglypuff stopped cheering. "Oh."

_"Thank you for the information, Red,"_ said Master Hand. _"Let us proceed with the brawl."_ To Pikachu and Kirby, he said, _"__This brawl will be a two-stock match, and the only items available are Poké Balls and the Smash Ball…"_ He stopped. _"Do you think you will use the Poké Balls?"_

"Oh, sure," said Kirby. "We love Poké Balls! We won't ignore them at all."

_"All right, then. The first Smasher to go past the left and right boundaries, fall off the stage, get blasted into the sky, or self-destruct loses the brawl. Understand?"_

The two Smashers nodded.

_"Excellent!"_ Master Hand exclaimed, but before he could teleport them into the television screen there was a cheerful voice.

"Hey, guys! Did we miss anything?"

Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and the rest of the missioners entered the Brawl Room.

"Hi, Team Sega!" said Nana. "How'd the mission go?"

Sonic grinned. "Piece of cake. And Knuckles had the honor of giving ol' Egghead a nice, big knuckle sandwich." Knuckles grinned widely at this.

"And you guys missed a lot," Popo said. "Lucario and Snake fought the first brawl and Lucario won in that, then Fox and Wolf fought next and Wolf won, then we had lunch and Kirby ate at least seventy pies whole, then Lucario went off to look for Yoshi who skipped lunch ("Amazing!" Zelda exclaimed), and just now Pikachu and Kirby are about to brawl in a new Pokémon stage called N's Castle, starring three new Legendary Pokémon, and Red just told us about some team called Team Plasma and their leader N." The Ice Climber said all that nonstop, and he drew in a huge breath and exhaled.

_"So the mission was successful?"_ asked Master Hand.

"Yep!" Tails answered. "Well, on with the brawl. Bye!" He and the non-Smasher members of Team Sega left the Brawl Room.

_"Good. Now, on with the brawl!"_

And with a snap of his fingers, Pikachu and Jigglypuff were gone.

-ooo-

Pikachu appeared on the stage and burst out of a Poké Ball. Then Kirby emerged on his Warp Star and hopped off, facing his opponent.

"So this is the N's Castle stage, huh?" he commented, looking around.

The stage had a blue carpet running vertically from end to end. In the background, where the carpet ended, there sat a large, golden throne surrounded by tall white walls. Where there was no carpet, there was a white-tiled floor. All around the stage was shallow water.

"Ready to fight, Kirby?" Pikachu asked.

"Ready whenever you are, Pika-pal!" Kirby replied.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" fumed Pikachu.

_"Three!"_

Sparks flew out of Pikachu's cheeks as he clenched his fists.

_"Two!"_

Kirby let out some of his anxiousness by bouncing a bit and grinning sneakily.

_"One!"_

The two Smashers prepared to charge.

_"FIGHT!"_

-ooo-

A lone Pokémon stood—or rather, hovered—in the dim observatory on the topmost floor of the Smash Mansion, gazing at the huge, virtual star chart that completely surrounded the room. Now she was looking at an Earth-sized planet that was nearly identical to Earth itself—her world.

The Pokémon world.

She tapped on the planet to zoom in, and found the region of Sinnoh. It used to be her home before she joined the Smash Brothers.

It was a nice place, filled with trees and nice Pokémon and the like. There was one particular Pokémon she loathed, though…

She then zoomed back out of Sinnoh and began tapping on various cities and towns—Alto Mare, the old home of Latias and Latios…New Island, where Mewtwo was created…the town of Rota, where two legendary heroes, Sir Aaron and his Lucario, had lived…and finally, Alamos Town.

She stared at the town for some time. Two towers, the Space-Time Towers, easily stood out from the low houses. She, like all the other Legends, knew that Dialga and Palkia once had an epic battle here that threatened to tear apart the space-time continuum. She turned her magenta eyes to another special feature of Alamos Town—the gardens.

_He used to live there… A little girl called Alicia befriended him…became his very first friend… No wonder he likes Alice so much._

She was so obsessed with the map that she didn't notice a dark figure slink up to her.

"Hello, Cresselia."

"Oh, ARCEUS!"

* * *

><p><strong><em>And there you are. Didn't expect <em>all_ the Legends to have human forms, did you?_**

**Darkrai:** I bet they didn't!

**_**Who will appear on the N's Castle stage—Reshiram, Zekrom, or Kyurem?**_**

**Pikachu:** I don't care. We don't even know what they'd do, anyway.

**Kirby:** Yeah! So it doesn't matter.

_**Will Yoshi freak out when Darkrai sneaks up on him as a human again?**_

**Yoshi:** You think? No way!

**Darkrai:** _*grins sneakily*_ _…_Hello, Yoshi.

**Yoshi:** _*freaks out*_ WAAAAAH!

**_Will Master Hand drag Crazy Hand away?_**

**Crazy Hand:** I hope Y—! No, wait_…_ Wait a mo_…*realizes his mistake*_ Oopsie_._

**Master Hand:** Yes? Well, now that you have said it…_*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!_  
><em>

**_Credits to the Smash Bros. DOJO‼ website for information about the Lylat Cruise stage. Credits to Bulbapedia for information about N, Ghetsis, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, and N's Castle!  
><em>**

**_See you next time in Chapter 6 of _Life at the Mansion_! Remember to review!  
><em>**


	6. Blizzards and Bloopers

**_And here is Chapter 6, my friends! I don't think there's anything important to say, so please read and enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers and everything that belongs to them belongs to Nintendo. The end!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Blizzards and Bloopers<strong>

* * *

><p>Pikachu received the first blow—a kick in the stomach. He countered with a tail whip, which got Kirby in the face.<p>

Kirby then began punching at lightning speed, preventing Pikachu from using his Skull Bash move…but then Pikachu had an idea.

"Thunder Jolt!"

A small ball of electricity bounced along the ground toward Kirby, who stopped punching and quickly dodged it. Then Pikachu came flying in, Skull Bash at ready. Though Skull Bash was a powerful move, it was slow. Kirby hopped into the air, and Pikachu missed his target.

"Is that all you got, Pika-pal?" Kirby taunted.

Pikachu grinned and grabbed a Poké Ball. "Hey, I was just warming up, you marshmallow! Go, Poké Ball!" he shouted, tossing the ball.

_Bang!_ A Meowth appeared.

"All right!" Pikachu exclaimed. "Pay Day time!"

And the Meowth immediately began to chuck gold coins at Kirby.

_Somebody ought to teach those Meowth manners!_ he thought ill-temperedly as coin after coin was thrown into his face. "Ow! Ouch!"

At last, the Meowth disappeared, and Kirby landed another hit on Pikachu by slamming down with Stone.

"Gee, you should at balloons to your list!" Pikachu complained, rubbing his head.

"A balloon has nothing to do with a stone. Take this!" Kirby flung a Poké Ball.

_Bang!_ A Staryu appeared.

"Okay, Staryu, Swift!" Kirby shouted as the Staryu started bombarding stars into Pikachu.

-ooo-

"They're getting a lot of assistance, aren't they?" Lucario remarked.

"We just ignored the Poké Balls," Snake said. "I mean, I don't really notice Poké Balls, and I don't like using them because while I'm bending down to pick one up, you can kick my butt and send me flying."

"True," Fox agreed, "but I guess those two love Pokémon."

"Ho!" Ganondorf said suddenly, pointing at the screen. "Look at the throne area behind the stage!"

-ooo-

A fierce snowstorm whipped up, and Pikachu and Kirby were caught right in it.

"From now on, I officially declare that _I hate snowstorms_!" Kirby shrieked. "Well, I always have, but I now hate them even more!"

"And I'm with you!" Pikachu hollered. "They make us blind!"

Luckily, the storm lasted for only a few seconds. When it cleared, a large, blue and gray Pokémon was standing before the throne, watching the two Smashers.

_"KYUUU,"_ it snarled.

-ooo-

"HOLY ARCEUS, THAT'S KYUREM!" Red screamed, jumping up and down with excitement. "THE ICE-TYPE DRAGON OF THE TAO TRIO, THE BOUNDARY POKÉMON THAT TOOK HILBERT SO LONG TO CATCH—"

"Do me a favor, Red," Marth interrupted, "and shut up."

-ooo-

"Arceus, he looks wrecked," Pikachu commented, looking Kyurem up and down. "In fact, he looks worse than Giratina! Look at his head. It's not even symmetrical! And I can't even see his mouth—ouch!" he said, for a Poké Ball had just bounced off his head.

_Bang!_ A Goldeen appeared.

"I HATE GOLDEEN EVEN MORE THAN SNOWSTORMS!" Kirby squealed irately as the harmless fish-like Pokémon flipped and flopped off of the stage and into the water. "THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING!"

"Hiya, Kirby!" said Pikachu cheerfully. "Two early Christmas presents for you!"

_Bang_ went one of the two Poké Balls, which sent out a Munchlax.

"What the…? Oh, get _out_, Munchlax!" Pikachu groaned loudly. The Munchlax took no notice of him and started strolling along the stage.

"I said, _out!_" Pikachu kicked at the Munchlax, and it ran away and into the water below, where it waded from the stage and disappeared.

"That's Pokémon abuse!" Kirby shouted.

"No, I was just telling it to get out of harm's way, so I kicked it! And here's your other present!"

_Bang_ went the Poké Ball…

…and a _Samurott_ appeared?

-ooo-

"GLITCH!" shouted Mr. Game & Watch angrily.

_"NO!"_ Master Hand boomed. _"It is _not_ a glitch. I shall explain to you all once Pikachu and Kirby's brawl is over."_

-ooo-

The Samurott took one look at Kirby and drew a sword from the bracer on its left foreleg. Kirby was so frightened by the death glare it sent to him that he stood stock-still, completely petrified.

_"Samurott!"_ the Water-type roared, brandishing the sword and charging at Kirby, who still didn't move.

_Slice!_

Fortunately for Kirby, he dodged the slash at the last possible second. The Samurott skidded to a halt, turned around, and came charging in. Again, Kirby dodged the slash, but got a small cut.

But he instantly knew that things were getting dangerous when the Samurott's sword began to glow a watery blue. He stood there, frozen, and said very stupidly:

"Uh-oh."

_SLASH!_

"OWWWW!"

"Whoa, Arceus, you're great, Samurott!" Pikachu said, patting the Water-type Pokémon's foreleg. It gave an appreciative grunt, then disappeared in a flash.

Things were not going so well for Kirby, though. His damage had soared unbelievably high after the Samurott's vicious attacks. He lay on the ground, pain throbbing through his head, and—

"Oh, Kirby! I'm so sorry!"

"What?"

"I forgot your last early Christmas present!"

And Pikachu whacked him with a forceful whip of his tail.

"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Kirby, who was flung into the air, past the left boundary, and out of sight.

-ooo-

"The move that Pokémon used was Razor Shell," explained Red to the other Smashers and Master Hand. "It's a Water-type move introduced in Generation V. And that Pokémon was Samurott, the Formidable Pokémon. It's the third and last evolution of Oshawott, the Sea Otter Pokémon, the Water-type starter Pokémon of Unova. Oshawott evolves into Dewott, the Discipline Pokémon, and finally into Samurott with enough experience. Hilbert's starter Pokémon was an Oshawott; now it's a Samurott. His Pokédex says that it can silence foes with its glare alone and can dominate foes simply by howling."

"Well, I guess that's true," Ivysaur said. "Did you see how Kirby froze when it looked at him?"

"It's such a cool Pokémon!" Lucas said, his eyes shining with awe. "I wish I had one."

"Ah, but Pokémon don't exist in your world, so that's not such a great wish," Samus said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Ask Jirachi another wish."

"Whoa! You know what a Jirachi is?"

"Yes. Got a problem?"

"Well, no. No problem."

"So, ask Jirachi another wish."

"Well… I wish Pokémon existed in my world!"

Samus fell down.

-ooo-

When Kirby returned on the Revival Pad and hopped off, it was Pikachu's turn to get wary. His damage was inching over ninety, and if he got struck by Kirby's Stone or Hammer moves, he was done for.

But his sense of humor was not gone just yet.

"Yo, Kirby!" he said merrily, waving at the Dream Land Smasher. "What's up? How was the trip?"

Kirby smiled and answered, "Hey, it was great, Pika-pal! Thanks for the warm welcome, by the—"

_"KYUREM!"_ growled the Boundary Pokémon. He took a step forward and howled once.

Almost instantly, a flurry of snow and ice gusted around Pikachu and Kirby, adding up their damage faster than the Smashers back in the Brawl Room could count.

"Gee, you call that a warm welcome?" Kirby shouted above the din.

"It's f-f-freezing!" bawled Pikachu, shivering as ice clung onto his fur. "But I w-won't be the l-loser!" He took a deep breath and rammed into Kirby with a Skull Bash attack while the latter was immobilized by the blizzard.

"Ow!" the pink Smasher screeched, landing painfully seven feet away. There happened to be a Poké Ball beside him, and he picked it up and cried, "Come on out and do your stuff!"

_Bang._

Pikachu ogled at Kirby, bewildered. "But…where's the…Pokémon…?"

-ooo-

"Now _that's_ a GLITCH!" Mr. Game & Watch yelled. "How can you call an empty Poké Ball _not _a glitch?"

_"Yes, that was a glitch,"_ Master Hand agreed. _"I will check the Brawl System when Pikachu and Kirby are finished."_

"Man, and I thought the system was glitch-proof!" Sonic remarked. "Wonder what's next?"

"I wonder why the Hammer's-top-falls-off-the-stick thing isn't considered to be a glitch," Link said.

_"Well, you see, Link, some of the Hammers I make turn out to have loose tops. For some reason, they are always the ones that Crazy Hand toys around with before the brawl…"_

-ooo-

"Honestly! Who's ever heard of an empty Poké Ball in a brawl?" Kirby asked.

Pikachu shrugged. "I've never. Let's fight!"

_"KYUUUU,"_ agreed Kyurem with a growl.

Kirby dashed toward Pikachu, hammer at ready. Pikachu quickly used Thunder, summoning a huge bolt of electricity that zapped Kirby and sent him flying upwards.

"Thunder!" Pikachu brought down another thunderbolt that struck Kirby. Before the Pokémon could use a third Thunder, Kirby used Stone, transforming into a pink rock and thumping on top of Pikachu.

"Funny, the Smash Ball hasn't come out yet!" Pikachu remarked as he massaged the sore spot on his head.

"But the Poké Balls have!" Kirby threw a Poké Ball at Pikachu. It bounced off of his head ("Ouch!") and opened with a _bang_.

A Latios came out.

"OH, NO, YOU DON'T!" Pikachu lobbed a Poké Ball lying on the ground next to him at Kirby. It struck Kirby's arm and released a Groudon.

"Yay!" Pikachu squealed, running toward the colossal Continent Pokémon. "Groudon, it's Overheat time!"

"Quick, Latios, get Latias here and start Steel Winging!" Kirby commanded. Latios nodded and flew off.

_"GROUDOOOON!"_ bellowed the Legendary Pokémon. It took a step forward to protect Pikachu, its body temperature flaming up. Being the Pokémon that Pikachu called out, protecting him _was_ its duty, right?

_"KYUU!"_ Kyurem quickly took a step back to avoid being melted into a puddle of living water.

"Whoa!" Kirby hopped back at the sudden heat. "You're hotter than Venus… COME ON, LATIAS AND LATIOS!"

_"Latias!"_ The red Eon Pokémon, the female of the two, came zooming in with a Steel Wing at ready. Pikachu quickly dodged the attack. Since Groudon was so huge, it was hit, but it barely felt anything.

_"Latios!"_ The blue Eon Pokémon, Latias' older brother, appeared and slashed at Pikachu with Steel Wing. Pikachu dodged this as well, and Groudon again did not seem to feel a thing.

Kirby grinned at Pikachu and said, "Hey, I don't want to miss the fun!" He pulled out a sword and leaped high into the air, bringing the sword above his head. Then he brought it down and shouted, "Hi_ya_!" A wave of wind gusted out of the sword, and Pikachu canceled it out by using Thunder Jolt.

Latias and Latios continued their barrage of Steel Wing attacks. Groudon fended them off by swiping at them with its powerful claws. Kirby kept going with his Final Cutter attacks. Pikachu countered the waves that were emitted from Kirby's sword with his Thunder Jolt move.

And then the Smash Ball appeared.

"HOLY WARP STARS, THERE IT IS AT LAST!" Kirby screamed.

His Latias and Latios turned halted, turned around, and zoomed toward the ball. They struck it twice, but then they disappeared.

Pikachu's Groudon, however, was still on the stage. It roared and took a swipe at the ball.

"Gee, that thing's stubborn!" Pikachu complained as his Groudon vanished. "But it's MINE!"

He ran under the ball while Kirby inflated himself and floated toward it, and then he used Thunder. The thunderbolt zapped both Kirby and the Smash Ball, but that wasn't enough to crack the ball open. Then Kirby quickly inflated himself again and kicked at the ball twice.

_Crack._

"All right!" he cheered as his eyes turned gold and colorful flames erupted around his body. A chef's hat appeared on his head, and a pot of boiling soup over a fire appeared next to him. Then he pulled out a spatula and a skillet and shouted, "Okay! Dinner's ready!" He banged the spatula against the skillet.

All at once, every Poké Ball that was scattered around the stage was sucked into the pot. Pikachu tried to run away, but it was too late. Along with the Poké Balls, he was thrown in.

_Splash._

"Arceus, turn down the heat!" Pikachu hollered before he was fully submerged in the soup.

Kirby beamed as he took out a salt shaker and a long, wooden spoon. "Ever heard of cold soup before, Pika-pal? I sure haven't!" He shook some salt into the bubbling soup. "A bit of salt…and a pinch of pepper…stir for a few seconds…let it simmer…and…"

He put away the spoon, the salt shaker, the spatula, and the skillet.

"Okay, order UP!" he announced.

_BOOM!_

The pot blew up.

Twelve Poké Balls and a soup-drenched Pikachu came soaring out of explosion. The Poké Balls landed safely on the stage, but Pikachu…

"WAAAAAAAAH!"

Kyurem watched as Pikachu flew past the right boundary, a shocked expression on his face.

Kirby shrugged. "Don't worry, Kyurem, he's going to be back pretty soon."

Sure enough, Pikachu reappeared on the Revival Pad, seething with rage as he jumped off.

"That's it, Kirby!" he fumed. "No more pots of soup for me today!"

He rammed into Kirby with a fully charged Skull Bash, causing the latter, who had over eighty percent of damage, to get thrown back near the left end of the stage. "Oh, _ouch_!"

Pikachu chased after Kirby, occasionally letting out a Thunder Jolt. Kyurem merely looked amused, and he decided to annoy Pikachu and Kirby even further.

_"KYUUU…REM!"_

An icy gust of wind emitted from Kyurem's mouth and straight at Pikachu and Kirby. The blast of air was so cold that little ice crystals froze solid on Pikachu and Kirby's bodies!

"F-f-for Dr-Dream L-Land's sake, g-g-get a h-h-h-heater!" Kirby grumbled, trembling.

_"KYUU!"_ retorted Kyurem, shaking his head.

"…Translator, p-please."

"It s-s-said, 'H-heaters are on m-my list of d-don't-likes.'"

"…WELL, AFTER THIS BATTLE, I'M GONNA CHANGE THAT!"

_"KYUU!"_

"It said, 'N-no, you w-w-won't.'"

"AW, COME _ON_!"

The moment the freezing gale had passed…

"It's back to battle time!" Pikachu cheered.

Kirby jabbed at Pikachu. Pikachu retaliated with a whip of his tail. Then Kirby clobbered Pikachu with his hammer, which Pikachu countered with a Thunder. Pikachu noticed a Poké Ball behind him, and he picked it up and threw it at Kirby.

_Bang._

A Ho-Oh appeared.

"Awesome!" said Pikachu happily as the Rainbow Pokémon soared gracefully into the sky and behind the stage.

Kirby gawked at the Ho-Oh behind him. "Um…? Hey, that's a—YOWEE!" he shouted, for at that moment the Ho-Oh waved its wings and created a pillar of flames that erupted around and below him.

"Oooh! Ow! Ouch! Hot! Hot! HOT!"

Pikachu just smiled from ear to ear. "Like it hot, Kirby?"

"No—HOT—way—HOT—but—HOT—I—HOT—don't—HOT—like—HOT—it—HOT—freezing—HOT—cold—HOT—either—_HOT_!"

At last, the last of the flames died away and Ho-Oh flew off, leaving Kirby badly burned…and extremely irritated.

"I'll get you back, Pikachu!" He tossed a Poké Ball at his feet at Pikachu.

_Bang._

He hoped for it to be a Torchic, a Moltres, or any Pokémon that burned. But he got something quite different than what he was expecting.

An elegant, antelope-like Pokémon leaped out of the ball. It was green in color, with horns that ended in dull points. It had a pink-tipped leaf on each side of its neck. It looked like it was wearing boots with black fronts.

"What in Dream Land is _that_?"

-ooo-

"THAT'S VIRIZION, THE LEGENDARY GRASSLAND POKÉMON!" screamed a stunned Red.

"No, that's not Virizion, that's a GLITCH!" shouted an angry Mr. Game & Watch.

"I thought I told you to shut up, Red?" Marth asked grumpily.

_"And I thought I told you that I will explain about the appearances of these new Pokémon, Mr. Game & Watch?"_ Master Hand added, just as grumpily.

-ooo-

Virizion looked at Pikachu and narrowed its eyes. Then, without any warning, it charged at the quaking Smasher, head down and horns at ready.

"HOLY ARCEUS!" Pikachu quickly rolled out of the way. The Virizion howled and swerved around to charge at him again. Pikachu managed to avoid this charge, too.

Then the Virizion's horns began to glow with a white light, and they grew slightly longer. It rushed toward Pikachu at an even faster speed than before, and slashed with its horns.

"OHHHHH MY ARCEUS!" squealed Pikachu, clutching his bottom as he soared fifteen feet up into the air and Virizion disappeared. "My damage is probably a hundred and fifty now!"

-ooo-

"That was Virizion's signature move, Sacred Sword," Red explained. "Actually it's the entire quartet's signature move."

"Virizion is part of a quartet?" Lucas asked, confused.

"Yeah, it's part of a quartet."

Now Lucas was even more confused. "It plays a string instrument?"

Red looked exasperated. "No, not _that_ kind of quartet! That's a _string_ quartet. What I'm talking about is a group of four Pokémon called the Musketeer Quartet—the Steel- and Fighting-type Cobalion, the Iron Will Pokémon; the Rock- and Fighting-type Terrakion, the Cavern Pokémon; the Grass- and Fighting-type Virizion, the Grassland Pokémon; and the Water- and Fighting-type Keldeo, the Colt Pokémon who is the youngest of the four. All four of them have the move Sacred Sword, which makes the enemy get slashed by sharp horns. They are all very powerful, even Keldeo." He then paused. "…I wonder if the rest of the bunch are sitting in the Poké Balls as well…"

Ness shuddered. "Oooh, I hope not. Did you see the way Pikachu got rammed?"

-ooo-

Pikachu was now starting the fall toward the floor, still rubbing his sore bottom. "Oh, _ouch_… Arceus never feels mercy for me!" he wailed.

At that moment, a little ball appeared next to him.

"…Huh, I guess I was wrong. Yahoo!" whooped the Mouse Pokémon, despite the pain on his rear end. He zapped the Smash Ball with a couple of sparks, then quickly punched it before landing on the ground. It flew away from him and settled near Kirby, who kicked it with a roundhouse kick. It still didn't break, and now it came to a stop between him and Pikachu.

_Come and get me if you can…_

"YEAH, I'LL GET YOU, ALRIGHT!" Pikachu ran and bounced off Kirby's plump body ("Ouch!") and attacked the ball with Thunder.

It shattered.

"It's my turn for a Final Smash!" he declared as glowing flames surrounded his body, and his black eyes turned gold. "It's Volt Tackle time!"

He leaped into the air, and a blue aura of electrical energy replaced the rainbow flames. He rose higher into the air, then plummeted down—straight at Kirby.

"VOLT TACKLE!"

_ZAP!_ Pikachu practically flew through the Dream Land Smasher, leaving the latter dazed and stunned by the electricity.

_ZAP!_ Once again, Kirby was assaulted by a wave of voltage, this time getting thrown twenty feet up from the ground.

_You're not going to feel the ground after this, you marshmallow!_ Pikachu thought determinedly.

_ZAP!_

_ZAP!_

Kirby was very close to the top boundary by now. With a final burst of electricity…

_ZAAAAP!_

"OHHHHH, NOOOOOOOOO…!"

The blue sparks around Pikachu disappeared, and he gently fell back onto the ground, a look of triumph on his face. "Victory is mine!"

But after a few seconds, nobody announced _"GAME!"_ yet…

-ooo-

"Well, what are you waiting for, Master?" barked Wolf irritatingly. "It's over!"

_"_…_Actually, no, Wolf…"_

-ooo-

Pikachu looked upwards when he heard a voice. Kyurem looked up, too.

A pink figure was plunging down toward the ground and Pikachu, hammer forward for a massive attack.

"SURPRISED YA, HUH, PIKA-PAL?" screeched Kirby joyfully, wielding his hammer and bringing it over his head.

Pikachu stared at the Smasher with disbelief. "What… But… How did you manage to—"

_SMASH!_

"WAAAAAAAH…!"

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

The Mouse Pokémon and the Dream Land hero reappeared in the Brawl Room, exhausted after their brawl. They both smiled when they heard the other Smashers clapping loudly:

"Congrats, Kirby! I knew you could do it!"

"That was an awesome battle, Pikachu!"

"Kirby, what does your Final Smash's soup taste like?"

"That was an amazing Volt Charge, Pikachu!"

"IT'S VOLT _TACKLE_, NOT VOLT CHARGE, YOU BLASTED IDIOT! …Huh, the phrase 'Volt Charge' sounds kinda cool, though…BUT IT'S NONEXISTENT!"

Master Hand snapped his fingers twice, and the shouting and applause died down. He turned to Kirby and said, _"Well, Kirby… That was quite unexpected. You managed to survive through a powerful Volt Tackle attack when your damage was already over one hundred percent before it began… Goodness, you must be more than what we think!"_

"Of course he is!" Meta Knight piped up. "He trained a lot with me back at Dream Land. Isn't he amazing or _what_?"

King Dedede grinned. "You calling yourself weak?"

"What—no, wait—" the Dream Land knight sputtered. "No, wait—_what did you say, King Dedede?_"

_"Settle down before Meta Knight loses his temper,"_ Master Hand said sternly. Turning back to Kirby and offering his finger, he said, _"Congratulations, Kirby."_

"Hey, thanks, Master Hand!" the Smasher replied, shaking Master Hand's finger.

The large hand turned to Pikachu, who was looking sulky. _"Please, Pikachu, do not worry. But next time, make sure your enemy truly is defeated before relaxing."_

"Yeah… I'll do that, Master Hand." And he shook the hand's finger as well.

_"The third brawl is finished. Before we proceed to the fourth brawl, however, I must check the Brawl System. As you all know, there was a Poké Ball that Kirby threw, and nothing came out. That is never supposed to happen. Now, please wait…"_ Master Hand flew off.

"But…the Brawl System is glitch-proof!" Peach said after a while. "How can there be a Poké Ball glitch?"

"Maybe Master forgot to put a Pokémon inside the ball," Lucario suggested.

"Or maybe somebody hacked into the system!" Sonic said angrily.

Zelda put a hand on the blue hedgehog's shoulder. "I know you are thinking about Dr. Eggman, Sonic. But this place is protected from all the worlds' villains, so don't worry."

Sonic sniffed. "I'm glad. Eggman would've broken into the Brawl System the moment he broke into the Smash Mansion. It's his nature."

And then there was a roar of rage.

The Smashers all looked at each other, bewildered.

Nobody noticed that Lucas, Ness, and Snake had mysteriously disappeared…

* * *

><p><strong><em>…Well, those <strong><em><em>Poké Ball<em>_**s certainly weren't expected.  
><em>**

**_Whoopee! A cliffhanger. Whose voice could that be?_**

**Popo:** Um…Rayquaza?

**Nana:** What would _he_ be doing here? He's always at his lake!

**Popo:** Maybe he's on a coffee break. I mean, where would you find coffee in a lake?

**Nana:** _*facepalm*_

**_Who will Master Hand pick for the next brawl?_**

**Sonic:** ME! I love to brawl my enemies and rivals!

**Lucario:** …What if it was Shadow?

**Sonic:** _*panicked*_ Um, never mind!

**_Why did Lucas, Ness, and Snake disappear?_**

**Snake:** …Go away…

**Lucas:** YEAH, GET YOUR BUTTS OUTTA HERE!

**Ness:** Hey, there's no need to get loudmouthed, Lucas…

**_And what is Master Hand up to?_**

**Crazy Hand:** Ooooh, I know! He's—!

**Master Hand:** NO SPOILERS! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_See you next time in Chapter 7 of _Life at the Mansion_!_**

**_Credits to Bulbapedia for information about Samurott, Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, Keldeo, and Kyurem. Credits to the Smash Bros. DOJO‼ website for information about the _Poké Ball_ _Pokémon's moves!__**

**_Oh, and check out my freshly updated profile page! It now includes a list of all the Smashers and a brief description about them.  
><em>**

**_And remember to review!  
><em>**


	7. Secrets

**_Hello, there! Sorry for the late update.  
><em>**

**_Here is Chapter 7! Please enjoy._**

**Disclaimer: The Super Smash Brothers and everything they own don't belong to me or him or her or them or it or anybody in this world and beyond.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: Secrets<br>**

* * *

><p><em>"CRAZY HAND!"<em>

There was the sound of something large getting thrown into the wall.

_"HOW_ DARE_ YOU! SO _THAT_ IS WHY YOU DISAPPEARED! TO MESS UP THE BRAWL SYSTEM!"_

_"So sorry, I was just bored—"_

_"YOU CAUSED A GLITCH! KIRBY THREW A POKÉ BALL AND NOTHING CAME OUT!"_

_"It's only _a_ Poké Ball—"_

_"ONE MAKES A DIFFERENCE, CRAZY HAND! NEVER"_—crash—_"EVER"_—crash—_"TOUCH"_—crash—_"THE"_—crash—_"BRAWL"_—crash—_"SYSTEM"_—crash—"AGAIN!"

_Slam._

"YOWEEE OUCH!"

A moment later, a large, left hand went whizzing past the Brawl Room at a speed so fast that Sonic probably could not catch up with him.

Just then, a boy with white hair, all dressed in black with a red scarf around his neck, poked his head through the door. "Hello, Smash Brothers. Did I just hear shouting?"

"Oh, hello, Darkrai," Lucario said. He frowned. "Yes, that was shouting, alright. Master Hand went to check the Brawl System because there was a Poké Ball malfunction—"

"—and he found Crazy Hand fiddling with the system and sent him blasting off like Team Rocket?"

Lucario nodded.

Darkrai sighed with relief. "Good. For a moment I thought it was Cresselia…" He shuddered. "I shouldn't have done that…"

"Done what?" Red asked.

"I decided to, er, annoy her a bit… I didn't expect her to get _that_ mad…" He looked over his shoulder. "I hope she didn't follow me down here."

"AHA! _THERE_ YOU ARE!"

"Speak of the devil," Darkrai muttered as a pink, Psychic-type Pokémon came flying through the hall, obviously seething with rage. "Um, Cresselia? Sorry, but I was on my way to…to…"

"To where?"

"To…eh…where? Hm. Let's just say I was on my way to…somewhere. Bye!" And he ran off.

And then Master Hand suddenly appeared, this time covered in a layer of black dust. _"Hello, Smash Brothers… I apologize if I am filthy. I was fixing the Brawl System…"_ He snapped his fingers, and the dust on him disappeared. _"There."_ Then he pointed at the television screen. _"Anyhow, the system has been fixed. Let us proceed to the fourth and last brawl, shall we?"_

The screen showed the two lists of Smashers. _"Our Smashers shall be…Marth! Who shall be fighting…Bowser!"_

The two chosen Smashers looked at each other. "Bring it on, you big turtle," Marth muttered, patting the hilt of his sword to check if it was still there.

"You'll regret saying that, Marth!" the king of the Koopas roared indignantly.

_"As for the stage,"_ Master Hand interrupted, bringing an end to the quarrel and watching the list of stages scroll, _"it shall be…Summit!"_

"WHAT?" the two Smashers shouted.

Summit was a stage that was located on a, well, summit of Icicle Mountain. The stage had slippery ledges and many small slopes. After a few minutes into the brawl, the Summit would break off and start sliding down a snowy hill, then splash into the ocean. A polar bear ("We still don't know why he's in shorts and sunglasses," admitted Popo) would climb to the top of the Summit stage and stand there for a few moments. His weight would push the iceberg deeper into the water. Occasionally, a huge fish would leap out of the water and snap at the Smashers, trying to eat them up and make them lose a life. Then the Summit would magically rise up and reattach itself to Icicle Mountain, along with the polar bear. And the whole cycle would start all over again, except this time the polar bear would get swept away from the Summit as it zoomed down the hill, then land with a _crash_ as the Summit floated in the sea.

To summarize it all: It was a terrible place. At least, to Marth and Bowser.

Marth hated it because his cape of royalty always got wet there, and he was afraid that his sword would rust because of all the water there.

Bowser hated it because his flames would be quenched.

"I _hate_ that place!" said Bowser. "If we fall into the water, then we're pretty much done for!"

"And it's really slippery, too!" Marth complained. "When you start running, you'll slip and fall, allowing your opponent to blast you off while you're sitting!"

"Then get up quickly," Ike said simply.

"What if I slip as I get up?"

"Get up quickly again."

"And if I slip again?"

"Get up quickly again."

"And if I slip again?"

"Get up quickly—"

"ALL RIGHT!" Darkrai bellowed, poking his head back through the door. "It's bad enough that I'm being pursued by Cress—YAGH!" He ducked as a Psycho Cut attack went spinning over his head. "As I was saying," he went on, standing back up after glancing over his shoulder, "it's bad enough that I'm being pursued by Cresselia, so why make it even worse by arguing over a pointless subject—in this case, slipping on ice? YAAGH!" He ducked again, then bolted just as Cresselia appeared.

Master Hand stared after the two Pokémon. _"…Hm. Ahem. Let us begin the brawl."_ He turned to Marth and Bowser. _"This brawl will be a two-stock match, and the only items available are Poké Balls and the Smash Ball. You _will_ use the Poké Balls, will you?"_

"But of course!" Marth said. "Let's see what other big Legend pops out of them, shall we, Bowser?"

"You bet!" Bowser agreed. "And you're the one who's gonna get hit by them!"

_"The first Smasher to go past the left and right boundaries, fall off the stage, get blasted into the sky, or self-destruct loses the brawl. Understand?"_

The two Smashers nodded.

_"Excellent!"_ Master Hand was about to snap his fingers when…

"FOR THE GODLY SAKE OF ARCEUS, CRESSELIA, _STOP—ATTACKING_!"

Lucario turned to the thunderous voice. "My Aura Sight is telling me that that was not Darkrai. Hm. It's Dialga!"

"Eh?" Pikachu was so surprised that he fell on his bottom as he whipped his head around. "But I thought he can't fit there?" Then it dawned upon him. "Don't say he's got a human form, too!"

"Pikachu, _all_ the Legends have human forms," Lucario said, annoyed by the cluelessness of the Mouse Pokémon.

"Well, you didn't tell any of us except Yoshi yet," Wario sniffed.

"Hello, guys!" shouted Sonic impatiently, running three circles around the Brawl Room in one point two seconds. "I don't think it's been long, but did you know that the Marth-versus-Bowser brawl is eleven minutes late?"

_"Ah!"_ said Master Hand. _"I apologize. Now, let us begin!"_ And he snapped his fingers.

-ooo-

A ring of light appeared on the top- and leftmost ledge of the Summit stage, from which Marth appeared, swinging his sword. On the opposite side at the bottommost place, Bowser stomped out of a pillar of flames, causing the stage to quake dangerously from his weight.

"You'll be having some competition with that polar bear, Bowser!" Marth said. "You'll push us both down before the battle has even begun!"

"Oh, _really_!" said Bowser.

"Yes, really!" Marth yelled. "Now, let us get this brawl started before Summit goes crashing down and throws us off! Oh, and don't you dare to use your Fire Breath move!"

"Oh, shut up!" Bowser snapped. "This ice can't be melted!"

Marth shrugged. "Whatever you say, Bowser."

_"Three!"_

Bowser clenched his large hands into fists.

_"Two!"_

Marth lifted his sword arm.

_"One!"_

The two Smashers braced themselves for the first blows.

_"FIGHT!"_

-ooo-

Silently, Snake shut the door behind him and locked it. "All right, you two. You sure nobody's in this room—your trophy room?"

"We're sure!" Ness replied. "Before we entered, I did a quick intruder check." He looked thoughtful. "Maybe I should ask Jeff to install an intruder alarm or something…"

"Will those 'intruders' include me?" Snake asked warily.

"No!" said Lucas, looking shocked. "But then, Jeff will ask why Snake should be able to get in… Hmm. Maybe the intruder alarm isn't such a good idea, Ness."

"Yeah, that's true," Ness agreed. "Anyhow, let's get started on the game-making!"

A few minutes later, the three of them were clicking and typing away on their laptops.

"Hey, you two," Snake said after a little while.

"What?" asked Ness, eyes glued on his laptop screen.

"We have to make sure that there are absolutely _no_ glitches. We also need to make sure that the graphics are great. And we need music."

The sounds of clicking and typing stopped.

"And we need to ask the other Smashers if it's okay if we borrow some of the music from their games; for example, _His World_ from _Sonic the Hedgehog 2006_ or the main theme from _The Legend of Zelda_ or _Meta Knight's Revenge_ from _Kirby Super Star_. And we need to ask the folks down at Animal Crossing if it's okay if we borrow some music from the _Animal Crossing_ games as well."

Silence.

"And, of course, we'll need to compose a theme song for the game we're making right now. Not to mention some medleys of the theme song and other songs related to this game."

"…Uh-oh," said Lucas. "Any of you guys good at composing music?"

The other two both shook their heads.

"But if we ask another guy, we'd spoil the secret!" Ness groaned with frustration. "Jeez, this is going to be tough!"

"And if Master Hand finds out we'd been keeping this big of a secret, he'll blow!" Lucas added. "Argh!"

Snake did not say anything.

_Talking to him about this will be kind of…difficult…_

-ooo-

Marth, being the speedier Smasher, dashed forward, hopped off the ledge he was standing on, and struck Bowser's left arm with a quick slash of his sword. Bowser lunged forward for a punch, but Marth quickly dodged that by jumping back to the top of the stage again.

"Come now, you great big turtle, you can do better than that!" Marth taunted.

"SHUT UP!" Bowser used Whirling Fortress, spinning up and landing next to Marth on the ledge. Then he grabbed Marth and leaped into the air.

"No, you won't use Flying Slam on _me_!" Marth tugged his arms free from Bowser's grasp and conked him on the nose with two fast punches. Bowser yelled, releasing Marth, and toppled back onto the ground.

"You'll pay for that!" Bowser chucked a Poké Ball that was at his feet at Marth.

_Bang!_ A Torchic came out.

_"Torchic!"_ peeped the cute Pokémon. Knowing what would happen next, Marth ran from the little Pokémon.

_Whoosh!_ A Fire Spin attack gushed out of the Torchic's body. If Marth had stayed there, he would have been trapped in the flames, allowing Bowser to give him more damage. Bowser jumped down onto the bottommost part of the stage, and there the two Smashers began to strike.

Marth used his Dancing Blade attack, first swinging it onto Bowser sideways, then up, and finally five consecutive slashes downward. Bowser retaliated with his Fire Breath, breathing out a plume of fire, and then slammed into Marth with his Whirling Fortress move.

_Rumble…_

_ZOOM!_

"Whoa!" Marth tumbled into a wall of ice. Had it not been there, he would have fallen off the stage. "The Summit has cracked off Icicle Mountain!"

It was true. The stage was now sliding down the icy, snow-covered hill, gaining speed as it zoomed down, down, down. Poké Balls that lay forgotten in the frenzy of Marth and Bowser's brawl went flying off the stage. Faster and faster it went, whizzing toward a shimmering, blue body of water filled with little icebergs of all sizes—the sea.

_SPLASH!_

Marth ducked behind an ice wall, getting only a few drops of seawater on his clothes. Bowser was not so lucky.

"COLD!" he bellowed, trying to get rid of the water on his body. "Damn, why must this water be so—COLD!"

"Simple," Marth said, standing back up and drawing his sword. "We're near the South Pole."

Then a polar bear in shorts and sunglasses climbed to the top of the Summit stage.

"I take that back," Marth corrected. "We're near the _North_ Pole. Otherwise we would be seeing some penguins."

The polar bear stopped and gazed at the view. The sky was blue, the clouds were small, the sun was bright, the sea was cool, and—

"THE STAGE IS SINKING!" screamed Marth and Bowser.

For the next few minutes there was a lively scampering for the ledges at the top of the Summit stage, which involved Marth stepping on Bowser's nose and Bowser's tail whacking Marth in the face. Eight Poké Balls—two of which were near Marth's hand—were ignored as the two Smashers clambered up onto the ledges.

Both of them were just in time.

_SPLASH!_ A huge ugly fish, rusty orange in color, leaped out of the water and took a snap at Bowser's left foot, who had not completely managed to climb to the top of the ledge.

"Aagh!" The Smasher quickly lifted his foot, but the fish's teeth grazed his toes a little.

_SPLASH!_ Once again, it shot back out—and snagged Bowser's entire left foot.

"Help me!" he blurted without thinking.

Marth, safe on the ledge way above the fish and its victim, just sniggered. "You think?"

And he threw a Poké Ball, which ricocheted off Bowser's already bruised nose and opened up to reveal a Bonsly. _"Bonsly!"_

"Ugh!" Marth groaned as he lifted the thirty-pound Pokémon. "Go…Bonsly!" he shouted, tossing it onto Bowser's snout.

_BONK!_

"EEAAAGH!"

-ooo-

"What a great way to die," said Pikachu. "Eh, kind of disgusting, too."

"I thought _we_ ate fish," said Toon Link, swinging his sword around, "but it seems like the fish are starting to chow on us now, huh?"

"Marth had better be careful now," said Ike. "His damage is over a hundred. I hope that fish doesn't like the taste of Altean princes…"

"He won't get eaten by that ole fish for a long time," Sonic said, pointing at the screen. "Look, the Summit is floating back to the top of Icicle Mountain."

-ooo-

Hopping off the Revival Pad and landing back on the stage with an almighty _crash_, Bowser's red eyes flared at the sight of Marth.

"You're gonna pay for ruining my nose five times—two times by punching, the third by your foot, the fourth from that Poké Ball, and the fifth from the Bonsly," he growled menacingly.

Marth simply rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Sure, sure. Whatever you say, you spiky turtle of a Smasher."

Bowser dealt a quick blow to Marth lightly slashing the latter's right shoulder with his claws. In retaliation, Marth threw a Poké Ball by his foot at Bowser.

_Bang._

_"ARRTICUUNOOOO!"_

-ooo-

"Holy Arceus, that's Articuno, the Legendary Freeze Pokémon of the Kanto region!" shouted Red. "It's the Ice-type member of the Bird Trio, and it can cause blizzards just by flapping its wings! You know all those snowstorms that blunder us during winter? That's caused by Articuno, who can freeze the water moisture in the air and make snow fall from the sky!"

"Whoa," said Wario. "It's a pretty chilly fellow, eh?"

-ooo-

The Articuno glared at Bowser with its cold, red eyes and gracefully soared into the air. Its ribbon-like tail brushed Bowser, and he was instantly frozen by the touch.

"Amazing!" said Marth to himself. "Articuno has to be very powerful if it could freeze Bowser by a simple sweep of its tail… Amazing…"

Then flakes of snow began to fall. Marth looked up.

_I remember peeking into Red's Pokédex and happening to find the entry for Articuno. It said that Articuno was said to bring doom to lost travelers in snow-capped mountains, and the travelers would disappear. Nana thinks that Articuno, like Kyurem, eats its victims. I hope that isn't true._ He nervously looked at Bowser. _But if it is… I wonder if freeze-dried Bowser is on its menu…?_

Suddenly, a blue bolt of ice flashed down from the sky and struck Bowser. Instead of deep-freezing him, he broke out of his frozen state and roared, "GAH!"

The Articuno reappeared and landed by Marth's side, just as the floating stage began to rise back to the top of Icicle Mountain. It gently nuzzled Marth's shoulder and disappeared into thin air.

-ooo-

"That was Ice Beam!" Red explained to the other Smashers and Master Hand. "It's an Ice-type move that is Articuno's favorite attack…I think. Sometimes, it could freeze the opponent."

"Hmm," said R.O.B. "Articuno ought to be a little less cold-hearted. And cold-moved. Did you see how everything it does causes something cold to happen?"

-ooo-

Bowser swiped at Marth, who was completely unprepared for the blow and was sent hurtling back and landing some fifteen feet away from where he had been a second ago. "Ouch!"

But Bowser didn't stop there. He used Bowser Bomb, leaping high into the air and slamming down on Marth with his bottom.

As a result, Marth flew past the left border and disappeared.

"Yes!" Bowser did a quick but clumsy victory dance and roared twice, just for the fun of it.

_Rumble…_

Bowser stopped prancing around.

_ZOOM!_

"NOT AGAIN!"

At that moment, Marth returned on the Revival Pad, his damage back to zero and fully reenergized. He stepped down from the Pad in a very princely manner and said, "Well, hello, my good turtle friend. It seems like the Summit has cracked off the, well, summit again! I wonder where that Smash Ball has gone off to…?"

Then a glowing ball appeared in the air.

"…I guess you got your answer. SMASH BALL!" Bowser clambered toward the precious little ball and used his Fire Breath on it. It sailed away and came to a stop near Marth, who used Dolphin Slash and gave it a good hit. However, it still did not crack a bit and rested above Bowser's head.

Then Bowser gave the Smash Ball a nice, good swipe and punch.

All at once, rainbows exploded around the Smasher and changed his fiery red eyes into a shimmering gold.

"TRANSFORM!"

It was like watching a tree grow in fast motion. Bowser shot up and up, growing wider and taller. The horns on his head grew long and curved with points you just could not get out of an electric pencil sharpener. His red eyes flared with fire and energy, and his claws and fangs grew into foot-long daggers of brutal ferocity.

A moment later, he had become a beast of destruction, the one who put terror in all Smashers' hearts.

Giga Bowser!

_SPLASH!_

Marth paled, turning into a sickly shade of gray. _So, other than facing Giga Bowser, we landed in the sea with that ugly fish that eats Smashers for lunch…_

Giga Bowser roared and gave the Altean prince a massive swipe with his dagger-sharp claws. The latter managed to dodge this, but then the monster that was Bowser retreated into his shell and spun like a top. An icy blizzard of hail gusted around Bowser, and Marth was caught in the worst part of the blast. Partially frozen, he raised his sword and did two quick Dancing Blade attacks on Bowser's feet, but of course that did not work. Bowser as Giga Bowser was practically invincible, even to an army of Legendary Pokémon that came marching out of Poké Balls.

_Right! The Poké Balls!_

Luckily, there were four of them right next to Marth. He picked them up and tossed them at Giga Bowser, one by one.

_Bang!_ A Chikorita came out, its leaf flapping in the wind.

_Bang!_ A Deoxys in its Attack Forme came out.

_Bang!_ A Piplup appeared.

_Bang!_ A…_Zapdos_ came out?

-ooo-

"Wow, a Zapdos!" shouted Red.

_Even though he'd pretty much been shouting about new Poké Ball Pokémon throughout every brawl with Poké Balls, his voice still hasn't gone hoarse yet,_ Yoshi marveled.

"That's Zapdos, the Electric Pokémon," said Red, calming down a bit. "It's the Electric-type member of the Bird Trio of Kanto. While Articuno's wings cause blizzards, and Moltres' wings create a brilliant flash of flames, Zapdos' wings cause summer thunderstorms. It's a Pokémon that flees a lot when coming upon a Pokémon Trainer in Sinnoh. I don't know why."

"Probably because it doesn't want to get caught in a cramped little ball," said Popo.

"Hey, the interior of a Poké Ball is really comfortable!" Red retorted. "It may not _look_ like it, but it's got the Pokémon's habitat in it."

"That's right," Ivysaur agreed. "I have a nice, grassy area in my Poké Ball."

"In mine, a refreshing bunch of water!" yelled Squirtle.

"And in mine, an area of hot lava which does not bother me at all, as I am a Fire-type!" said Charizard.

"Okay, I guess I really need to ask your professor—isn't his name Professor Oak or something?—how a Poké Ball works. And what its interior is like. Isn't Oak the guy who invented Poké Balls?"

"No, he was the guy who invented the _Pokédex_, Popo."

"…Oh. I get it."

-ooo-

"All right!" Marth hollered. The three Pokémon he summoned from the Poké Balls positioned themselves in the air (or, in Chikorita and Piplup's case, on the icy ground). They faced Giga Bowser as he came charging toward them.

"Stay back, stay back, and…FIRE!"

Piplup slid toward Giga Bowser, riding a wave of water, and crashed into the Smasher with a Surf attack. Chikorita began twirling around the large leaf on its head, sending out a barrage of Razor Leaf attacks that sliced at Bowser's huge feet. Deoxys soared into the air and let loose its chaotic Hyper Beam, shooting down a beam of concentrated energy onto Bowser's back. Zapdos flew into the clouds and disappeared.

Then the white clouds turned into a stormy shade of gray.

_What? That lightning bird is bringing a thunderstorm?_ Marth thought, bewildered.

Well, not quite.

_ZZAAP!_

A powerful bolt of lightning flashed down from the black clouds and struck Giga Bowser, electrifying him from horns to toes. He roared with rage and pain.

_"Pip, piplup!"_ the Water-type Pokémon chirped, waddling from Bowser to avoid getting crushed by his big food. It let fly a blast of water from its beak before vanishing.

_"Chikorita!"_ The Grass-type Pokémon dashed away from the lightning-covered Bowser. It launched one more Razor Leaf at the Smasher's foot before it left the stage.

-ooo-

"The move that Zapdos used was Thunder," Red told the others in the Brawl Room. "It's similar to ThunderShock and Thunderbolt, only intensified in power and destruction. Occasionally, it paralyzes foes, causing them to be unable to attack for a little while."

"What a _shocking_ experience that would be!" Captain Falcon remarked.

Everybody laughed at the pun.

-ooo-

Deoxys decided to stay around for a bit. It looked up to see the Electric Pokémon called Zapdos descend gracefully from the sky, occasionally letting out small sparks out of its wings as it flew down and landed next to Marth. The prince patted it on the wing (getting slightly electrified as he did) and told it softly, "Good job, my friend."

The Zapdos gave an appreciative caw, then disappeared.

Just then, Deoxys' eyes widened. It pointed downwards with one of its four arms before soaring into the sky and out of view. _"Deoxys!"_

Somehow, Marth understood it and heard a strange, echoing voice in his head: _"Fish!"_

"Fish? What fish—AAAGH!"

For at that moment, the ugly orange fish leaped out of the water and chomped at Marth. Marth quickly rolled aside, just as Giga Bowser transformed back into Bowser.

"You survived," he grumbled, clearly disappointed.

"Yes, so? AAGH!" Marth took a step back, then began hammering the fish on its ugly orange nose with his fist. "Bad fish! Naughty fish! If you do not want earn any more bruises from my fist or some scars from my sword, Falchion, you had better BACK OFF!"

Surprisingly, it worked. The fish gave a bubbly sound that sounded like a whimper, then dived back into the sea before Marth could give it one last prod with Falchion.

"Impressive," said Bowser. "You just got rid of one of our problems." He glanced at the polar bear who was now basking in the sunshine and sinking the stage. "Now, how do we get rid of _that_ guy…?"

Then the lights dimmed.

And a small ball of all colors appeared.

"What? But…" Bowser was stunned. "How…?"

"Never mind about 'how'," said Marth. He brandished his sword. "SMASH BALL!"

He sprung at the ball, slashing at it with Dancing Blade. Bowser dived for it as it came flying toward him and attacked it with Flying Slam. Marth went chasing after the ball and stabbed it with Falchion. Then Bowser lumbered toward it and slammed onto it with Bowser Bomb.

The ball, still not showing any signs of weakening, hovered directly above the two panting Smashers.

_Come and get me, I am right here…_

Bowser tried to use Whirling Fortress to smash open the ball, but then Marth jumped up, used the Koopa king's nose as a spring, and hacked at the Smash Ball with Dolphin Slash.

_Crack._

A flood of rainbows engulfed Marth, turning his eyes into a magnificent gold. The polar bear, who had been watching the whole scene, took off his sunglasses. He stared, eyes widening, and squeaked out something like "Eep" before diving into the sea for safety.

Marth raised his glowing sword…

"Your end has come, you great big turtle of a Smasher!"

…and lunged.

"CRITICAL HIT!"

_SLASH!_

"NONONONONOOOOOOO…!"

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

Tired and breathless, the two Smashers were transported back into the Brawl Room, greeted by a swarm of Smashers who cheered and clapped.

"Awesome, Marth! Didn't know that your sword could give such quick and hard hits!"

"Bowser! Great job! I loved the brawl!"

"I didn't know that Falchion could land that hard of a blow, Marth… Congrats!"

"You _must_ teach me how to handle a sword! And how to deliver a one-hit KO blow!"

"Bowser, what would happen if you were Giga Bowser and you ate a Super Mushroom…?"

"Giga Bowser plus Super Mushroom equals pandemonium."

"Shut up, mathematician."

_"Ahem!"_

The babble of talk died down, and every Smasher turned to face Master Hand.

_"Marth, congratulations on your victory."_

Marth beamed. "Thank you, Master Hand," he said, shaking the hand's finger.

_"Now, Bowser," _Master Hand said, turning to the fuming Smasher, _"please do not feel too saddened by your loss in this brawl. You will win next time."_

Silence greeted Master Hand.

_"_…_Bowser…?"_

At last, the Smasher looked up, the fiery light of disappointment and anger dying from his eyes. "That's right. I can't give up hope." A grin spread across his face. "I gotta train! And then I'm gonna succeed!"

Marth shrugged. "I hope you can do it, you t—er, Bowser."

He waited for Bowser to unleash a wave of fury upon him, but the Koopa king simply nodded. "Thanks…for two reasons."

"Hm?"

"Number one, for supporting me. Number two, for not calling me 'turtle'…almost."

Marth blushed. "Oh, sorry. It nearly slipped out of my big fat mouth, didn't it?"

Everybody laughed. All was well.

- ooo-

"Marth! Over here!"

Ike waved at him from a distant table in the cafeteria, and he walked over with his dinner to join.

"Thank goodness I was third in line!" the prince groaned. "Did you see how long the line was for the sushi?"

"Good thing I wasn't there," agreed his friend. "I was getting the rice. Here comes Pit!"

The angel came and sat next to Marth. "Good game, Marth! Ike and I decided not to have a swordfight in the courtyard today; we didn't want to miss out your brawl. We'll have a ten-minute duel tomorrow evening, okay?"

"Sure, Pit," Marth said.

Two tables away, Lucario was anxiously looking around the cafeteria with his Aura Sight. "That's…very…funny…"

Pikachu looked at him, popped an oran berry into his mouth, and said, "That sure doesn't sound like the 'funny' kind of funny."

"Of course not." Lucario reopened his eyes. "Three Smashers are missing."

Red cocked his head. "Just three Smashers? No one else?"

"No one else. All the Assist Trophies are here, excluding Metroid. All the background characters are here, all the Poké Ball Pokémon are here, Master Hand and Crazy Hand are here, and all but three Smashers are here."

"Well? Who are those Smashers?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Let me see…" The Aura Pokémon did a quick scan of the cafeteria again and answered, "Snake, Lucas, and Ness."

"Snake!" Mario shouted, dropping his burger into a pile of ranch-covered salad. "I-a knew that somebody was-a missing from this-a table!"

"I wonder-a where he-a went to-a," Luigi mused before biting into his apple. "He's-a always here!"

Lucario stood up. "I'll go look for him. Pikachu, don't you dare to steal my berries, or you'll have to prepare for a very painful and gruesome punishment," he added, and the Electric-type Mouse Pokémon, looking quite sheepish, took his paw away from a pecha berry in Lucario's dinner tray.

Lucario made his way through a crowd of Assist Trophies, past an argument between Sonic and Shadow, and out the door of the cafeteria and into a corridor. He began walking toward Ness and Lucas' room.

_I'll search for them first. They are epic failures at trying to avoid detection._

He turned left into another hall.

_I wonder what Snake and those two boys are up to. Ever since Sunday night, they've become a great deal quieter—maybe not _so_ great, Lucas—and they were sometimes missing from some places._

He turned right and walked straight.

_And the three voices I heard this morning sounded suspiciously like those three… Why didn't I use my Aura Sight…?_

At last, Lucario reached the EarthBound room. He knocked the door. "Hello?"

No answer.

"May I come in?"

No answer.

"Hey, anybody in there?"

No answer.

And there _wasn't_ anybody in there, which Lucario discovered after looking around with his Aura Sight. And then he heard a shuffle.

He whirled around, paws glowing with aura power. "Anybody there?"

There was silence. Lucario still was not satisfied.

"Honestly, I heard something, and I swear by Arceus' name that I will blast you out of there with a fully charged Aura Sphere!"

Nothing stirred for a moment, but then the figure of a man walked out of the dark shadows. In the dim light of the lanterns on the wall, Lucario found out who it was. "Snake?"

"…Yeah, you caught me."

For some reason, Snake looked and sounded uncomfortable—hesitant, even.

"Hey, there, Snake… Is there something wrong?" Lucario asked.

Snake nervously glanced over his shoulder. Without turning back to Lucario, he replied, "Nothing."

Lucario was not fooled. "Yes, there _is_ something wrong here, Solid Snake. Tell me, what is it?"

Snake faced Lucario, his black eyes looking anxious. "…No, really. There's nothing…wrong…"

Lucario watched him carefully. Was he actually…_fidgeting?_

Then he did something he had never dared to do before.

He pried into Snake's mind.

He had done this many times, especially while traveling through Subspace. Sometimes they had to rely on the knowledge of an enemy, but which one could be trusted? So Lucario read their minds to see if they were lying or not. If they were lying, the Smashers would send them flying.

As he poked around in Snake's mind, he was surprised to find it well secured. There was not a single hole anywhere; everything was blocked.

Then Snake's face contorted into that of rage. He charged at Lucario and knocked him down with a sturdy blow.

Lucario landed with a heavy _thud_ on his backside. He gaped at Snake.

_Did he just…_knock_ me down?_

His mind was suddenly empty, except for burning flames of anger. He growled and prepared to kick at Snake.

The fire within him faded away.

_No… I can't fight back my best friend. Even if he attacked me, I shouldn't… It's just so wrong…_

He looked up to see his friend looming above him, his gray eyes glowing with fury.

"Don't try to read my mind," the mercenary spat.

And he turned around and walked down the hall, away from the EarthBound door and a bewildered-looking Lucario.

-ooo-

"LUCARIO!" Jigglypuff exploded when the Pokémon returned to the cafeteria table. "What took you so long? I was getting worried! You didn't get caught by Metroid, did you?" Then she stopped. "Uh… Something wrong?"

Lucario stared blankly, not seeing nor hearing.

Jigglypuff frowned. She hovered above the table and in front of Lucario's snout, clapping her stubby little hands to get his attention. "Oi! Hello, there! Wake up and smell the oran berries and the coffee…that is, if you like coffee! HEY!" she screamed so loudly that a group of Assist Trophies five tables away turned to glare at her.

Lucario blinked, then gave Jigglypuff a fleeting look before turning away.

Pikachu clambered onto his shoulder. "Lucario! What happened? Did you find Lucas or Ness or Snake—Lucario?" he asked when the Aura Pokémon gave a sudden jolt at the sound of the mercenary's name. "Lucario? Hey, mate, what's up? Did something happen between you and Snake?"

Lucario's red eyes gazed sadly into Pikachu's black ones.

"…No, nothing's wrong," he lied.

For the rest of dinnertime, he did not utter a word to anybody at his table—much less to his old friend, Solid Snake.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Oooh… A fight between best friends! What will happen to Lucario and Snake?<em>**

**Lucario and Snake:** …

**_…Well, whatever you say…or don't say… What will happen to Darkrai?_**

**Darkrai:** _*mockingly thoughtful*_ Well, let's see. I'll get chased by Cresselia, maybe get trapped in a Trophy Room, and get pulverized by her psychotic Psycho Cuts. Happy?

**Cresselia:** Yes! _*starts chasing Darkrai*_

**Dialga:**_ *sees the chase and groans*_ NOT _AGAIN_!

_**…Okay. That's great. And what will happen to Crazy Hand?**_

**Crazy Hand:** _*cheerfully*_ Easy! Master Hand will hunt me down and drag me away! Isn't that right, Master?

**Master Hand:** Exactly. _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_See you next time in Chapter 8 of _Life at the Mansion_!_**

**_Credits to Bulbapedia and for information about Articuno and Zapdos. **_Credits to the Smash Bros. DOJO‼ website for information about the _Poké Ball_ _Pokémon's moves!__**  
><em>**

**_And remember to review!_**


	8. A Friendship Restored

**_Hello, everybody! It seems as though I have finished Chapter 8 early. Sorry if I must keep you waiting! Well, anyway, on with the story of the Smash Brothers. Enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: I, he, she, it, and they do _not_ own the Super Smash Brothers or anything related to the Smashers. I repeat, do _not_ own them!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: A Friendship Restored<strong>

* * *

><p>The rest of the week and the weeks after that were full of the usual schedules. Master Hand sent groups of Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters on missions, and had two random Smashers battle each other on a randomly picked Brawl Stage. Only Poké Balls and Smash Balls were used, for everybody wanted to see what new Pokémon would explode from the ball. In the Smash Mansion after Monday's four brawls, every Smasher was complaining about what an unexpected Poké Ball released, and what that Pokémon used on the Smasher.<p>

On Tuesday, Pit was complaining that his back felt sore; Mr. Game & Watch had summoned a colossal Rock-type Compressed Pokémon Gigalith that had used Rock Blast on him, hitting him with boulders the size of cars five times in quick succession.

On Wednesday, the moment Sonic and Zelda's brawl on the N's Castle stage had finished, Sonic was gone, dashing madly for the swimming pool and screaming about how uncaring the Fire-type Vast White Pokémon Reshiram was for roasting his quills.

On Thursday, Mario was arguing to Master Hand after his brawl with Wario; Wario had thrown a Poké Ball that released a Psychic- and Fire-type Victory Pokémon Victini that gave Mario a guaranteed loss of one life, which Mario thought was clearly unfair because he was the one who lost the first life.

And on Friday, Squirtle officially declared that he hated Serperior, a Grass-type Regal Pokémon that blasted an all-out Leaf Tornado straight into his face as he fought Diddy Kong on the Green Greens stage that would have plowed into Red if it hadn't been for a box that fell from the sky and shielded him from the attack.

Two weeks later, though, after all the new Poké Ball Pokémon had been introduced by Master Hand, everybody knew what was going to happen when so-and-so Pokémon came out of a Poké Ball, and they braced themselves for the impact.

The result?

More brawl time.

It was now Saturday afternoon of the third week after the week of the presentations of the new Pokémon, and Ness and Lucas were getting worried as they anxiously stood in the doorway of their room.

"You don't think he forgot, do you?" Lucas asked.

Ness shook his head. "He never forgets!"

"Maybe he's hanging out with somebody," Lucas suggested.

"Or maybe he _did_ forget," Ness mused.

The two psychic boys waited for another five minutes.

"You know what?" Ness asked. "Maybe we should go look for him. It's fifteen minutes past the time we were to meet and do the game."

"Good idea," his friend agreed. "We should separate. I'll go to the library. You can go to the observatory."

"You got it."

The two boys walked through the hall and reached the stairs. Ness looked at Lucas.

"See you," he said, and climbed up.

Lucas remained on the first floor. He watched Ness go, then walked on through the hall.

He went past the Brawl Room, where Yoshi was watching Luigi do some training on the Spear Pillar stage against a horde of Alloys.

He went past the movie theater, where Falco was kicking at the somewhat broken Xbox 360 while Fox, Wolf, Pikachu, Shadow, and Silver waited impatiently for Sonic to pick a video game to play.

He went past the courtyard, were Marth, Ike, and Pit were dueling, as always.

He was nearly at the library when a voice behind him said, "You bored?"

Lucas whirled around.

Darkrai, in his human form, was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed, a casual pose. Did he just _appear_ like that?

"Oh, yeah, kind of," Lucas replied after a moment of hesitation, still pondering over his question. "You?"

Darkrai shrugged. "Cresselia decided to stop chasing me at the moment, so I was on my way to the library when I saw you. What are you doing?"

Then Lucas remembered. "Hey, have you seen Snake anywhere?"

Darkrai opened his eyes. "Snake?"

"Yeah, Snake. I'm looking for him, and Ness is, too, but we can't find him anywhere!"

"Why do you need him?"

Perfect. Just perfect. Darkrai had just asked the question that Lucas had been hoping for him _not_ to ask. Actually, for _nobody_ to ask. Ever.

"Well, uh, you see," he began nervously, "we're, er, kind of working on a big, um, well, project."

The Pokémon raised an inquisitive brow. "Oh?"

"…Um, so that's why I need Snake," the Smasher finished lamely.

Darkrai watched him with unsure eyes the color of ice, which caused Lucas to feel very awkward under the gaze of the Legendary Pokémon.

"…Hm," said Darkrai at last. "Well, you've come to the right person—or, should I say, Pokémon. I saw Snake wandering around at the door of the Pokémon's room."

"The Pokémon's room? Why'd he be there? Dialga will trample him to death!"

"No, no, not the _Poké Ball_ Pokémon's room, I mean the Pokémon _Smashers'_ room."

"Oh, really? Thanks, Darkrai!"

"No problem, Lu… Lucas?"

But the Smasher was already gone.

Darkrai stared at where the boy had been just a split second ago. Then he blinked twice and started walking down the hall toward the library.

"And I thought _I_ was the only one who could appear and disappear like that," he said to himself, chuckling lightly.

-ooo-

Snake hovered at the door of the Pokémon Smashers' room. He was torn between several choices.

_If I knock, he may answer it, and I can tell him about that incident two weeks ago._

_Then again, he may get me back for what I did to him._

_What should I do? What should I do?_

He paced around, unable to make up his mind. He could hear Jigglypuff going nuts over her _Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia_ game as always, and Pikachu shouting at his victory over the Elite Four, whatever that was. He could hear Red playing the White Version of Pokémon, and Ivysaur, Charizard, and Squirtle arguing about which of them could defeat something called XD001 in the least amount of time.

"Quit calling it 'XD001'; it makes it sound like a science project!" shouted Squirtle.

"But it _is_ a science project!" Ivysaur yelled. "Well, sort of—"

"SHUT UP!" roared Charizard. "Hey, you know what? Let's just pretend that all this talk about 'XD001' never happened and start over the conversation with the name 'Shadow Lugia', because saying 'XD001' over and over again is going to make my brain blow!"

Okay, that explained who this "XD001" character was.

One thing still troubled Snake, though: The only voice he did not hear was Lucario's. Was he even _in_ the room? Or was he avoiding him altogether?

"Hiya, Snake!"

Snake turned to see Lucas walking toward him, grinning. "What's up?" the boy said loudly. "I was looking for you every—"

The door opened.

"What's going on here?" asked Red suspiciously, looking at Snake and Lucas. "Snake? Loitering outside a Smasher's door is kind of…uh…rude, you know."

"Eh, sorry," the mercenary muttered. "I was kind of looking for…somebody. I thought he'd be here."

The Pokémon Trainer still looked suspicious. "Well, who're you looking for?"

"…Lucario."

"Sorry, he's not here," said Red. "I think he's in the movie theater, watching Sonic play _Sonic the Hedgehog 2006_ as Shadow. Some other Smashers and Shadow and Silver are watching, too. I think the male members of Team Sega and Mario and Luigi and Marth are there, too. Oh, and Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell."

"Hm. Well, thanks."

"Hey, no problem." And Red shut the door.

"Why are you looking for Lucario?" Lucas asked Snake. Then he looked horrified. "You aren't going to tell him about the game, are you?"

Snake stared. "Wh-what? Of course not!"

"Then why are you looking for him?"

Snake hesitated. "…Well, I just…you know…wanted to…talk to him."

"Oh. Okay." Then Lucas' expression brightened. "Hey, want to work on the game? I'll get Ness!"

Snake shook his head. "…No, I don't really feel like working on it today…"

Lucas' face changed from excited to astonished. "Wait, whaaaaat? But why?"

"I… I just don't feel like it," the mercenary mumbled, walking off and leaving the mystified PSI-powered boy behind him.

-ooo-

"Gee, Sonic, you're a failure," Shadow said as he watched Sonic, playing as Shadow the Hedgehog, battle Mephiles the Dark. "Use Chaos Boost _now_!"

"Calm down, Shadow!" Sonic made the Shadow character use Chaos Boost, increasing his power. "All right! Combo attack, _go_!"

The Shadow character dashed toward the momentarily stunned Mephiles and kicked him multiple times before the latter fled. "Gah! So close! He's only got, like, _that_ little bit of HP left!"

"Watch it!" Lucario warned. A horde of Mephiles clones had begun to swarm the area. Sonic guided Shadow around and away from the clones.

Then Mephiles flew into the ground.

"Oh, come _on_!" hollered Sonic when colossal shadow creatures emerged from the ground. He made Shadow run toward the closest one and defeat it with a combination attack and complained, "I've had enough of you shady ol' monsters! TAKE THIS!"

Pikachu clutched his ears. "Please…quiet down… I don't want another guy to make me deaf…"

"Who's the other guy?" Fox asked as Sonic proceeded to beat up the monsters.

"Eh, Mew. And that was after she stole a sack of sugar from the kitchen."

"Oh." Fox nodded in understanding. "I think I see what you mean."

Silver watched as Sonic unleashed his wrath upon the shadow monsters. "…I think I sort of know why that _Sonic the Hedgehog 2006_ was such a failure in the market…"

"Huh?" Mario asked. "What-a do you mean-a?"

"Well, you see," Knuckles explained, "they say online that this game got lots of negative critics…for example, the length of time it takes to load. And the angle of the view is annoying. Lots of reasons why this game failed."

"Then-a why're you still-a playing it?" Luigi inquired.

Shadow shrugged. "To pass time, I guess."

"I don't really like it," Marth admitted. "Let's get out…oh, I don't know…_Sonic and the Black Knight_ after this. I like games with swordfights!"

"That's because _you're_ a swordsman yourself, Marth," Wolf pointed out.

Sonic defeated all the creatures, and then Mephiles reemerged. "Now you'll learn the meaning of 'ouch'!" And he made Shadow blast Mephiles with a powerful Chaos Blast, overwhelming the villain and instantly defeating him. "Yeah! All right! Results screen, please!"

A moment later, the results appeared. For this stage, Sonic had earned—

"A _C_?" The blue hedgehog was enraged. "Are you kidding me? Why, I ought to…"

He sprung at the Xbox, only to be stopped by Wolf.

"Seriously, you gotta calm down," Wolf told him, restraining the Smasher from jumping onto the Xbox. "I mean, it's not like you _failed_ or anything—"

"SURE, SURE, SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT! BUT A C IS STILL A C!" Sonic would have demolished the already half-dead Xbox right then and there if it had not been for Shadow and Silver, who leaped into action and held him back with Wolf.

"Look, Sonic, I also got a C after completing this stage," Shadow said. "It's because Mephiles is always escaping up there where you can't reach, and thus you get a low score. Don't feel bad."

"Yeah, when I tried out Shadow's Story, I failed at this part, too!" said Silver. "I wish Shadow had some move that could reach that far, or knock down Mephiles and onto the ground."

"I hate this game!" Knuckles proclaimed, pretending to kick at the Xbox. "I just couldn't get a good score on this stupid stage! Aargh! I'm outta here!" And he stalked out of the theater.

Sonic was still having his temper tantrum, not seeming to hear the other two hedgehogs' encouraging words.

"A _C_! After all my effort, this is what I get, a _C_—"

As the three hedgehogs bickered over the results of the stage, Lucario grimaced. "Pikachu, I think I'm going to stay away from the movie theater until those three resolve their, uh, argument. Okay?"

Pikachu, gripping onto his ears as if they were lifelines, did not respond. Lucario sighed. "I think I'll take that as a 'yes.' See you, Pikachu."

He made his way through the theater seats and went out the door, unknowingly passing a dark figure hiding behind it…

-ooo-

Snake made sure that Lucario was all alone before running out of his hiding place behind the door. When he ran out of his hiding spot, Pikachu stared at him.

"Where'd _you_ come from?" he yelled over the din of Sonic, Shadow, and Silver's argument.

Snake yelled back, "I was, uh, watching Sonic play the game! But I, er, have to—"

Thankfully, Pikachu cut him off before he had to explain any further. "What? I can't hear you! Speak up!"

"THEN UNCOVER YOUR DAMN EARS!" Snake roared.

"WHAAAAAAAT?" Pikachu bawled. "LOUDER! SPEAK—UP! I—CAN'T—HEAR—YOU—"

Snake was getting ready to strangle the Smasher right then and there. Then he changed his mind. Master Hand wouldn't have like that at all.

"Forget it," he muttered, walking out the door. Even when he was thirty feet away from the theater, he could still hear Pikachu shouting:

"OH, ARCEUS, SHUT UP, YOU SPIKY HEDGEHOGS! GOOD LEGENDARY ALPHA POKÉMON, LOWER YOUR VOICES BEFORE I GO DEAF! I ALREADY FEEL CONKED OUT IN MY LEFT EAR, YOU KNOW! SONIC, QUIT SCREAMING, 'OH, I GOT A _C_' OR ELSE I'LL GET CRAZY HAND TO DUNK YOU INTO RAYQUAZA'S LAKE—"

_"Say what?"_ asked an excited voice. _"C'mon, Blue Blur, let's-a go…_swimming_!"_

"Shut up, you Mario copycat—"

"NONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOO! LEMME GO, LEMME GO, LEMME GO—!"

Snake watched as Crazy Hand dragged a flailing Sonic out of the theater, straight through the wall of the corridor, and out of sight. Shadow and Silver went out of the theater and watched them go through the wall.

"That should hurt Crazy's fingers," said Shadow.

"Funny, it always ends like that whenever Sonic gets a C," Snake commented.

"And it always ends up like this," Silver said dryly. Then he turned and called, "Master Hand! Crazy Hand made a hole in the wall again."

A groan sounded from somewhere at the end of the hall. _"As if I did not have enough work to do already,"_ the hand sighed as he flew out of his office, snapped his fingers to fix the hole, and back inside his office without another word.

-ooo-

Lucario ran through the hall, searching for the stairs that led to the observatory at the topmost floor. He nearly stepped on a Goomba that shrieked indignantly and head-butted him—hard.

"Goombas," the Aura Pokémon muttered as he ran awkwardly down the hall because of the lump that grew on his left leg. "What a bad mood that one was in. I wonder if Mario or Luigi accidentally threw fireballs at it. Or maybe Wario farted on it, or perhaps Waluigi whacked it with his tennis racket. Or maybe Darkrai freaked it out by appearing out of nowhere with his Shadow Travel, or maybe Cresselia almost chopped its foot off with one of her psychotic Psycho Cuts because she got pissed off by Darkrai. Hmm."

He eventually reached the stairs, but before he could put one toe on it…

"Wait!"

He turned to see a figure clad in a camouflage suit that was laden with modern-era weapons of all kinds. Lucario growled when he recognized the person.

"Lucario!" shouted Snake. "Hold on—"

"What do you want?"

The Pokémon's unwelcome tone made Snake skid to a halt when he was ten feet away from him. "Lucario, I…"

Lucario narrowed his eyes. "Yes?"

"…I…well…"

The mercenary took a deep breath, then blurted out, "I'm sorry."

"Whoa, wait, let me get this straight… Wait, _what_?"

"I'm sorry," Snake told Lucario firmly. "You know, about that thing on Monday two weeks ago. I shouldn't have pushed you so roughly. May I explain why I did that?"

Lucario nodded to show Snake that he wanted Snake to go on.

"You see, Lucario," the mercenary said, "Ness, Lucas, and I are sort of working on…something. We'd been keeping it a secret all this time, and then we found a big problem."

Lucario waited.

"We needed a music composer."

Lucario raised his brow. "I see."

"So we were thinking about who to talk to about this project, and those two boys couldn't think of anybody. But I did. I was thinking about you. Remember that time, while traveling through Subspace, when you told me that you were a decent composer?"

"Yes. So?"

"So…I would like to let you into the secret. Want to hear it?"

Lucario put his right ear next to Snake, who did a quick check around the stairs and the halls before bending down and whispering into Lucario's ear.

The Aura Pokémon's red eyes widened. "Are you _serious_?"

"Shhh!" the mercenary hissed. "We must keep it a secret, even from Master Hand. Do you swear it?"

"Yes, yes. I swear by the name of the legendary Alpha Pokémon Arceus that I, Lucario, shall keep this secret as a, well, secret, and help Ness, Lucas, and Solid Snake compose music for this game."

Snake chuckled. "You didn't need to be so elaborate, you know."

"Oh, and by the way, Snake…" Lucario said slowly.

"Yeah?"

"…I'm sorry."

Snake looked at him, stunned. "What for?"

"For trying to read your mind," explained Lucario. "I wonder what made me do that. Do you call reading a best friend's mind _nice_?"

"Do you call me stupid? Do you call my hair white? Do you call sugar salty? Of course not!"

The two reunited friends laughed.

"So," choked Snake, struggling to stop his chortles, "let's go work on Project Secret Game!"

Lucario snorted. "What a lame name. Oh, I almost forgot…"

He kicked at Snake. The latter's legs buckled, and he went down onto the ground.

"W-w-what was that for?" spluttered Snake, scrambling back up.

Lucario grinned. "Oh, just paying you back the knock-you-down favor. Of course, that was unintentional."

Snake smirked and mockingly got mad. "Oh, unintentional, my butt! Ah—never mind. Nothing intended, nothing with my butt. Mm-hmm. Everything's all right."

For the next minute or so, the hall was filled with the two friends' guffaws as they made their way down the hall in the direction of Ness and Lucas' room—together.

A friendship restored. Things were back to normal.

-ooo-

"Go _away_, Resetti!"

The said Assist Trophy just shrugged his shoulders at a very irritated Fox and Falco as he sat in his hole, his pickaxe on his right shoulder. "Meh, what am I doin'? I ain't botherin' ya, am I? I'm just mindin' my own business here in the hall 'cause I think I saw a leakin' pipe under this floor you two are standin' on right now. No biggie. Speakin' of pipes, there was a total of five leakin' ones I counted just yesterday, and don't expect me to fix 'em all just 'cause I'm the underground type of guy! I mean, sure, I got a pickaxe and a knack of fixin' things under the Smash Mansion, but I can't fix every single one of 'em, you know. I'm not the construction worker of the mansion, and I'm not the repair mole, either—"

"Do us a favor, Resetti," Falco cut in. _"Shut up!"_

The mole was taken aback by the Smasher's sudden outburst. Then he shrugged again. "Yeah, yeah, I get whatcha mean, Smasher. No more talkin', Resetti. You gotta listen to those tough ol' Smashers. Humph. If they had just a little bit more manners, I'd be a whole load happier than right now—"

"SHUT UP!" shouted Fox, whipping out his Blaster and pointing it at Mr. Resetti.

Mr. Resetti nearly hopped out of his hole in shock. Then, shouldering his pickaxe, he said, "Whoa! You playin' police now, eh? Guess I gotta go. Remember: durin' those brawls of yours in the Brawl Room, NO RESETTING! All righty-o, that was that. Well, I guess I'd better SCRAM!"

And he dived into his hole and covered it up until it didn't look like there had been a hole there just one second ago.

Falco stared at where Mr. Resetti's hole had been. "'During those brawls of yours in the Brawl Room, no resetting'?" he asked Fox. "How could you reset a brawl?"

Fox shrugged, Blaster still pointed at the hole in case Mr. Resetti came popping back up. "You can't. That mole speaks gibberish."

"Okay…" Falco looked at Fox. "Talkative, is he?"

Fox nodded as he pocketed his Blaster. "Yeah. Kind of useful during brawls, though. Sometimes he says nothing but gibberish, but other times he gives some useful tips! Remember a few weeks ago?"

"Right," said Falco. "He popped out of his hole when I opened the Assist Trophy, and after he said a whole load of malarkey about being treated like an item he told me, 'Now see here, Lombardi. You fightin' ol' R.O.B., I see… Hit that boxy ol' head of his with a nice kick and you'll give him a headache! I hope you win, Lombardi of Team Star Fox! Whoops-a-daisy, looks like R.O.B.'s mad. Now SCRAM!'"

Fox laughed. "Yeah, I remember that very well. You sound just like him."

His best friend beamed. "Hey, thanks a bunch, McCloud." Then he chuckled and, in Fox's face, screamed, "Now SCRAM!"

Fox stared. Falco grinned.

"Just jokin', McCloud. Should I scram now?"

Fox smirked at him. "You'd better, Mr. Resetti the Second."

And he chased him all the way up to their room.

And all the while, "Mr. Resetti the Second" was practically singing as he raced up the stairs with Fox hot on his tail:

"Remember, McCloud, NO RESETTING! All righty-o, I guess I'd better SCRAM!"

-ooo-

"Hey, Brewster!"

The pigeon looked up from the coffee cup he was drying and smiled, seeing Marth, Ike, and Pit entering his coffee shop, The Roost. "Good afternoon, Smashers. How is life at the mansion?"

"It's great, friend. Three coffees, please." Pit sat on a stool at the booth in front of Brewster, and Marth and Ike sat on either side of him. "Marth had a brawl against Bowser about three weeks ago… Marth totally flattened that Koopa king!"

Brewster winced as he prepared three cups of coffee for the Smashers. "I'm not the type of bird who enjoys watching fight scenes, but I must say that I am impressed, Marth. Did Bowser get the Smash Ball before you?"

"Yes," answered the prince. "But I survived, thanks to some Pokémon…and an unexpected one, too."

"Unexpected one?"

"Well, you see, my friend," Ike explained, "Master Hand secretly recruited some new Pokémon for the Poké Balls, three of which were used as background Pokémon for a new stage called N's Castle. Most of the new Poké Ball Pokémon are from the region of Unova. Some of the Pokémon are Legends. And those three background Pokémon are Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem, the 'big Legends' of Unova."

"'Big Legends'… Sort of like the way Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina are the 'big Legends' of Sinnoh?" Brewster asked, sliding three cups of steaming coffee toward the Smashers.

"Exactly," agreed Pit, accepting his coffee. "I just don't get why Spear Pillar has Cresselia instead of Giratina. Don't you catch Cresselia at a place called Fullmoon Island?" He drained his cup in one gulp. "Ahhhh… Excellent as always, Brewster!"

"Master Hand put Cresselia there because in the games, you can't catch Giratina at Spear Pillar, I think." Ike sipped his coffee and continued, "You find Giratina in a place called the Reverse World, another universe directly opposite the Pokémon world. It's depicted as an ultimate world where there's no solid ground where it might be expected and mirror images of scenery is in vertical symmetry with itself. According to a man named Newton Graceland, it's a location of which is exactly opposite of the world of reality. The force of gravity in this world gets weaker or stronger depending on the subsequent areas or locations.

"The Reverse World has a direct and symbiotic connection to the Pokémon world; even though these two worlds work side by side, they don't intersect at all. When there are imbalances in the real world, it takes in abnormal pollution from the Pokémon world, which takes the form of poisonous clouds and then corrects them to maintain the balance between time and space. Do you know what happened a few years ago?"

Marth, Pit, and Brewster, still struggling to recover from their states of shock by Ike's sudden lecture about the Reverse World, shook their heads.

"There was a raging battle between the deities of time and space, Dialga and Palkia, respectively. Their battle destroyed a lot of the area where they were in, which was Alamos Town. Because of all this destruction, tons and tons of poisonous clouds formed in the Reverse World.

"This enraged Giratina. When the battle was resolved, it was still intent on having its revenge on its two relatives.

"A few years later after the Dialga-versus-Palkia business in Alamos Town, Dialga took a break from its dimension and went to a lake to have some water. Giratina appeared through a portal in the lake it created from the Reverse World and pulled Dialga in. Giratina wanted to punish Dialga, and it would've succeeded in doing so if it hadn't been for a Pokémon called Shaymin. See, Shaymin absorbed some of the poisonous clouds and smoke around it and used its signature move, Seed Flare, which ripped a hole in space and time, creating a portal back to the real world. Dialga escaped through the portal along with Shaymin, but it closed before Giratina could get through.

"There was a man called Zero who wanted to have Giratina's powers for himself and rule over the Reverse World. In a state of madness (I think), he started crashing through ice pillars and blasting out various features of the Reverse World with an aircraft of his. The wrecked ice pillars caused a glacier in the real world to crack and start sliding toward a village a few miles away. Now do you see how important the connection of these two worlds is?"

The others did not answer; instead, they were busy gaping at Ike.

"Good God, Ike," said Marth at last, setting down his now empty cup of coffee. "Ever since when did you become the second Professor Oak?"

Ike blushed. "Actually, Red told me all this. He got all this information from his friend Ash Ketchum." He finished his coffee and asked, "Have you heard of him?"

"Well, of course!" exploded Pit. "He and that Pikachu of his saved the world, like, how many times? Twenty? Thirty? More? Humph!"

A voice at the door giggled. _"You make it sound like he's doing way too much work."_

A small Pokémon entered The Roost. It had a small, slender body and bore some resemblance to a dog. The light green fur on its head appeared to have shifted into a mohawk. Its paws were the same shade of green as its head fur, and it had two red flower petals on the right side of its neck, looking like a scarf or cape. On either side of its head were flat, white wing-like ears, and on the front of its neck it had a small ruff, and on its back a stumpy tail.

Ike stood up. "Shaymin?" he asked disbelievingly.

The Pokémon scratched its ear. _"What do you think I am, Giratina?"_

"Hi, Shaymin!" greeted Marth, getting off his stool and letting Shaymin sit on his head. "How's life?"

Shaymin frowned. _"Boring,"_ he replied in his telepathic voice. _"That's why I asked for permission to join the Smash Brothers as a Poké Ball Pokémon. Won't that be great?"_

"Of course it's going to be great!" agreed Pit enthusiastically. "I wonder what big, destructive move you'll unleash. Seed Flare, I bet."

_"I hope so,"_ said Shaymin. _"But I can't tell you, because that's cheating! I'll need to talk to your boss Master Hand about my move."_ Then he looked panicked. _"Is Giratina here?"_

"Not that I know of," said Brewster.

The Gratitude Pokémon breathed out a sigh of relief. _"Oh, good. I hope he's not mad at me…or Dialga or Palkia. I still remember that fight a few years ago."_ He shuddered. _"Oooh, that was _terrible_."_

The three Smashers, Brewster, and Shaymin chatted on until a rumble a thunder was heard.

All of a sudden, a boy with spiky yellow hair with streaks of black, Zapdos-like wings on his back, and wearing an electric-yellow shirt burst into the coffee shop.

"Not my fault!" he shouted frantically. "It's just a regular thunderstorm, okay?"

Shaymin groaned. _"Zapdos, we know it's not your fault. Now go away or you'll get wet. Even in your human form, you wouldn't like that, would you?"_

"We'd better go, too," said Marth to Brewster as the Zapdos human ran off. "Master Hand will start wondering where we went. Good day, friend."

"Same to you," replied the pigeon, starting the process of shining his coffee cups. "Thank you for visiting The Roost! And you'd better hurry on to the mansion to avoid the rain. Shaymin won't like it."

_"No, not at all,"_ agreed the little Grass- and Flying-type Legend.

-ooo-

Tails peered out of the window of his room. "Good thing Crazy Hand returned you here before the rain began, Sonic."

The blue hedgehog, water dripping from his quills as he sat shivering in a bundle of towels, just grumbled something unintelligible.

"Sorry, what was that, my dear Sonic?" asked Amy. She, Cream and Cheese, and Blaze were visiting the male members of Team Sega's room for a little bit.

"I said, the lake's worse than the rain," Sonic muttered. "It's like having rain pouring on you from every single side, not missing a spot on your body. Not to mention that there was a snorting Rayquaza staring at me and the lake's probably _ten whole degrees colder than rain_!" he shouted.

"Sonic, I think you should take swimming lessons," said Shadow, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed. "If you don't ever get over your hydrophobia, you'll be living a very miserable life. How did you get past Soleanna, anyway?"

"Just because it's also called the City of Water doesn't mean I can't run through it and save Elise from Eggman…and Mephiles and Iblis and later Solaris," Sonic pointed out.

"Oh, poor guys," said Knuckles suddenly at the window with Tails.

"Poor guys?" echoed Silver.

"There are two people out there running through the rain without umbrellas or raincoats," explained Blaze. "They look like Link and Toon Link to me."

"Yeah, it's them, alright… Ha! Look at them go!" Tails started laughing.

Shadow's ears perked up. "What is it?" he asked, joining Tails, Knuckles, and Blaze.

Cream suddenly realized what Tails was laughing about. "…Oh, I see what you mean, Tails…"

Out in the rain, Link and Toon Link—nearly at the Smash Mansion—were holding their shields over their heads like makeshift umbrellas. They reached the mansion, groped for the entrance's handle, and burst inside. Then the three hedgehogs, the fox, and the echidna heard the sound of a large door downstairs slamming shut, and then the very annoyed complaints of the two Smashers.

_"Chao, chao, chao, chao!"_ squeaked Cheese, zooming happily through the room and around everybody's heads, especially Cream's. _"Chao, chao!"_

"Not much," Silver said, "but better than nothing."

"A great deal better than my old predicament at the lake with Rayquaza and Crazy Hand," muttered Sonic darkly. "Good thing Rayquaza just had its lunch and wasn't grumpy."

-ooo-

Snake led Lucario to the EarthBound trophy room. "We're using Ness and Lucas' trophy room as our hideout for the game. Hardly anybody goes in except Jeff, but it's only him and we can easily deal with that, can't we?"

"Right," said Lucario. "Are we almost there?"

"Yes, very close… Aha."

Quietly, Snake knocked the door three times. Because Lucario was a Pokémon and his ears were more sensitive than a normal humans, he heard a great deal of shuffling and running around. Then a wary voice that sounded like Lucas asked, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Solid Snake, a mercenary with an IQ of 180 who fluently speaks six languages and used to work in the FOXHOUND organization until it was taken over by Liquid Snake," said Snake promptly.

The door to the trophy room creaked open an inch. Snake marched right in, beckoning Lucario to follow.

_Apparently, that big speech is his password to this room,_ thought Lucario.

Five feet away from him and Snake, Ness and Lucas seemed to be having a quiet argument. Lucas shook his head and walked toward Snake.

"Yeah, right." He snorted. "Just a couple of hours ago, you told me you didn't want to work on the game because you didn't feel like it. Ha! And now you come back…and…you…" He had just noticed the Smasher at Snake's side. "…Oh, jeez…"

Ness looked utterly horrified.

"Snake…" he began, "Snake, what have you _done_?"

Snake calmly gestured toward Lucario. "Ness and Lucas, say hello to our new partner, Lucario."

"SNAKE!" Ness yelled, joining Lucas. "I thought—we told you—you promised—"

"Now, don't be so flustered," ordered the mercenary. "And please be quiet before anyone has to report us all to Master Hand and land us in detention. I wouldn't like that, and neither would you. Anyway, you know how we needed a composer? Well, here he is."

"Um, hi…" Lucario said nervously. Then he brightened. "Well, let's get this game on the road, I guess!"

Lucas cocked his head. "You _sure_ you won't tell anybody? And absolutely _no_ blabbing to Popo. Remember how disastrous that secret about the Greaps' weak point went?"

"Yes," said Lucario. "They started putting armor on the Greaps' red heads. Arceus, what trouble they were! We had to jump onto the Greaps' heads, smash out the armor, smash their heads open, then smash their brains out, and all the while they were slicing and dicing us like we were the lettuce for a salad…" He grunted. "Phooey."

"So anyway," Snake said, "let's get on with the game-making. I want to finish this as soon as possible! Everyone in the Smash Mansion will start wondering why Lucario, Ness, Lucas, and Snake are missing most of the time now. I'll start editing the glitches we've found so far. Ness, you can go out and ask the others if we could have permission to borrow their games' music; just make sure you don't make the question sound too suspicious or else they'll start wondering. Lucas, you can start adding in the items and more characters and rules on how to play the game. And Lucario, how about writing down what you've got so far for the game's theme song's words. Oh, do you think…"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Yay! The ice between Lucario and Snake has melted. What do you think?<em>**

**Lucario:** It's great to be friends again.

**Snake:** _That's_ how I like it. _*grins*_

**_Hey, that's great! What will happen to Sonic?_**

**Sonic:** …Hey, Shadow?

**Shadow:** Hm?

**Sonic:** If you don't mind…get me a heater. Now. I need to get this water off as soon as possible. Which, in other words, means _now_.

**Shadow:** Pfft. Why should I listen to you?

**Sonic:** Because I'm the main character of Sega and I'm a Smasher and I told you to. Get it.

**Shadow:** _*silence*_

**Sonic:** Then I guess Blaze can warm me up. C'mon here, Blaze. You're much more important than that ol' grumpy Ultimate Life Form.

**Shadow:** _*hotly*_ Okay, FINE!

_**…Oh. Okay. And what will happen to our abnormally crazy friend and counterpart of the Smash Mansion's master, Crazy Hand?**_

**Crazy Hand:** I dunno. Master, do you know what will happen to me?

**Master Hand:** Why, of course I do, my dear counterpart! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_See you next time in Chapter 9 of _Life at the Mansion_!_**

**_Credits to Bulbapedia for information about every Pokémon mentioned in this chapter other than Lucario. Oh, yeah, and information about the Reverse World and the eleventh **_Pokémon_** movie, _Giratina and the Sky Warrior_.  
><em>**

**_And please review!_**


	9. Color Craze

**_And here is Chapter 9 of the story! Prepare for a looooooong chapter! Enjoy!  
><em>**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Super Smash Brothers. Period. Thank you!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Color Craze<strong>

* * *

><p>"Gee, it's getting awfully boring here," said Mr. Game &amp; Watch, gazing through his window to see the pouring rain. "We can't go outside, and I can't visit the Smashville Museum of History because I can't find any of the umbrellas. I think Crazy Hand snapped them all. What do you think we should do, R.O.B.?"<p>

R.O.B. shook his head. "Nothing I can think of. Should we go to the Mario Brothers' room and play New Super Mario Bros. with them?"

"Maybe. You know what? Let's go. We don't have any decent Wii games in our room…"

"We _do_ have Mario Kart," R.O.B. pointed out.

"Sure, but we both already unlocked every single Cup there is, and we beat all the times we were supposed to beat. Let's try New Super Mario Bros. I call Mario."

"Hey! You were Mario last time!"

"Ah, but I'm best at him."

"So what you're saying is that you being Mario is better than Mario being Mario?"

"Yep."

"How about you being Luigi with a Fire Flower to shoot out fire from Luigi's hands or you being Luigi with an Ice Flower to shoot out ice from Luigi's hands better than Luigi being Luigi with a Fire Flower to shoot out fire from Luigi's hands or Luigi being Luigi with an Ice Flower to shoot out ice from Luigi's hands?"

"…Okay, now you've lost me. What did you say, two times slower?"

"Never mind," R.O.B. said. "Let's pay the Mario Brothers a visit."

The two Smashers left their room and made their way through the hall toward the Mario Brothers' room, still bickering.

"…don't like being a Toad, but you've never been one—"

"That's because I'm best at a Player 1 Mario—"

"Excuse me? You led us all into a fire pit once!"

"But we all had at least five lives—"

"Sure! But we all turned into bubbles at the last minute, including you! So we all died and it was all, like, GAME OVER—"

"Look, everybody has to make a mistake once in a while, and besides, that was just a game—"

"Remember Mario? He was all, 'Mama mia! We-a died when we were-a so close to Bowser Junior's-a wreck of a castle! Mr. Game & Watch, you'd-a better practice being-a me! Mama mia!'"

"OKAY, WHAT_EVER_! Now let's both shut up as we pass Link's room and hope that he isn't in there, waiting for the right moment to behead us!"

"But I am RIGHT HERE!"

"EEEEEEEEK!" screeched Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B. as they fled for their lives from the terrible Hero of Time who was brandishing his Master Sword as he raced after them in pursuit.

-ooo-

"And he's off!" cheered Toon Link. Though an hour had passed since he and his older counterpart had gotten caught in the midst of the storm, his tan hair, hat, and clothes were still somewhat wet. "Zelda, can I borrow your hairdryer?"

Zelda rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Well… What's the magic word?"

"Magic word? Um… _Abracadabra, alakazam!_"

"Toon Link—"

"Wait, wait, wait, no! Is it…_hocus pocus_?"

"Honestly—"

"Whoa, no, that wasn't right. You said 'magic _word_,' not 'magic _words_.' Hm, now what could that—"

"TOON LINK, WILL YOU NOT GIVE ME A CHANCE TO SPEAK?"

"Here we go again," Ganondorf sighed as Zelda launched into a full-volume lecture about letting others speak.

"…LET OTHERS SPEAK IF THEY WANT TO, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE MUCH OLDER THAN YOU AND WHEN THEY ARE OF ROYAL BLOOD! DID YOU NOT NOTICE ME TRYING TO SPEAK? WHY DID YOU SIMPLY RAMBLE ON AND ON ABOUT THE INCORRECT MAGIC WORDS WHILE I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU A HINT TO THE CORRECT ANSWER, TOON LINK? WATCH AND LISTEN TO THE OTHER PERSON NEXT TIME, WILL YOU? I DOUBT YOU WILL, THOUGH!"

"I'm really, really sorry—"

"NEXT TIME, SORRY WILL NOT WORK! YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY FROM THIS SO EASILY IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN, TOON LINK! I AM WARNING YOU!"

"Hi, there, if anybody needs a hairdryer, feel free borrow mine!" interrupted Peach, waving a pink hairdryer as she walked up to Toon Link. "Here, Toon, you may borrow it for as long as you like. Just don't wreck it, please."

Toon Link gratefully accepted. "Uh, thanks a lot!" He glanced at Zelda, who still looked like she had not fully let out her steam yet. "Um, is it okay—"

"Why, of course it's okay!" said Peach, noticing that look on Zelda's face as well. She took Toon Link's hand and strode away with him. "Come along, now, my room's not that far… Oh, and if you want some cookies, I just made a fresh batch, fifty of them—no joke! They're sitting on the counter in the kitchen, and if you want some you'd better get there before Kirby and Yoshi do… Goodness, what pigs those two are…"

Ganondorf watched Peach and Toon Link disappear. At last, he uncovered his ears and carefully said to Zelda, "Well, that's that. Come on, Zelda… You aren't going to stand there for the rest of the day, are you?"

"Oh—no—of course not," replied Zelda, looking flustered.

"You caused a big commotion, you know," said Ganondorf. "Everybody will start wondering what just happened."

"Oh…well…" The princess took several deep breaths before turning to the dark king. "Let's go downstairs, shall we? Hopefully, Kirby and Yoshi have not eaten every single one of Peach's cookies yet. And _no_," she added at the sight of Ganondorf's worried expression, "I will _not_ explode if they have done so."

"Then why'd you get mad just because Toon Link was talking too much?" grumbled Ganondorf as he followed Zelda through the hall.

"That's because he irritates me very much. But Kirby and Yoshi… Not that much."

"Oh? Why?"

"Who can stop them from eating an entire batch of cookies?"

"No one, I suppose…"

"Exactly! But can't you stop being consistently annoying?"

"Well, I suppose…"

"Exactly again! Why can't Toon Link ever learn?"

"Come on, Zelda, he's just a kid!"

"Even children must learn. But Kirby and Yoshi aren't, and eating a lot is part of their nature. Otherwise, you'd be fighting a deflated Kirby in your next brawl."

"Hm. I've never thought of that before."

The two Smashers were still chuckling as they went down the stairs and toward the kitchen, where a mouthwatering smell of freshly baked double chocolate chip cookies wafted through the halls…along with the sound of a frying pan banging.

"THAT'S _MY_ COOKIE, YOU FAT PENGUIN!"

_BANG._

"OW!"

"AND THAT'S MINE, TOO!"

_BANG._

"OUCH! Stop it!"

"YOU WILL GET ONE BONK ON THE HEAD FROM MY FRYING PAN OF DOOM FOR EVERY COOKIE YOU TAKE FROM ME!"

_BANG._

Ganondorf smiled. "I believe that King Dedede will go to bed with several…ah, large bumps on his head tonight."

Zelda just giggled.

_Though he used to be my greatest enemy, he could be a good friend to laugh with in the Smash Mansion sometimes…_

-ooo-

Kirby glared as menacingly as he could, frying pan at ready, at a cowering King Dedede who was holding his hands over his head. Nearby, Yoshi, Lucario, Sonic, the Ice Climbers, and Snake were watching, a cookie in each of their hands. It was hard not to laugh when Kirby was glowering angrily at the other Smasher with his entire face completely smeared with the remains of a cookie he had just eaten several moments ago.

"Want your ninth conk on the head, penguin?" asked the Dream Land hero.

"W-w-what?" blustered the Dream Land king. "No!"

"Then you'd better not take my cookie, you idiot of a Smasher! Now get that fat ol' tummy of yours outta here or else…" He swung his pan like a baseball bat.

One second later, all the Smashers could see was the dust and flour trail of the fleeing King Dedede.

Sonic laughed nervously. "Eh… Haha…" He took a bite of his cookie. "Man, dangerous guy you are, Kirby… You'll be a good match for Amy when I say no to one of her…many…dates…"

Kirby grinned fiercely. "I'm a dangerous fellow." He inhaled three cookies and burped.

Lucario stared. "Seriously, Kirby… You'll blow up if you eat another cookie or two!"

"Nah, my stomach's all fine." He threw in another three cookies into his gaping mouth. "Am I hogging the cookies?"

"YES!" said the others in unison.

"If you aren't aware, there are only six cookies left," Snake pointed out. "You ate eighteen. Yoshi ate six. King Dedede ate eight. And we—that is, not including you, Kirby—are holding a cookie each, making six. And you just ate another six cookies. Eighteen plus six plus eight plus six plus six equals forty-four cookies. Fifty minus forty-four equals the six cookies that are left."

"Gee, thanks for the math lesson, Professor."

The mercenary smirked. "No problem. Now cough up."

The smile was instantly wiped off of Kirby's face. "Eh?"

"Cough up," Snake repeated, holding out the hand without a cookie for more emphasis. "There's no such thing as a free math class."

"Oh, yeah?" Kirby argued.

"Yeah!" Snake shot back.

And pandemonium erupted right after that.

Yoshi groaned. "Gee, Snake's really living up to his name as a mercenary…always wanting money."

Popo and Nana looked at each other. "Scram time?" asked Nana.

Popo nodded. "You bet."

They scurried away from the kitchen, just as the Kirby-versus-Snake battle exploded at the place where they were sitting.

Yoshi, Lucario, and Sonic watched the fight intently.

"I'm outta here," Sonic decided. He zipped off at top speed.

"Me, too," agreed Lucario, dashing away.

"Hey, wait for me!" yelled Yoshi. "Owowowow!" he cried when Kirby's foot caught his nose. Sniffling, he ran for it.

-ooo-

In the room of the male members of Team Sega…

"This, that, and that," muttered a lone figure. "Hm. This will get kind of messy. Well, here I go."

He gathered his supplies and marched into the bathroom.

-ooo-

"Sonic!"

Sonic turned to see a certain two-tailed fox flying towards him.

It was Miles Prower, the eight-year-old fox who went by the name of Tails. He was Sonic's best friend and was often considered to be the hedgehog's little brother. He first found Sonic after seeing a blue streak racing past him through the woods in his world; impressed, he had decided to follow, and that was how the two had met and befriended each other. Tails was a unique fox—he possessed two tails, hence his name "Tails", that he spun rapidly like a helicopter's propeller to keep him aloft. Though he was one of the youngest members of Team Sega, he was a mechanical genius whose technological skills were good enough to challenge that of even Dr. Eggman's.

"Hiya, Sonic!" said Tails. "Anything big going on?"

Sonic shrugged. "Not yet. What, you dying of boredom?"

"Yeah…" Tails put his feet on the ground and sat down. "It's kind of boring here when it's raining, especially like that hard." In the silence of the corridor, the two Sega members heard the pouring rain and the occasional boom of the thunder outside. "I was planning to visit Brewster's shop for some ten-marshmallow hot chocolate. Guess I was too late."

"That's right, buddy," Sonic said in agreement, sitting down next to his friend and leaning against the wall of the hallway, hands folded across his chest. "I'm all bummed out, too. I ran from the kitchen 'cause Kirby and Snake started fighting over…something."

"What?"

"Well, you see, Snake did some big ol' complicated math, and Kirby said, 'Thanks for the math lesson, Professor.' And then Snake demanded Kirby to cough up the bucks. Phooey."

All of a sudden, out of the blue, there was yelling from the far end of the hall.

"HOLY MOBIUS, I THOUGHT HE WAS _DEAD_!"

Tails looked at Sonic. "Well, there's the action that hasn't been bugging you yet," he said. "Let's go check it out."

-ooo-

"ARRRAAAGH!" bellowed Knuckles, hurtling toward the hedgehog. His punch missed completely, and his fist got embedded into the wall.

"Gah!" The red echidna struggled to tug his right fist free. "I just hate it when that happens! Why can't my knuckles be go-into-the-wall-proof? _Oomph!_"

He pulled his fist out, landed on his feet, and turned to face the enemy. "All right, you, what now?"

The hedgehog's green eyes stared into Knuckles' purple ones. He chuckled evilly.

"Surprised to see me, Knuckles the Echidna?" he asked. "I have returned to rejoin Iblis…and collapse the flow of time itself."

"Funny you should say it so calmly! Now get your butt outta here before I get your butt outta here! GRAAAH!"

Once again, Knuckles went flying past the hedgehog and into another wall.

The hedgehog gazed at Knuckles and laughed again. "Soon, my friend, we will meet again…"

And he sank into the ground as a shadow and disappeared.

"Gar," Knuckles grumbled, dusting himself off after his brief but intense battle. "What a nuisance."

"KNUCKLES!"

Sonic and Tails came running—though, in Tails' case, flying. "What happened, Knuckles?" Sonic asked. "Who's supposed to be dead?"

"We heard fighting around here while we were sitting in the hall, listening to the rain and talking about boredom," Tails explained to his echidna friend. "Anyway, what happened?"

Knuckles continued to have that fixed look as he carefully stared at the floor. Then, looking up and straight into Sonic and Tails' eyes, he gravely said, "I'm not sure what exactly is going on…but I do know one thing. Sure, yeah, maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I'll bet you all my rings that I just saw and fought and shouted at Mephiles the Dark!"

-ooo-

While the three members of Team Sega were muttering downstairs on the first floor, Popo and Nana were on the third floor in their room, sitting at their computer and surfing the Web.

"Nah, let's try something different now, Nana," said Popo, looking quite uninterested now. "Instead of Sega heroes, let's do…um… What's that company that made Pac-Man?"

"Er…" Nana began to think. "I forgot… Starts with _n_…"

"And ends with _co_," Popo continued. "Oh, yeah, Namco!"

Nana went to Google's homepage, typed in "List of Namco games" into the search box, and clicked "Enter".

"What'll they show, other than ol' Pac-Man?" Popo wondered.

"We'll see once we find out." _Click_ went the mouse on a Wikipedia link. "Ah."

Wikipedia showed a large list of Namco-made games, from the year 1978 to the present.

"'Since its start, when it operated rides for children at a Yokohama department store, Namco has grown into one of the top video game manufacturers in Japan,'" Nana read. "'Its games are known worldwide, both in video arcades and on home video game consoles. Today, Namco Bandai Games is the successor to Namco's legacy and continues manufacturing and distributing video games around the world.' Well, let's see some of these games, shall we?"

For the next few minutes, the Ice Climbers clicked and read about each game.

"There are just too many to read!" Popo exclaimed. Then something caught his eye. "Hey, what's this? _Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlit Museum_. Sounds fun."

He clicked it—and gasped. "Oh, wow!"

On Wikipedia, many topics included a picture. This one intrigued him.

"'_Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum_, English for the Japanese title that literally means _Klonoa of the Wind: Moonlight Museum_, is a video game developed and published by Namco and released exclusively in Japan for the Bandai Wonderswan in 1999. As Klonoa's first handheld adventure, it is the first game in the series to place him in a fully two-dimensional world, and establishes the system that his Game Boy Advance titles will use.' Cool! Look at that guy, Klonoa."

The game character, Klonoa, was a rabbit- or cat-like creature with humongous ears, gold eyes, and dressed in red shorts and a red dog collar around his neck. He wore large, red and white shoes, yellow gloves, and a blue hat with a Pac-Man symbol on it. In the picture, he was pumping his left fist upward as he leaped off from an invisible floor, as if to say, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Nana nodded. "He _does_ look really cool. Let's look and see if there are more related games!" She clicked "Back" and returned to the "List of Namco games" page.

Popo pointed at the screen. "There's one. _Klonoa: Door to Phantomile_." He frowned. "Sounds a little scary, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Let's see it." _Click._

"'_Klonoa: Door to Phantomile_, English for the Japanese title that literally means _Klonoa of the Wind: Door to Phantomile_, is a 1997 platform game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation. The game's story focuses on an anthropomorphic creature and a "spirit" encapsulated in a ring. The game was critically praised, with high sales in Japan, but low sales elsewhere.'" Nana stopped. "Huh. I wonder why." She read on, "'The game was followed by a sequel, _Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil_, along with various spin-off games. An enhanced remake of the original, known as simply _Klonoa_ in Europe and North America, was developed by Paon for the Wii and released on December 4, 2008 in Japan, May 5, 2009 in North America and May 22, 2009 in Europe.'"

"Hey, that Klonoa guy looks different," Popo noted. "Look how large his eyes have got. And look!"

Nana looked. "What?"

"There, in his right hand."

Clenched in Klonoa's hand was a gold ring, a single emerald at the top.

"'…and a "'spirit" encapsulated in a ring,'" Nana recited. "I think _encapsulated_ means encased or something. Oh!" She turned to her brother. "Does that mean…that the spirit thing is _encased in the ring_?"

Popo shrugged. "Guess so. Let's look at the rest of the Klonoa games."

It was fifteen minutes later when they finally shut down the computer after reading the information about _Klonoa: Empire of Dreams_, _Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament_, _Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal_, _Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil_, and _Klonoa Beach Volleyball_.

"Boy, that's a lot of games!" Popo remarked, flopping onto his bead. "I sure want to meet this guy in person."

Nana smiled as she lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to the rain outside. "I do, too."

-ooo-

"Mephiles?" Lucario looked worried. "That can't be true. Bring me along with you; if it's an imposter I can easily find that out."

Sonic gave the Pokémon a thumbs-up sign. "No problem, pal! Just scan his aura and bring on the fight with us. Right, Knuckles and Silver?"

The red echidna and the white hedgehog grinned. "Yeah!"

The group of four set off for their adventure through the mansion.

It was around ten minutes later when Lucario said, "You know, I doubt that really was Mephiles."

Sonic peeked around the corner, then beckoned on his companions. "Why so?"

"Mephiles died, right?" asked Lucario. "Back in 2006. He merged with Iblis, and the two of them changed into that thing—Solaris, isn't it?—and then you, Shadow, and Silver beat him up to a pulp…twice. Then—what's her name?—Elise and you traveled back in time when Solaris was just this harmless little flame of holiness. Elise blew it out, and so everything that happened—from the very beginning of the adventure to the putting out of the flame—was erased as though none of _Sonic the Hedgehog 2006_ had ever happened. Right?"

Sonic frowned as he walked. "It's all so vague. Thanks to the game, though, I know that I lost my memories of meeting Elise and all that…though I remembered her just a bit while she was parading over that river. She looked so familiar… But yeah, that happened. We defeated Solaris and went back home like nothing happened."

"If Solaris is gone, then Mephiles and Iblis are!" Silver said, prepared to lash out with a psychotic telekinetic attack if he saw something in the dimness of the corridors stir. "After all, they _are_ Solaris."

Then Knuckles stopped and whirled around. "Did any of us check our room yet?"

Sonic, startled for a brief moment, shook his head. "Nope. Why?"

Knuckles grinned. "I have a feeling that Lucario's right about this 'Mephiles'."

-ooo-

"There." Knuckles pointed into the bathroom. "I thought so."

Sitting on the counter near the sink were two buckets of…

"Paint," said Lucario peering into one of the cans. "This one's blue-gray." He read the label on the other one. "And this one's metallic tan paint."

Silver picked up a little box. "Is this a container for contact lenses?"

Sonic glanced at it as he paced around the bathroom. "Yeah." He suddenly stopped his pacing, causing Lucario to crash headlong into him, and asked Knuckles, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Knuckles nodded slowly. "I think it's about time we paid our friend 'Mephiles' a visit."

Sonic laughed. "Huh, you're not such a knucklehead after all, Knuckles."

Knuckles growled. "Call me that one more time and you'll regret it."

The group filed out of the room, one by one, and back into the shadowy corridors.

-ooo-

Olimar and his six Pikmin strolled into the Brawl Room. The television screen was on, and the astronaut watched as Marth and Captain Falcon slashed, punched, and kicked out an army of Alloys. In the corner, a clock depicted that there were six minutes and twenty-two seconds left of training.

"Falcon PUUUUUNCH!" shouted Captain Falcon on the screen, sweeping away five Alloys—two yellow, two green, and one blue—with a wave of fire that erupted from his right fist in the shape of a falcon.

"Dancing _Blade_!" Marth cried, slashing at three Alloys' feet with his sword, Falchion.

Olimar turned to face his partners. "Want to do some training after those two are done?"

The six Pikmin nodded their heads excitedly. _"Squeak!"_

Olimar nodded, then poked at each of them. "If you die and turn into colorful Pikmin ghosts, that's your fault."

_"Squeak-squeak…"_

_"Squeak!"_

Olimar glared at the loudmouthed purple Pikmin. "I may not understand your language, but did you say that if I turn into a ghost it's my fault?"

The Pikmin nodded. _"Squeak!"_

Olimar hit its head with his other purple Pikmin. "Say one more thing like that and I'll demolish all of you," he grumbled, turning his back upon the two purple Pikmin who were rubbing the bumps on their heads.

Meanwhile, on the television screen…

"Falcon Kick!"

"Dolphin Slash!"

Another ten or so Alloys were blasted off the stage.

"Falcon…OWWWWWW!"

A Red Alloy had given the Port Town racer a hard kick on the back. The Smasher staggered back onto his feet and waggled his finger at the Alloy in a mockingly stern way. "Now there, you aren't allowed to kick Smashers' butts! Plus, I know you're the Captain Falcon-style Alloy, but my kicks and punches are _my_ kicks and punches! Now you'll pay with a good ol' punch on your own butt! Falcon…PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

The Alloy went zooming off, its bottom ablaze.

Marth roared with laughter. "Ha! Good one!"

Captain Falcon beamed and bowed deeply. "Thank you."

Then he whirled around and set another Red Alloy's rear end in flames.

Back in the Brawl Room, Olimar was chasing his naughty Pikmin around.

"Blue, get back here! Ah, that's better. Hey, Yellow, come back! White, get that Yellow, will you? Thanks. NO, PURPLE, DON'T SIT ON MY HEAD!"

The loudmouthed purple Pikmin squealed indignantly as Olimar slung it off. It hurled through the air and—

_Crash!_

_"Gah!"_

Olimar's hands flew to his mouth. "…Uh-oh."

The purple Pikmin rubbed its head, looking dazed, and stumbled back to its master. Olimar threw it over his shoulder and ran over to Master Hand. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, Master Hand!"

The master of the Smash Mansion picked himself up from the floor, surrounded by a mess of papers. _"Please, Olimar…do not randomly throw around any of your Pikmin at all times. Let alone your purple one. Ouch. My index finger is throbbing."_

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Olimar bent down and picked up one of the papers. "Uh, what's this?" He read it. "A Super Smash Brothers application form for—?"

Master Hand snatched the paper from the Smasher's grasp. _"Yes, an application."_ He picked up the rest of the papers and quickly stacked them into a neat pile in his palm.

Olimar kept his eyes on the papers. "But if that's an application, then does that mean—?"

_"Please, Olimar…this is confidential. Now, run along…"_

"But who're they for?"

_"Olimar…"_

"Is there going to be a—"

_"OLIMAR, MUST I GET YOU OUT OF HERE THE _HARD WAY_?"_

And Olimar and his six Pikmin scattered.

-ooo-

"Mephiles likes to sneak up on people and hit them from behind," Sonic murmured as he and the rest of the "adventurers" tiptoed through the dim corridors, keeping their eyes out for a slight movement in the shadows. "He did that to me, and I died."

"I remember that really clearly," Silver whispered back. "You were then brought back to life by the seven Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, and Lucario walked on. The only sound they could hear was the soft padding of their shoes—in Lucario's case, paws.

"Stop!" Lucario suddenly hissed.

Knuckles rammed into Sonic. "What?"

Lucario put a finger on his lips. "Shhh."

He quietly ran on ahead. The rest of the group stayed behind, puzzled.

Then the air was filled with the sound of somebody tackling another somebody and bowling the latter over.

"Ouch! Stop that! Hey, that's my hand, you dope—OW, my nose!"

There was a thump, then a gasp of surprise.

"Shadow? Shadow the Hedgehog?"

Sonic, Silver, and Knuckles ran forward and found Lucario pinning down Shadow on the ground.

"Hey, Shadow!" Sonic greeted his rival. "Have you seen Mephiles anywhere?"

He said it so casually, it took Shadow a whole minute to figure out what he said.

"M- M-Mephiles?" he stammered. "Are you…sure? I thought—you know—"

"Yes, sir, Mephiles," said Knuckles sternly, crossing his arms. "Seen him anywhere?"

"Uh." Shadow clambered back onto his feet. "No…I think…?"

Silver frowned. "You _think_?"

"Hey, look!" Shadow shouted, pointing behind Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, and Lucario, who all whirled their heads around, shrieking, "Where? Where?"

"Hold on a moment!" screeched Lucario. He turned back to Shadow…

…or rather, where Shadow had been standing.

"That damn Shadow!" cursed the Pokémon. "He's gone!"

"Gone?" Then Knuckles exploded with glee. "YES! My hypothesis must be correct. Shadow's hiding something from us!"

"The paint…Mephiles…Shadow…" Silver gasped as realization dawned upon him. _"Oh!"_

"C'mon!" said Sonic. "Back to our room!"

"Yes, my friend," Lucario agreed. "Oh, and let's get some water balloons. I've got an idea."

-ooo-

The four adventurers arrived once again at the door of the male members of Team Sega's door. "Well, here goes nothing," said Silver, pushing open the door with his telekinetic powers.

A shadowy figure stood before them.

Mephiles the Dark!

The hedgehog regarded Knuckles. "You again."

"Yeah, want a rematch?" the red echidna challenged.

"No fistfights!" Lucario announced. "How do you like balloons, Mephiles?"

He lobbed one of the three water balloons at the hedgehog.

_Splat!_

"You weakling," sneered Mephiles at the other side of the room. "How weak and slow you are. Thanks to Shadow the Hedgehog, I can move at the speed of sound."

"You Shadow copycat…or should I say, copy-hedgehog! That's because of your shoes! Your shoes help you run fast! _I_ can run at the speed of sound _barefoot_—"

"Um, Sonic?" asked Lucario. "Mephiles battle?"

Sonic stopped. "Oh, yeah." He tossed the second balloon, and Mephiles dodged this as well, appearing behind the four adventurers.

"Sonic the Hedgehog." Mephiles' voice was chillingly cold. "Even you, the so-called 'fastest thing alive', are so…slow."

"Oh, really!"

_Whoosh_ went Silver's balloon. It crashed on the wall behind Mephiles and blew up.

_Splat!_

Water gushed out of the ripped water balloon, raining onto Mephiles, whose green eyes widened.

"No," he murmured.

"Is it just me, or are your stripes turning _red_?" Knuckles said.

"…Just you," the black hedgehog muttered before melting into the ground as a shadow and fleeing through the hall.

"SONIC!" Lucario yelled. "Reinforcements!"

The blue hedgehog gave him a quick thumbs-up sign before racing off for another package of balloons.

"All right, Silver and Knuckles," ordered the Aura Pokémon. "Follow that shadow! I know who this guy exactly is…or rather, these _two_ guys!"

-ooo-

Captain Falcon sat in his room at his computer, chatting in the Smash Mansion chat room with Wolf O'Donnell.

_falconPUUUUUUNCH07: so whats up_

_StarWolfMaster1: nuthin much u?_

_falconPUUUUUUNCH07: naw_

_StarWolfMaster1: cant do anything in this rain eh_

_falconPUUUUUUNCH07: nope boring isnt it_

Wolf sent a reply to Captain Falcon's message, but before the F-Zero pilot could read it…

"HEY, MASTER HAND! If you see a hedgehog who looks like Shadow except his stripes are gray, _tell me_! Okay, bye!"

Two seconds later—

_"Ah… Like _that_ hedgehog right there, watching us?"_

One second later—

"Yes! There!"

"No, _there_!"

"NO, _THERE_!"

"Whatever! Oh, _there_! AFTER HIM!"

The loud thudding of several pairs of feet thundered down the hall outside Captain Falcon's door. Annoyed, he turned back to the computer and read Wolf's message:

_StarWolfMaster1: well sure of course its boring when its pouring. hey that rhymed lol_

Quickly, Captain Falcon typed:

_falconPUUUUUUNCH07: ok forget about rain. theres a lot of yelling going on outside my door do u no who they r_

_StarWolfMaster1: not hearing anything…y?_

_falconPUUUUUUNCH07: huh guess theyre just running round my door cuz u r on the 3rd floor, me on the 1st_

_StarWolfMaster1: hold on, i think im hearing stuff_

Captain Falcon waited. Wolf sent another message.

_StarWolfMaster1: yea i hear running & shouting wat do u think is going on_

_falconPUUUUUUNCH07: ill go investigate bye 4 now_

Captain Falcon put the computer on Standby and burst out of his room. "It's time for a nice Falcon PUUUUUUUUNCH!"

-ooo-

"There!"

Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, and Lucario rushed after the black hedgehog around the corner and back onto the fourth floor, where the observatory and rooftop balcony were.

"There he is—ah! Forget what I said. Back down! Stay up there, Sonic!"

They dashed back to the third floor and continued the chase. They were rounding the corner when Captain Falcon arrived, his right fist afire.

"Falcon…PUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

Flames engulfed the hedgehog, who madly ran back up to the fourth floor—right towards Sonic.

Thanks to his lightning-fast reflexes, the Blue Blur did a Homing Attack into the hedgehog's stomach. Failing to regain his balance, the hedgehog went tumbling down the stairs.

"Knuckles! Your turn!"

Knuckles grinned and raised his fists. Covering each of them was a metallic glove with two large, razor-sharp claws. "Shovel Claws!"

The red echidna took a massive swipe and clobbered the hedgehog on the head.

"Silver! Psycho moves, now!"

Silver raised his hands. The markings on his gloves began to glow with an eerie bluish-green light. He aimed his hands at the stunned hedgehog, and a bluish-green light surrounded him.

"Lucario! Water balloons!"

Lucario held up two balloons that were nearly bursting open by the great amount of water they held. He flung one at the hedgehog with excellent accuracy.

_Whoosh… Splat!_

It crashed into the hedgehog, head on! Water dripped from his quills, and…

"His stripes!" exclaimed Sonic at the top of the stairs. "They're turning…red!"

_Splat_ went the second balloon. It gave the hedgehog another nice shower…

The job was done. And the prank was clear.

Shadow the Hedgehog landed on the wet ground with a _thud_. Silver strode over to him and began yelling at him louder than Zelda having her worst temper tantrum yet.

"_SHADOW!_ WHAT THE—WHAT THE BLITHERING _HELL_ IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU FREAKED OUT, SAY, ALL OF US! MEPHILES WAS _DANGEROUS_, YOU BLITHERING DOLT! DAMN YOU AND YOUR DAMN TRICKS! NOW HOW SHOULD I PUNISH YOU? SHOULD I HANG YOU BY YOUR NECK ON A TREE? SHOULD I WHIP YOU A HUNDRED TIMES ON THE BACK, HARD? OR…SHOULD I TIE YOU UP AND THROW YOU INTO KIRBY'S BOILING POT OF VEGETABLE SOUP…"

"And you, too, Darkrai!" shouted Lucario, reopening his eyes after doing a quick Aura Sight scan. "Out of the wall or else you're getting an Aura Sphere to the face!"

Darkrai, in his human form, slipped out of the wall. "Don't get too violent," he said calmly.

"I have the right to!" Lucario retorted. "What's up with that trick? You helped Shadow by pulling him into the ground to do Shadow Travel, isn't that right? Because Mephiles can do Shadow Travel, too!"

"Fine, I admit it. Yes, I was helping him. He couldn't go into the ground, you know, so I helped him by following around and dragging him down when a water balloon came."

"Because the paint on Shadow would get washed off!" said Knuckles.

"Yes," said Darkrai. "Exactly."

Then Lucario grinned. "Oh, Cresselia…" he called.

The Psychic-type Lunar Pokémon instantly appeared before him. "Yes?"

Lucario pointed at Darkrai. "Darkrai stole your last cookie."

Cresselia turned to Darkrai, her lavender eyes flashing dangerously. "Is that so?"

Darkrai flushed, too panicked to say 'no.' "Uh…"

"SAY YOUR PRAYERS TO ARCEUS IF HE HEARS YOU!"

"AHHHHHH!"

-ooo-

Meanwhile, on the first floor near the entrance of the Smash Mansion…

"And there goes Silver, the loose cannon," said Popo, sounding bored. "Let's wait for the North Pole News: _Loud Voice Heard From Smash World_."

Nana laughed weakly. "Eh… Yeah… Haha…"

_Knock, knock._

Zelda turned around. "Did somebody just knock the entrance door?"

_Knock._

"Yes," Link and Tails confirmed.

Saki and Lyn, two Assist Trophies, marched to the door. "Well, don't just stand there," Saki scolded.

"Who would like to wait outside in the pouring rain?" Lyn added. She and Saki threw the doors open.

A blast of cold air met the Ice Climbers, Link, Zelda, Tails, Saki, and Lyn's faces. Lightning flashed in the dark, gray sky. Rain poured down in buckets.

And a figure was standing on the doormat.

It hesitated for a moment, then picked up its luggage and went through the doors. Saki and Lyn closed them right after the figure entered.

Now in the bright light of the mansion, everybody could see who this figure was.

It was a black and white, rabbit- or cat-like creature, dressed in a sky blue T-shirt with a large silver zipper and navy blue shorts. He wore large, red and white shoes with two white straps each, yellow gloves, and a blue hat with a Pac-Man symbol on it. His eyes were a sparkling gold, and on either side of his head was an abnormally enormous, fluffy ear that hung well below his waist. He had two stuffed suitcases on his right side. Clutched in his left fist was a crumpled paper; in his right was a gold ring with a single green jewel—_Sort of like an oversized finger ring with a small Chaos Emerald,_ thought Tails.

_Oh, gosh!_ Popo found himself thinking. _It's _him_!_

"Hi, there," the stranger said, waving to the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background character. "I'm looking for a guy called…uh…" He glanced at his paper. "…Master Hand. Is he here? Oh, and sorry for just walking in without asking…"

Zelda stepped forward. "It's all right," she told him. "It's raining heavily; of course we won't mind letting you in without you asking. Anyway, you have come to the right place, my friend. Welcome to the Smash Mansion. My name is Zelda. These are Link, Popo and Nana, Tails the Fox, Saki, and Lyn. What is your name?"

The newcomer blinked his gold eyes twice and smiled to his acquaintances before answering.

"My name's Klonoa."

* * *

><p><strong><em>And there you are! Long, wasn't it? I hope you enjoyed it!<br>_**

_**Oh, look! A new guy arrives! What will the newbie Klonoa do?**_

**Klonoa:** What do you think? I don't know. I'm new!

**_Hmm. Good point. What were those papers Master Hand was carrying around?_**

**Olimar:** Applications. That's all I know. If I say one more peep Master Hand will be after my blood! Hey, wait. Could they be the _newcomer's_?

**_Heh, maybe! What will Silver do to Shadow?_**

**Silver:** First, yell at him. Next, kick him. Then, punch him. Finally, pulverize him. Ready or not, here I**_—_**

**Shadow:** ACK! _*runs for his life*_

**Silver:** _*chasing after Shadow*_ NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, _EVER_ DRESS UP AS THE DAMN OL' SHADY HALF OF SOLARIS, YOU—YOU—!**_  
><em>**

**_Cursing is strictly prohibited here, Silver the Hedgehog. And where has that Crazy Hand gone?_**

**Crazy Hand:** …Peek-a-boo!

**Master Hand:** I SEE YOU! (Interesting, that rhymed. But now is not the time to say rhymes.) _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**See you next time in Chapter 10 of **_**Life ****at the**** Mansion****_!_**

**_**Credits to the Sonic Wiki for information about Miles "Tails" Prower and Mephiles the Dark. Credits to Wikipedia for information about Namco games and Klonoa!  
><strong>_**

**_And remember to review!  
><em>**


	10. Mansion Tour

**_And here is Chapter 10, yet another ridiculously long chapter! Written in the rookie Smasher Klonoa's point of view!_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these Smashers. They all belong to Nintendo, Sega, and Namco. Sorry if I missed some game companies.  
>Why Namco, you say? Because Klonoa's here!<br>**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: Mansion Tour<strong>

* * *

><p>The nice lady called Zelda and the young man named Link who appeared to be the former's best friend—perhaps even her boyfriend—led Klonoa to a couple of staircases, one leading down (<em>probably to the basement,<em> Klonoa thought) and the other to the second floor and above. The two Smashers went up, and Klonoa followed.

After reaching the second floor his two guides turned right and walked through the hall, beckoning Klonoa to follow. Curious and nervous, he gripped his luggage, ring, and paper tighter and went after them.

"Where are we going?" he asked, catching up with Link.

"To Master Hand, of course," the Hero of Time replied, not slowing down. "New Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and visitors must always see him first before doing anything else."

"Oh, okay, then."

_Master Hand… What a weird name. It sounds like he's not an animal… Maybe he's not even a _person_…_

They eventually reached a polished-looking oaken door with a nameplate at the top:

_**Office of Master Hand**_

Zelda knocked once, then went in with Link. Klonoa uneasily tagged along, unsure of what to do other than follow Link and Zelda.

The spacious office was neat and orderly. There was a large window, showing everyone present that it was pouring and thundering outside. Hanging on the wall was a clock that said it was five thirty-seven PM. A wide desk sat next to the window, and a huge computer that hummed noisily sat upon it. Klonoa could hear the sound of something typing at a rate of over ninety of a hundred words per minute on a rather large keyboard behind the computer.

Link cleared his throat. "Er, ahem. Hello, Master Hand?"

Whoever was behind the computer and typing at an unbelievable speed continued to type and mutter to himself—well, it _sounded_ like a "he".

"Excuse me, Master Hand?" asked Zelda politely. "We have a new…"

"Smasher?" Klonoa supplied.

"Yes, yes," agreed Zelda. "Master Hand, we have here a new Smasher who comes by the name of Klonoa…"

The guy behind the computer sighed. _"At last,"_ he said in a voice that seemed to echo in Klonoa's mind—_telepathy?_ he wondered. _"It is good to know that you were not hindered by the severe weather we are still having right now."_

"Oh, luckily the warp hole dumped me out at the doormat, so I didn't have to do anything."

_"Hm. That is good to hear."_

And then he left the desk and went to Klonoa, who dropped either suitcase onto either foot. He didn't even bother to say "ouch".

A hand. An enormous, white, disembodied hand floated before the just-arrived Smasher.

_"Greetings, Klonoa,"_ said the hand. _"I am Master Hand, master of the Smash Mansion and the Super Smash Brothers."_ He offered his index finger to Klonoa.

The rookie shook it, his gloved hand dwarfed by Master Hand's single finger. "Uh, um, hi…" he said awkwardly, feeling his face burn with embarrassment.

The master of the mansion laughed. _"It is all right, my friend. Many a new Smasher have wondered about my, er, strange body."_

"Your _handy_ body, you mean," Link muttered under his breath, but unfortunately Master Hand overheard the comment.

_"Excuse me, Link?"_

"Uh, yes, Master Hand?" the Hyrulian hero asked as innocently as he could.

_"Would you like to get expelled from the Smash Mansion forever?"_

"Oh, n-no!" Link stuttered, turning bright red. "Um, sorry…" He tripped out of the office, Zelda following him with a strange look on her face that suggested she was trying to hold her laughter.

Master Hand pointed at the door, and it swung shut. _"Now, then. Where were we?"_

"Uh, me coming to the mansion to be a new Smasher or something like that?"

_"Ah, yes. You received a letter from me, did you?"_

"Oh, yeah. Here it is." Klonoa held out the crumbled piece of paper, and Master Hand "glanced" at it.

_"Good. Now, I will have you fill out a Super Smash Brothers application."_ The hand turned back to his desk for a few seconds, then faced Klonoa again, carefully holding a paper and a pen between his index and thumb. Klonoa accepted it, said a quick "Thanks," and took a seat at Master Hand's desk.

"Name…age…career…whatever…" he murmured. "Gotta make sure I don't make a mistake with this ol' pen…"

He proceeded to fill in the application's blanks with his messy scrawl of handwriting.

**SUPER SMASH BROTHERS APPLICATION FOR NEW SMASH BROTHER**

**Name:** _Klonoa_

**Age:** _12_

**Home World:** _Phantomile_

**Weapons (if any):**_Wind Ring_

**Career:** _Dream Traveler — I make sure that people's dreams are OK and not filled with nightmares_

**Partners (if any):** _Huepow_

**Allies (if any):** _Gantz, Balue, Chipple, Pango, Lolo and Popka, Leorina and Tat_

**Enemies to watch out for:**_ Joka, "Poison Claws" Janga, Garlen, Ghadius, Nahatomb_

**Anything to say about these enemies?:** _They all want to enshroud the world in nightmares.__ Another thing — Joka and Janga died when my friends and I defeated them. But then they were__ resurrected by Nahatomb…__  
>Ghadius is, in my opinion, the second-worst big enemy. Nahatomb is number 1. WATCH OUT <em>_ FOR HIM._

**Anything to say about yourself? (Be brief):** _One thing: DO NOT TOUCH MY WIND RING — ANYPLACE, ANYTIME. Period. The end!_

**Why have you come here to join the Smash Brothers?:** _Simple: to make new friends, fight for justice, have a good laugh, and JUST HAVE FUN!_

After filling in the blanks, Klonoa skimmed through the rules. "Rules, rules, rules…" Then he signed the application and handed it to Master Hand. "Done."

Master Hand accepted the paper and put it on his desk. _"Thank you. Now for your room."_ He went to his computer and typed some things. _"You shall share the Ice Climbers' room, on the third floor. Their door has the Ice Climber symbol painted in purple, an eggplant with a face. And I shall have Lucario be your guide for this week."_

"Who're the Ice Climbers? And who's Lucario?"

If Master Hand had a mouth, he would have been smiling at that moment. _"Oh, a couple of jolly-natured twins. You will get along with them very quickly. Lucario is an Aura Pokémon from the faraway region of Sinnoh. He is quite a nice fellow, in my opinion. Now, get going!"_

Klonoa obeyed, and he opened the office's door. "Thanks, Master Hand. Have a…nice and…hopefully sunny day?"

_"Still raining. I suppose I shall have a rather…_wet_ day."_

Klonoa chuckled a bit, then went out—and stopped.

"Oh. Holy Phantomile."

He turned around. "Excuse me, Master Hand, but how are you understanding me right now?"

_"What do you mean by that?"_

"I speak Phantomilian. Are you speaking that, too?"

Master Hand realized what the rookie Smasher meant. _"I understand every language of the universe—French, Phantomilian, Mobian, Pokémon. But this mansion cancels out the effect of foreign languages. You may think you are speaking Phantomilian at this moment, but you are actually speaking the universe's most common language, which is—"_

"—English?"

_"Quite so. But for some reason, it does not affect Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., Red the Pokémon Trainer's three Pokémon, or Nintendog."_

"Huh! _Whahee?_"

_"I do not know. Perhaps it is because two of them are robot-like beings, and the three Pokémon are not like Pikachu or Lucario, who fight on their own in brawls? And Nintendog is a, well, dog?"_

"Hm. Okay. Well, see you. Thanks for all the help."

As he left the office, Master Hand called after him:

_"And please do not forget that your audition for joining the Super Smash Brothers as a full-fledged Smasher is the day after tomorrow!"_

- ooo-

"Excuse me, but where's this one guy called, uh, Lucario?"

The yellow mouse with a lightning bolt-shaped tail and two brown stripes on his back pointed with his stubby finger at a blue, jackal-like creature with tan fur and spikes on its chest and on the backs of its paws. "Oh, right there. Hey, aren't you that rookie Smasher called Klonoa that Link was talking about?"

The Dream Traveler nodded.

The mouse grinned. "Nice meeting you, Klonoa! I'm Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. Samus thinks I look like a rabbit, though."

"Samus?" Klonoa asked.

Pikachu pointed at a slim woman with a long, blonde ponytail who was holding a dangerous-looking gun. "That's Samus without her Power Suit, also known as Zero Suit Samus. She usually wears the suit on weekdays. Oh, and if you want to talk to Lucario, you'd better hurry 'cause he's leaving here, fast."

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for the help, Pikachu!"

The Dream Traveler left the Pokémon and caught up with Lucario. "Hey! Hi!"

Lucario turned to see the rookie Smasher behind him. "Hello. You must be Klonoa, the new Smasher, right?"

Klonoa nodded. "Yep, that's me—Klonoa the Dream Traveler. Nice to meet you…Lucario? Yeah, Lucario. Anyway, I just left Master Hand's office and he said that you'd be my guide for the week. And I have an audition in two days' time?"

The Aura Pokémon nodded. "Yes. He sent me a message a few minutes ago regarding that. And yes, you have an audition two days from now, which is Monday… Just so you know, it's not _that_ hard…at least, for me it wasn't. Let's begin the tour, then. But perhaps you should drop off your luggage first," he added, having taken notice of the heavy-looking suitcases.

"Oh. Right. Wait here just three minutes, mate!" And the rookie was off.

Lucario cocked his head to one side, thoroughly amused. _What an energetic kid that guy is…_

-ooo-

Nearly flying over the stairs, three steps at a time, Klonoa dashed up like the wind, his two suitcases swinging in his hands behind him, careful not to get too careless and drop his precious Wind Ring. At one point he was running so fast through a corridor that his hat blew clear off his head, and he was about thirty feet away when he realized that something was missing and went back. A fox wearing a cool vest and a headset with a gun stuck in one of his pants' pockets returned it to him, and he sheepishly took it, thanked the fox embarrassedly, and was back to running.

At last, he reached the third floor. Rather, what he _thought_ to be the third floor.

"Blasted Wind Bullets! This is the FOURTH FLOOR!"

He ignored the stairs and jumped, making a soft landing thanks to his large ears. He went slower through the halls this time, and stopped at a door with a purple eggplant painted on it.

This was the Ice Climbers' door.

Klonoa knocked twice. The door opened right after the second knock.

A little girl, dressed head to toe in pink winter clothing and shouldering a wooden mallet beamed at Klonoa. "Hi! You must be Klonoa, the newbie. I'm Nana, and that lazy guy there is Popo, my brother."

The little boy in blue winter clothing with a mallet like the girl's glowered at his sister from his bed. "Hey!"

"Master Hand told us about you sharing our room," Nana went on, as if Popo had not said anything, "and how Lucario would be showing you around this week. Just drop off your stuff and start the tour, 'kay?"

Klonoa obliged and plunked down his suitcases. He kept his Wind Ring with him, though.

After quickly saying good-bye to the Ice Climber duo, he was off and running back to the first floor, where Lucario was standing in the exact same position as he had been in about two minutes ago.

"You're early," the Pokémon remarked. "_Now_ let's start the tour."

- ooo-

Klonoa instantly thought the Smash Mansion was the most awesome place ever.

Lucario led him to the kitchen, where a bunch of turtles and a princess dressed in a pink dress were cooking some mouthwatering things. "That's Peach, and those turtle things are Koopa Troopas. They cook for us, you see, and thanks to Peach's wonderful knowledge of delicious recipes, you can always expect breakfast, lunch, or dinner to be something…well, delicious."

Next he led Klonoa into a room with a humongous television screen. "This is the Brawl Room, where we Smashers fight against another Smasher or two or three."

After that the Aura Pokémon and the Dream Traveler entered a room that was quite close to the Brawl Room. "This room houses the Brawl System," Lucario said. "The Brawl System controls stuff in brawls, like which items are usable and when something that is part of the stage happens, and so on. Master Hand could turn all items on, or turn on Poké Balls only, or turn on Assist Trophies only, or turn on the Smash Ball only. The Smash Ball," he continued, answering Klonoa's unsaid question, "is this item that looks like a multicolored ball. If you crack it open before your opponent gets it, you'll be able to use your Final Smash, which is your most powerful and devastating attack, your ultimate move…which usually harms the enemy."

"Usually?"

"I'm saying 'usually' because…well… Take Peach, for example. Her Final Smash causes everyone around her to fall asleep, and a bunch of peaches shower down. Those peaches, if eaten, heal you. But then Peach can throw you out of the battle while you're asleep, so her Final Smash is kind of dangerous."

"Oh."

"But hers is one of the few Final Smashes that are considered to be an undamaging Final Smash. Another one is Luigi's, Negative Zone, which doesn't hurt you but it's really, really dangerous—do your best to remain in the air at all times when you get caught in the Zone… You'll see what I mean when it's time for a Luigi-versus-somebody brawl. Everyone else's Final Smashes hurts you a lot, especially Samus' Zero Laser."

"What's yours?"

Lucario smiled. "Oh, it sure won't be a pleasant experience for you. It's a move called Aura Storm. I get suspended in the air while I blast out a beam of concentrated aura from my paws. Painful, eh?"

_"Padoo…"_

"Uh… 'Padoo'?"

"Oh… Uh, _padoo_ is a casually affirmative word in Phantomilian. _Jadoo_ is, er, more formal."

"Oh, all right, then."

A minute later they arrived at a twenty-foot-high door with a Poké Ball painted on it. "This is where the Poké Ball Pokémon hang out," said Lucario. "The Poké Ball Pokémon are those Pokémon who pop out of their Poké Balls when a Smasher throws them during a brawl. They help us out, you see, and some can really turn the tide of the battle." He waggled his finger in Klonoa's face. "Don't go in."

_"Whahee?"_

"I guess that's Phantomilian for 'why'. That's because there are some rather…er, _violent_ Legendary Pokémon in there…Cresselia, for instance. Don't even put the tip of your shoe in there if Darkrai's around."

"Who's Darkrai?"

Lucario's expression darkened. "I'll tell you later."

After that they went back to the second floor and entered the movie theater, where several Smashers, Assist Trophies, and Pokémon were watching a Smasher dressed in blue clothing and wearing a golden headband and a blue cape and resting his glinting sword against a chair playing _Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn_ on the Wii. "Just because it's called the movie theater doesn't mean that it's only for watching movies," Lucario said. "By the way, the Smashers here are R.O.B., Mr. Game & Watch, Wario, Z—er, _Sheik_, I mean (that's Zelda's alter ego), Diddy Kong, Olimar, Fox McCloud, Marth (he's the guy playing the Wii), and Ike. The Assist Trophies here are Saki, Isaac, Stafy, and Nintendog the golden retriever. The Pokémon here are Torchic, Piplup, Mew, Mewtwo, Celebi, Jirachi, Shaymin, Victini, and Virizion." Everyone in the theater said their hellos—in Nintendog's case, barked his hello—to the rookie Smasher, who shyly waved back to them.

The Aura Pokémon then led the Dream Traveler to the fourth floor, which was mostly taken up by the colossal observatory. "This observatory," said Lucario, entering it after Klonoa, "shows you a virtual map of the entire universe's known worlds. For example…" He strode over to the right side of the observatory and tapped a little dot. Instantly, the virtual map zoomed in on the dot, which turned out to be a planet, which was labeled "Pokémon World."

"That's your world?" asked Klonoa.

Lucario nodded and tapped the planet again. Its image grew even larger, until Klonoa could see each continent and ocean. Lucario tapped it twice, this time on a north-eastern continent, and then there was a clear image of a bustling kingdom and a large palace in its center.

"This is Cameron Palace, where the queen lives…" Lucario then reddened just ever so slightly. "Okay, that was kind of lame. Of course the queen lives there… Anyway, it used to be home to a knight called Sir Aaron and his Lucario some thousand years ago. Those two are still remembered to this day…" He had a distant look in his red eyes.

"Um, Lucario?" Klonoa said. He waved his hand before Lucario's snout, who made no reaction. "Um, hey! Down to earth to Lucario! _Rupurudu!_ Let's go! Hey, um, on with the _tour_!"

Lucario snapped back to the present. "Right."

The two Smashers bustled on to the rooftop balcony, which took up the other half of the fourth floor that wasn't part of the observatory.

"And this," said Lucario wearily, his mouth getting dry from talking so much, "is the topmost floor. We're now standing at the rooftop balcony. You can see that this mansion has a really great view."

Klonoa peered into the distance, and saw that it was true. A large forest covered the land toward the north, and around the south of the Smash Mansion was a cluster of lakes of a variety of sizes and colors. He swore that he saw something emerald frothing beneath the surface of the largest one, the lake with a hue of deep blue.

As if he had read his mind, Lucario answered the unsaid question. "Yes, that big lake there is Rayquaza's lake. Rayquaza is the Legendary Sky High Pokémon, a combination of Dragon- and Flying-type. They say it constantly flies around the globe in the ozone layer, stopping and descending only to land on the peak of Sky Pillar to rest. It's extremely territorial and will attack any intruders of its home. It's also responsible for calming its relatives Kyogre and Groudon down when those two are fighting."

"And it's just sitting here in that that lake?"

Lucario barked out a laugh. "Yeah, it decided to take over more than just the sky and Sky Pillar. What, the whole entire sky's not big enough for you, Ray? Ha!"

Klonoa laughed along with the Smasher. Then he paused and asked, "Um, Lucario?"

"Hm?"

"Is it… Can you…uh…read my mind?"

Lucario looked at him strangely. "Well, yes."

"…Gee, you're scary."

Lucario pouted. "Not as scary as an angry Master Hand."

The air was filled with the two friends' laughter for the next few minutes after that. Then—

"OH!"

Lucario leaped back. "What!"

Klonoa looked up at the sky. "But wasn't it raining just half an hour ago?"

Lucario looked up, too; he did not seem surprised. "Then I guess that storm must have been caused by Kyogre, the Legendary Sea Basin Pokémon. He can cause it to drizzle or rain or shower whenever he wants."

A roar sounded from the first floor of the Smash Mansion, followed by an earth-shaking _thud_.

"Just as I thought," Lucario confirmed. "Kyogre and Groudon fighting as always. I hope they won't trash this place. Let's go."

-ooo-

Fortunately, Kyogre and Groudon did not trash the mansion, and resolved their fight when Dialga came and threatened to stop time around them, and when Palkia warned them that he would distort space around them constantly.

Klonoa walked through the many corridors of the Smash Mansion alone, having told Lucario that he wanted to have a "self-tour." Now he was on the second floor, counting each door he passed to have something to do other than talk to his partner Huepow. Lazy little Huepow…

Some doors he passed showed no signs of life; perhaps their rooms' inhabitants were outside in the rain or inside in the kitchen or the movie theater or something. Other doors were quite the opposite. Once he passed a door from which there was a huge commotion coming out of. It was so raucous that he clutched his ears and ran for it, not stopping until he was a good fifty feet away.

He met some other Smashers along the way; one was a two-dimensional guy who said his name was Mr. Game & Watch; a few minutes later there was a cartoonish boy who introduced himself as Toon Link, the younger counterpart of Link. Then a tall boy about the age of thirteen or so, wearing a red vest, a hat, blue jeans, and a backpack and tossing around a Poké Ball, said hello and that he was Red the Pokémon Trainer. After that a little astronaut, followed by six creatures with flowers and leaves on the tip of their pointy heads, came along and the astronaut told him that he was Olimar and that the six things behind him were his Pikmin.

And that was when Klonoa crashed headlong into the mouse-like Pokémon, Pikachu.

"Oh! I'm sorry," said Pikachu, picking himself up from the ground after the collision. "I should watch where I'm going next time, eh?"

Klonoa readjusted his Namco hat. "I think I should, too. Boy, am I clumsy!"

Pikachu laughed. "So, you met some of the Smashers?" Seeing Klonoa nod, he continued, "If you happen to come across some…uh…rather…_large_ Pokémon, don't yell. It's either Dialga, Palkia, Groudon…so on."

"They sound like Legends."

"You bet they are!" Pikachu exclaimed. Then he frowned. "There are some Pokémon to keep an eye out, though. Not that they're bad or anything… But anyway, there's this Pokémon called Electrode. He looks like an oversized Poké Ball turned upside-down, and he's practically _always_ grinning. And if he's, like, grinning really sneakily, run."

"Why?"

"'Cause he's gonna explode in your face."

Klonoa snorted.

"No, really!" Pikachu protested. "Okay, enough about Electrode! This guy's the guy you really have to try to avoid. It's hard to find him, but…" He shrugged. "So, if you ever see a disembodied shadow on the ground or the wall, tell me."

"A disembodied shadow…" Klonoa said thoughtfully. He looked to his left. "Like that one?"

Pikachu looked, and he sighed.

"Like that one," he agreed grimly.

And before Klonoa could say anything, he sent out a crackling bolt of electricity at the wall.

_ZAAAP!_

A telepathic cry of pain and fury echoed around the corridor as a shadowy figure shot out of the wall, cursing with rage.

Klonoa's eyes widened. "So… Holy Phantomile, _that's_ Darkrai?"

_"Did you have to ask?"_ said the Legendary Pokémon angrily.

"Did _you_ have to go bonkers?" said Pikachu in retaliation.

_"Did you have to attack me like the Pikachu in the tenth movie?"_

"Did _you_ have to be eavesdropping on my friend, a rookie Smasher?"

_"Did you—what did you say?"_

"Rookie Smasher," Pikachu repeated impatiently, gesturing toward Klonoa. "Be polite and say hi."

The Pokémon called Darkrai just grumbled as he took the form of a boy dressed in black clothing and a red scarf with white hair covering one of his ice-blue eyes. When he was finished, his voice became normal and un-telepathic. "Fine, then… Hello…Klonoa?"

"Yeah, hi." _Nice, a Pokémon with a human form. Much more comfortable to talk to a half-Pokémon, half-human guy rather than a creepy-looking…shadowy…thing…_

"Well, then. Welcome to the Smash Mansion. Stay away from me when I'm mad. Stay away from Cresselia when she's mad, definitely when she's mad at me."

"Lucario said that, too," Klonoa remembered.

"I'll give you an explanation. See, she's my counterpart. She represents light and good dreams; I represent darkness and nightmares—"

Klonoa took a step back. "N-n-n-n-_nightmares_?"

Pikachu forced out a short laugh. "Eh, haha, yeah. Fall asleep on a night of the new moon, and expect your brain to be plagued by nightmares. Great Alpha Pokémon, why must Arceus give you that ability?"

"It's thanks to us Legends that the world of Pokémon ever came into being!"

"So that's a reason why there are nightmares?"

Before Darkrai could answer, a pink, swan-like Pokémon appeared out of nowhere.

"Well, look what we have here!" she exclaimed. "A Legendary Pokémon being told off by a Smasher who—not meaning to offend you, Pikachu—is not even a Legend!"

Pikachu cocked his head. "No offense done, I think. Klonoa, meet Cresselia, Darkrai's opposite. Cresselia, meet Klonoa, rookie Smasher from…"

"Phantomile," Klonoa answered for him. "Hi, Cresselia."

She nodded. "Good to meet you, too, Klonoa. New Smasher, huh? Well, good luck with your audition on Monday. It's not that hard, really."

"Well, that's good to hear. I'd panic if it was."

Then Pikachu gently nudged him. "_Psst…_ Let Cresselia and Darkrai deal with their business…_privately_."

"Why do I have this really weird feeling that something very explosive will happen…?"

"I won't be surprised if you're right. Now come on!"

-ooo-

Dinner came and went, leaving Klonoa with a fully filled stomach. It turned out that the Smash Mansion cafeteria had every Smasher's favorite food—oran berries in Pikachu and Lucario's cases, for instance.

He trudged up the stairs, followed by the two Ice Climber siblings. When he reached the door with the eggplant, he waited impatiently for Popo to fumble for the keys; in fact, he took so long that Nana bonked him over the head with her mallet, snatched the keys from his pocket while he was reeling back from the assault, and stuffed one into the keyhole and unlocked the door with a _click_.

"Showoff," Popo grumbled.

They piled into the room, and Popo and Nana immediately went to their computer the moment they put their feet in. As for Klonoa, he went to his suitcases and started unpacking his clothes, shoes, and such.

"What's the wakeup call time here?" he asked as he took out a pair of brown and white shoes.

"Seven thirty AM," replied Nana without taking her eyes off the computer.

"Hmm. That's not too early…"

He carefully laid down his Wind Ring (he had kept it safe all this time) on a dresser next to his bed, pulled out his bathroom supplies, and went into the said room.

When he exited about fifteen minutes later, the Ice Climbers were in their pajamas and waiting for the bathroom.

"Good," said Popo, "you're the kind of guy who doesn't take forever in the bathroom."

Nana was about to whack his head with her hammer again when she remembered that it was on her dresser, so she hit his head with her fist.

"Ow," Popo said.

While waiting for the sister and brother to reappear, Klonoa paced around the room. He found that the room had a nice view of the mansion's surroundings. Then he sat at the computer and woke it up from its Standby mode. Unfortunately for him, it was password-secured. He reminded himself to ask Popo and Nana sometime about the password.

He went back to his suitcases; before shoving them under his bed, though, he took out a little blue book, full of empty pages.

This was his journal.

He liked recording his adventures. He had packed a brand-new journal at the last minute when the warp hole and Master Hand's letter appeared to him. His friend and rival Gantz said it wasted time, but he brought it anyway. At least Huepow approved of it.

He jumped into his bed, which was surprisingly soft and bouncy and just perfect for him, whipped out a pen, and was about to click the pen and start writing when the Ice Climbers burst out of the bathroom, Popo's hair dripping with water.

"Nana shoved my head into the sink!" he tried to explain while Nana was screaming with laughter at the hilarious incident that had taken place in the bathroom.

Klonoa gave them each an amused grin. "Then go back in and get a hairdryer."

"She hid it somewhere and I can't find it anywhere!"

Klonoa rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "Not my problem."

"See?" yelled Nana. "He agrees with me! Ha! IN YOUR FACE!"

Popo winced at the loudness of her voice. Then everybody jumped when someone pounded on the wall next to their room.

"WILL YOU PLEASE QUIET DOWN? SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO GET READY FOR BED, YOU KNOW!" shouted Falco Lombardi's voice.

Popo and Nana grinned at each other. "G'night."

And they flipped the switch, sprung into their beds, and instantly began to snore.

When all was quiet, Klonoa took out his journal from under his pillow, clicked his pen, and began to write with his messy scrawl:

_My name is Klonoa._

He paused when he heard Popo snort in his sleep and mutter something about hairdryers, then continued:

_I'm twelve, and I'm from Breezegale Village which is located in the world of Phantomile. I'm the Dream Traveler, which means that I'm responsible for making sure that everyone's dreams are OK._

_I have lots of friends, and lots of enemies. My closest friends include Gantz, Balue, Chipple, Pango, Lolo and Popka, and Leorina and Tat. And then there's my partner Huepow, a wind spirit who lives in my Wind Ring. (He's probably snoring right now.) My enemies? Well…here are the worst ones: Joka, "Poison Claws" Janga, Garlen, Ghadius, and Nahatomb the big baddie. Magya, those guys gave me so much trouble._

_I've gone on lots of adventures before, like that time when I went to Lunatea. I've fought a bunch of guys before (who cares if I'm only, like, twelve?), like the King of Sorrow (good now) and all those random Moos that chase after me every five steps. And there's also those big baddies to worry about…_

_…_Is_ this mansion protected from enemies? Boy, that's a lot of baddies to worry about._

_Today I joined the Super Smash Brothers, who live in the Smash Mansion which is located in a separate world known as the Smash World, or the World of Trophies. It's the trophies part I don't get. I'll ask Popo and Nana tomorrow (who, by the way, are my roommates and are snoozing away at this moment)._

_I was minding my own business and walking along a path around Breezegale Village when this Zippoe came. (For your information, a Zippoe is this lavender enemy, the fast kind of enemy. They always charge at me the moment they see me…) I prepared to blow it up (sorry), but it didn't chase me like all those other Zippoes. Then I noticed it was wearing a funny navy-blue hat and a bag slung over its shoulder._

_It was the MailZippoe._

_It came to me and reached into its bag, then handed me an envelope. It was white and had a seal that looked like a multicolored-ball, addressed to "Klonoa, Breezegale Village, Phantomile."_

_It was sent by "Master Hand, Smash Mansion, Smashville, Smash World."_

_Gee, I hope all this "smash" stuff isn't going to happen to me._

_The MailZippoe watched as I tore open the envelope and took out a letter that was signed, "Master Hand." I began to read it. If I remember correctly, it said:_

"Greetings, Klonoa!

"Congratulations! You have been selected to be a new member of the Super Smash Brothers. This is a rare chance to become a great hero of the worlds. You do want to be a hero, yes? That is what I found out from several Smashers.

"Consider your answer carefully. If you choose to accept the offer, a warp hole will appear before you. Enter it and you will find yourself in Smashville, located in the Smash World. I will have some paperwork for you to do. If you choose to decline the offer, I do not mind. It is your choice, after all."

_It went on for a bit more, ending with:_

"Master Hand  
>Master of the Smash Mansion"<p>

_How could I ever "choose to decline the offer"? I said yes, and a hole appeared. The MailZippoe tipped its hat and then ran off._

_I jumped into the hole. It felt like freefalling._

_Then I ended up at the doormat of the Smash Mansion—and in the middle of a thunderstorm._

_So I knocked, went in, and got led to the second floor and into Master Hand's office._

_I had to fill this application that the boss of the mansion, Master Hand, gave me. He said that I'll have an audition on Monday. Lucario and Cresselia say it's not hard, which I really hope is true. Eek._

_This mansion has a lot of Smashers, around forty or so. There are a lot of Pokémon, too. I met a few of them who were the famous Legendary Pokémon. One was a guy called Darkrai, who has a human form. I think he's kinda annoying. But that may change in the future.  
><em>

_And apparently, Cresselia doesn't seem to like Darkrai that much._

_This mansion is _awesome_. It's got four floors, not including the underground floors that somebody mentioned earlier. And this mansion has a really great view of the environment._

_Tomorrow, I want to practice for my audition on Monday. There's this room called the Brawl Room, and it has a humongous TV screen. Lucario said that you get transported into the screen, where you and your opponent(s) have a brawl—a _virtual_ brawl to avoid some very nasty _real_ injuries._

_I think I'm going to sleep now. Good night._

_P.S. I hope I'll have good dreams. Kinda unlikely, though, because of…well…_him_._

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that was that. A chapter done in Klonoa's view!<strong>_

_**And about the MailZippoe thing_…_ Well, really, there's no such thing as a mail guy in the world of Klonoa. But it's kind of dumb to just have a letter randomly fall onto Klonoa and all, right? So I tried to think of the right guy to be the mailman of Breezegale. And Zippoes are perfect_—_they're speedy and just downright awesome (and pretty cute). Mail is supposed to come to you as soon as possible, and Zippoes are, I think, one of the fastest Phantomilian enemies in, well, Phantomile. You Klonoa fans should know.  
><strong>_

_**And thus the Breezegale Village MailZippoe came into being!**_

_**I originally wanted something called a MailMoo, but when I read a little more about Moos and watched videos of people playin**__**g **_**Klonoa_ video game_**_**s on YouTube**_**,**_** I discovered that all they did was leisurely stroll down the path and allow themselves to get blown up by Klonoa. Also, they're too slow to deliver mail.**_

_**And so Klonoa goes to sleep now! Being the Dream Traveler, what do you think will happen to him as he sleeps?**_

**Popo:** _Zzz…_

**Nana:** _Zzz_…__

_**Um__…__ Thank you for your rather****…****uh****…**_**helpful_ answers. What happened to Cresselia and Darkrai, and what are they doing right now?  
><em>**

**Cresselia:** Beating up a Primid.

**Darkrai:** Watching Cresselia unleash her wrath upon a Primid.

**Cresselia:** BECAUSE THEY ARE EVIL SUBSPACE FOES! _*uses Psycho Cut*  
><em>

**Primid:** Eeeek!

**Sonic:** WAAAIIIT just a nanosecond. Why's a Primid here?

**Darkrai:** You thought you obliterated them all, eh? …Well, you missed a few.

**Primid:** Eeeeek!

**Darkrai:** …Like this fellow here.

**Sonic:** …Oh.

_**Ohhhh-kay__…__ And what of Crazy Hand?**_

**Crazy Hand:** Yays! Rookie Smasher! I'm gonna smash him up!

**Master Hand:** Oh, no, you will _not_! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**See you next time in Chapter 10 of **_**Life at the Mansion**_**!**_

_**Credits to the Klonoa Wiki for information about Klonoa, his allies and enemies, Moos, Zippoes, and the Phantomilian language that Klonoa occasionally uses.**_

_**And remember to review!**_

_**By the way__…__ Who else from the**_** Klonoa _game series do you want to be in this story? Maybe I should get Gantz…  
><em>**

**_Hmm_____…__ Who else other than __Klonoa _characters should be in this story? _Kingdom Hearts_, perhaps__…or ___Tales of Symphonia_…_Final Fantasy_? Hmm!_**

_**Once again, please review!**_


	11. Two More

_**After one and a half months of toiling and thinking and typing up my other fanfics, here is Chapter 11 of **_****Life at the Mansion**_! Enjoy. By the way, Happy New Year! Hey, I posted this on January 1, 2012! Hooray! And this is the longest chapter yet!_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Super Smashers. Yay!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Two More<strong>

* * *

><p>Klonoa didn't like it at all when his alarm clock turned out to be set three hours too early, and it was a nightmare—literally.<p>

He had been writing and doodling in his journal, thinking that it was not very late yet, when Popo and Nana's snores suggested otherwise—_whoa, I really fail at keeping track of time,_ he had thought—and threw the journal under his pillowcase. Then he had glanced at the top of his dresser, saw that his Wind Ring was perfectly all right, and ducked under his blankets and tried to go to sleep.

Too bad nobody ever told him that there was a certain person who enjoyed lurking around in the dark.

Klonoa muttered in his sleep. "No…"

He turned to face the wall and grimaced. "N-Nahatomb…"

Then he sat bolt upright. _"MAGYA!"_ he shouted, alarmed.

Everything remained quiet, except for the Ice Climbers' heavy snoring and the chirping of the crickets, Kricketot, and Kricketune outside the Smash Mansion.

_Whoa… What a nightmare…_

Then Klonoa froze.

_Nightmare?_

"Holy Phantomilian Moos and Zippoes! Is _Nahatomb_ here?"

Nahatomb was the worst enemy of all enemies in the worlds of Klonoa's dimension. He was the entity of nightmares, and he did not understand the meaning of good, dreams, love, and kindness. Some said that he was born of evil, hatred, nightmares, negativities, and greed. Nahatomb's main target was Klonoa because he had been chosen as the Dream Traveler, and the nightmare entity attempted to destroy the Phantomilian hero in order to fulfill his desire.

"I won't be surprised if he was here," said a quiet voice.

"Huepow? You're awake?"

Huepow was Klonoa's partner, a Wind Spirit. He looked like a blue ball with a cute face and disembodied white hands. On his head was a tiny yellow star, and beneath him was a gold ring. Whenever Klonoa was traveling, Huepow took a break in the emerald gem and allowed Klonoa to use his wind power.

"I woke up and heard you groaning…" said Huepow, "so I popped out of the Wind Ring. Was it a nightmare?"

"Well, duh."

"Wanna investigate?"

"Uh…"

"C'mon, Klonoa, you're the Dream Traveler. You're supposed to _stop_ the bad guys of nightmares and darkness and bad stuff and…stuff." Huepow blushed. "Okay, that was dumb."

Klonoa cursed. He jumped out of his bed and landed on the floor without a sound, and snatched up his Wind Ring from his dresser. Then he tiptoed past the Ice Climbers' beds. Before opening the door, he glanced at his clock.

_By golly, it's only five twenty-six in the morning… The sun's not even up yet, though it will be in about twenty minutes or so…_

He turned the doorknob and stepped out into the hall. He cautiously looked left and right, then went down the hall with Huepow behind him.

Grasping onto his Wind Ring like a lifeline, he treaded softly through the dimness. He mentally thanked Master Hand for keeping the lamps lit throughout the night.

"May I help you?"

Klonoa yelped with surprise and whirled around, ring held out to shoot out a Wind Bullet. Then he lowered his arm. "Oh…"

A cute rabbit was smiling up at him. She wore an orange dress and large, yellow and orange shoes. Hovering over her shoulder was a little blue creature whose head, which had a ball floating above it, looked somewhat like a raindrop. It stayed airborne because of its rapidly flapping tiny, pink wings, and it had a red bow on its neck.

"Are you lost, sir?" the rabbit asked kindly in an extremely high-pitched voice that matched perfectly with her adorableness.

Klonoa flushed deeply as he toyed around with his Wind Ring. "Oh, uh, n-no. I just got woken up by a…nightmare…"

The rabbit frowned. "A nightmare?"

"Uh, yeah. And I'm suspecting that it's Nahatomb's dirty work."

"Who's Nahatomb, sir?"

"Please, just call me Klonoa. 'Sir' makes me sound old; I'm only twelve! Anyway, Nahatomb's the 'big baddie' in my world, Phantomile. He wants to get me because he wants to enshroud the world with nightmares, but since I'm the Dream Traveler I prevent that."

"I see…" The rabbit smiled. "By the way, my name's Cream. This," she said, indicating to the funny-looking creature who was now floating around the ceiling, "is Cheese, a Chao."

"A Chao?"

"A Chao"—Cream pronounced it like "chow"—"is a life-form creature from my world, Mobius. They love to be around clean water. Right, Cheese?"

_"Chao!" _the Chao agreed enthusiastically. He flew in crazy circles and crashed headfirst into a wall.

Cream giggled, then gently scooped up the dazed Chao from the ground. "Oh, dear, Cheese, we'd better get to bed. And you should, too, Klonoa."

Klonoa folded his arms and stubbornly shook his head. "I'm not going till I find out the source of my nightmare. I'm extremely sensitive to dreams, you see. A nightmare may mean big danger for me."

"Then I'll help!" Cream said excitedly. "I've been on lots of great adventures with my friends Sonic and Tails and Amy and… Oh, my, there are too many to list!"

"…Well, I suppose I _could_ have a partner…_at five-thirty AM_," he added silently.

"Yay!"

They began scouring the halls for traces of the "nightmare culprit." All the while, Cream was chatting nonstop about her world, a guy called Sonic the Hedgehog, how she did all she could when fighting some bad guy called Dr. Eggman, and something called the X-Tornado.

"Does he like eggs?" Klonoa asked.

"I don't know, but he sure doesn't like exercising, that's for sure," the rabbit replied.

They searched on and were peeking into another corridor when a familiar jackal-like creature rounded the corner and said in a shocked whisper, "Klonoa and Cream!"

"Hi, Lucario!" Klonoa greeted quietly, waving a bit.

"Good morning, Mr. Lucario!" said Cream politely. "Rather early morning, I'd say. Why are you up so early? I never see you until seven."

Lucario hesitated. "…Something. What brings _you_ here?"

_He's hiding something,_ Klonoa thought before answering firmly, "I had a really freaky nightmare and I'm not going back to bed till I found the source!"

Lucario's red eyes narrowed. "A freaky nightmare, you say… I think I know just who the culprit is. Follow me if you want to."

He turned tail and quickly went down the hall. Klonoa, Cream, and Cheese hurried to catch up.

"If you see a disembodied shadow on the ground or the wall, tell me," said Lucario, not slowing down a bit.

Klonoa realized that Pikachu had said the same exact words just the day before. "I know who it is, now, too…"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker of movement on the wall. Without thinking, he whipped out his Wind Ring and blasted a fully charged Wind Bullet at the wall.

_Bam!_

"…Klonoa, you know Master Hand doesn't like it when he finds a hole that size in the wall…" Cream said after a while.

Angry shouting filled the air as a figure shot out of the shadows and ran off. Lucario followed.

"Darkrai, you say one swear and I'll personally stick a bar of soap into that mouth of yours, you rookie Smasher stalker!"

-ooo-

The two Smashers and rabbit member of Team Sega managed to catch Darkrai after a three-minute chase. They told him off, made him apologize to Klonoa, and listen to Lucario's ranting about "telling Cresselia to beat you up day and night until you won't even try to put your foot in any of the halls when there's a new moon! Or, if things get _really_ serious, I'll be reporting you to Arceus about stalking a guy who's extremely sensitive to all sorts of dreams, you damn stalker! And no, I don't care if I swore!" the Aura Pokémon had added when Cream looked stunned at his language.

After the Pitch-Black Pokémon had completely disappeared, Lucario almost instantly vanished off to somewhere, and Cream and Cheese left for their room downstairs on the first floor, while Klonoa went back to his room and released Huepow from his Wind Ring. Surprisingly, Popo and Nana were already up and dressed in their parkas, their respective hammers by their sides, and on the computer, watching a video on YouTube.

"What're you watching?" the Dream Traveler asked.

_"Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise_," Popo said.

"Potter? As in, Harry Potter?" said Huepow.

"Yep," said Nana.

The two siblings finished loading the video, and Nana clicked "Play."

_The Potter Puppet Pals,_ read a sign held up by a hidden person as funny, squeaky music began to play. The sign disappeared, and a second sign appeared:

**_The Mysterious Ticking Noise_**

A ticking sound began to play as the second sign disappeared from the stage.

A lone puppet appeared onstage, muttering some incoherent phrases. Klonoa guessed that it was Severus Snape, the Potions professor at Hogwarts School of Magic.

_"What the…"_ said Puppet Snape.

The ticking noise droned on.

_"What is that mysterious ticking noise?"_

Puppet Snape looked up and down, left and right, here and there before saying, _"…Hmm… Kind of…catchy."_

"Catchy?" Popo asked.

And then the thing that fans of Harry Potter would be least expecting to come out of Professor Snape happened:

Puppet Snape began chanting.

_"Snape. Snape. Severus Snape. Snape. Snape. Severus Snape—"_

_"Dumbledore!"_

Klonoa jumped. "Where'd _he_ come from?" he asked, startled when Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, popped out from the bottom of the stage and disappeared just as quick as he had come.

_"—Snape. Snape. Severus Snape—"_

_"Dumbledore!"_

_"_—_Snape. Snape. Severus Snape—"_

_"Dumbledore!"_

_"Snape—"_

_"_—_Ron—"_

"It's Ron Weasley," Huepow said when the orange-haired puppet jumped out and started a chant of his own.

_"_—_Snape—"_

_"_—_Ron—"_

_"_—_Severus Snape—"_

_"—Ron Weasley!"_

_"Dumbledore!"_

"Hm, this actually _is_ kinda catchy," Popo admitted and started bobbing his head up and down with the beat of the chanting.

_"Snape—"_

_"—Ron—"_

_"—Snape—"_

_"—Ron—"_

_"—Severus Snape—"_

_"—Ron Weasley!"_

_"Dumbledore!"_

_"Snape—"_

_"—Ron—"_

_"—Hermione—"_

"Oh, hey, it's Hermione Granger," said Nana.

Puppet Hermione began dancing and chanting along with Puppet Snape, Puppet Dumbledore, and Puppet Ron.

_"—Snape—"_

_"—Ron—"_

_"—Severus Snape—"_

_"—Hermione—"_

_"—Ron Weasley!"_

_"Dumbledore!"_

This went on for several rounds, until…

_"Harry Potter! Harry Potter, Harry Potter—"_

"Uh…" said Klonoa. "I doubt Harry Potter would ever act that hyper."

_"Harry Potter! Harry Potter, Harry Potter, that's me!"_

Then Puppet Snape started arguing with Puppet Harry.

_"Harry!"_

_"Snape!"_

_"Harry!"_

_"Snape!"_

_"Harry!"_

_"Snape!"_

_"Harry!"_

_"Snape!"_

_"Harry!"_

_"Snape!"_

_"Harry!"_

_"Snape!"_

_"HARRY!"_

_"SNAPE!"_

_"HARRY!"_

_"SNAPE!"_

_"HARRY!"_

_"SNAPE—"_

"DUMBLEDORE!" squawked Puppet Dumbledore, who appeared out of nowhere.

And—

"He's NAKED!" screamed Klonoa, Huepow, Popo, and Nana together. Nana was so shocked that she tumbled off her chair and out of sight.

_"…Heeerrrrmione…"_ said Puppet Hermione in an uncertain from _behind_ Puppet Dumbledore.

"Icebergs and frostbite, she just saw his butt!" shouted Popo.

Huepow patted him on the shoulder. "Remember, Popo, it's a puppet. And puppets don't have butts."

Together, the Potter Puppet Pals started singing their names, and then something in unison…and horribly off key, too.

_"…SING A SONG, ALL DAY LONG AT HOOOGWAAAARTS!"_ they sang. Klonoa grimaced at the tune and tone of their voices.

Then Puppet Ron bent down and reappeared. Nana popped back up just in time to see the rest of the video.

_"I found the source of the ticking!"_ he announced in a nice British accent. _"It's…"_ He held up his hand. _"…a _pipe bomb_!"_

"GWAH?" said everyone in the Ice Climber room, jaws hanging down.

_"Yaaaaaay!"_ cheered Puppet Harry and Puppet Hermione. Meanwhile, Puppet Snape and Naked Puppet Dumbledore looked at each other.

_If they had expressions,_ thought Klonoa, _they'd be really shocked._

_BOOOOOOM!_

All that was left of the Potter Puppet Pals were scraps of cloth. Then from the bottom of the stage appeared a new puppet.

"Eeek!" said Huepow. "It's the big baddie Voldemort!"

Puppet Voldemort cackled, a string in his hand. It was probably what set off the pipe bomb. He started his own series of _non-explosive_ ticking and chanted, _"Voldemort, Voldemort, oooh, Volde-Volde-Volde Voldemort!"_

And he disappeared.

"…I swear he was singing to the tune of _Lollipop_," said Nana.

The funny squeaking music began playing again, and a hidden person held up a sign:

**_THE END_**

And the curtains closed, and the credits read:

_By Neil Cicierega  
>Emmy Cicierega<br>Alora Lanzillotta  
>and Julie Becker<em>

The video ended. Klonoa was laughing hard.

"Haaaha!" he cried. "I never knew YouTube had videos this hilarious. Oooh, I don't think my stomach can handle all this laughing! Haaaahaahaa!"

There was pounding on the wall.

"Ex_cuse_ me, but some Smashers are trying to sleep here!" said Wolf O'Donnell's voice grouchily.

"Well, excuse _me_, but some Smashers are trying to watch a video!" Popo yelled at the wall.

Someone growled. "Blast you, Popo."

"OHHHHHH MY ARCEUS!" screamed another voice from the opposite wall. It sounded like a hysterical Pikachu. "Lucario's missing! EEEEEEK!"

A door slammed, and then someone pattered down the hall.

-ooo-

"Snake, Ness, Lucas."

The three said Smashers looked up from their game-making work.

"Hey, Lucario," said Snake. "Where were you?"

Lucario cautiously looked around before answering in a low tone. "Klonoa—you know, the rookie—and Cream the Rabbit were up looking for Darkrai when they bumped into me. I sensed their auras, you see. Cream asked me why I was up so early, and I just said I was doing something. I think Klonoa knows that I'm up to something. He looked suspicious, and when I read his mind, he was thinking, _He's hiding something._"

There was silence.

"Crap," said Snake at last. "It won't be long before we're discovered."

"Also…" Lucario went on. "We'll need to do some major editing for the game."

"How's the theme song going, by the way?" asked Ness.

Lucario shrugged. "Halfway finished. I found a good language for it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better go finish it." He left and sat down at a desk, then started writing.

"…Well, no time to lose," said Lucas. "Let's wrap this up, and fast. Why, we're only fifty percent finished…"

"Pikachu's coming," said Lucario sharply. "Shush!"

The four Smashers held their breaths. Lucario concentrated on the aura that was running toward their hiding place's door. Pikachu was thirty feet from the door, twenty, ten…

Lucario reopened his crimson eyes, relieved. "He's gone. Back to work."

-ooo-

When it reached seven-thirty and Master Hand called everyone awake, they all piled into the cafeteria for breakfast.

Link had circles under his eyes. When he joined Zelda, Toon Link, and Ganondorf at a table, he plopped down his tray, put his head on the table, and began to snore.

"I agree with you perfectly, Link," said Toon Link tiredly. "Something had been keeping me awake last night."

"Shouting…" mumbled Link. "Sleepy… Hmmm…"

Ganondorf rolled his eyes. He took a slice of bread from Link's tray, crumpled it into a firm little ball, and chucked it at Link's head.

_Whoosh!_

Two halves of crumpled bread landed on the table. Link hummed something in his sleep with his sword in hand.

"Goodness, Link is sleep-fighting!" Zelda exclaimed.

Link stood up, still snoozing. He stalked toward Ganondorf, who nervously backed away.

"Come now, Link… I'm not _that_ bad!"

He jumped aside when Link's sword went down and narrowly missed his cape. "LINK!"

"Wha…?" the Hero of Time murmured sleepily.

At a table beside the Hyrulian Smashers, Samus stood up and slammed her fist on her table. "Mew, don't do that! You could've made Link murder somebody!"

Someone giggled, and a pink cat-like Pokémon entered the cafeteria. "Psychic powers are sooooo awesome! I can make Link lift his sword and start chop-chop-chopping—"

Mew squealed when some of her tail fur got shaven off.

"It's a bad idea to control me when I'm asleep," said Link crossly, sword pointed at the Pokémon. "That was a warning. Next time, your tail is going!"

Mew paled and disappeared. Link sighed.

"Oh, the usefulness of the Teleport move," he said enviously as he put away his sword and sat down to eat. "Ganondorf, where's my bread?"

"Uh…"

-ooo-

"I heard a rumor in the kitchen while checking the Koopas… Some of them were saying that some new Smashers would be coming today," Peach said, taking a seat between Mario and Luigi.

Mario looked up from his toast. "Oh-a, really?"

"From-a where?" asked Luigi while buttering his own toast.

"I don't know… They certainly can't be from our world," said Peach. "Most of the Smashers and Assist Trophies are from our world, you know—you, you, me, Bowser, the DKs, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi, the Lakitu and his Spinies, the Hammer Bros, and all those Koopas."

"But you never-a know if the new Smashers-a really are from our world-a," said Luigi. Then he looked panicked. "What if-a it's _Bowser Junior_?"

"Eep!" cried Peach. "Don't give me those bad images! Junior's even worse than his dad!"

Red, who had been eating his breakfast at a table behind the two plumbers and the princess , turned around and said, "What if they're Pokémon?" He paused. "But we already have enough of those. The Smashers, the Poké Ball Pokémon, the background stage Pokémon, and the ones that are just trophies."

"They could be from a whole new world," suggested Snake, who was sitting beside Red. "Like the way Klonoa came from his own world…Phantomile or something."

At another table, Sonic the Hedgehog finished his breakfast in a flash and stood up. "Shadow, I challenge you to a race!"

"Excuse me?" said Shadow.

"First one from the cafeteria to the Great Redwood and back to the Smash Mansion entrance wins! And…" Sonic whispered into Shadow's ear. When the former was finished, the latter looked mad. "But why?"

"Eh…no reason. Just want to."

The Great Redwood was an extremely tall redwood tree about fifty miles away from the Smash Mansion. It stood at precisely five hundred feet tall! Many brave ones had tried climbing the tree. Several had succeeded in reaching the very, very top.

"Sonic!" exclaimed Amy Rose. "You're seriously going to run _a hundred miles_?"

Sonic frowned. "Why a hundred?"

"Sonic the Hedgehog, learn your math. You're _going_ to the tree, and that's fifty miles. And then you're _coming back_ to the Smash Mansion, and that's another fifty miles. Fifty miles times two is a hundred miles."

"Okay, _whatever_…"

Shadow groaned. "Sonic, I'm still eating."

Sonic persisted. "Shads, if you keep eating, you're gonna get fat!" He pulled the black hedgehog out of his seat. "C'mon!"

"But…it's only been five minutes since we entered the cafeteria…" Shadow sat back down and continued to eat.

Mr. Game & Watch pointed at Sonic. "If you eat that fast, you surely won't win that race!"

"You'll get a bad stomachache," added R.O.B., "and you'll faint or something! And Shadow will win!"

Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B. were the only Smashers in the cafeteria who weren't eating. They didn't need to, since they were made of electronic stuff.

Sonic shrugged. "Whatever. C'mon, Mr. Grumpy, time to _run_!"

"I'm not moving until I'm finished."

"When are you gonna be finished?"

"Ten minutes."

Sonic's eyes bugged out. "Holy Mobius! Ten minutes!"

"What? It's only ten minutes. Just count to six hundred at a relaxed pace."

"I'll never relax! If you insist on eating that slow…"

"You're the one who ate too fast, so you have to wait."

The seconds ticked by. Shadow the Hedgehog continued to eat. When he finished, he turned to Silver and started to chat.

Sonic impatiently started tapping his foot at a supersonic speed. "C'mon, Shadow. I'm _waaaaaiiiiiting_…"

Shadow turned back to Sonic. "It hasn't been six hundred seconds. It's the four hundredth and forty-second second, starting now. By the way, please do not imitate that Sonic the Hedgehog from _Sonic Underground_."

Sonic looked absolutely furious. "_Sonic Underground_! How dare you compare me to that plump ol' hedgehog they call Sonic the Hedgehog! They say he's fast, but no! Take out that 's' from the _fast_. I say he's _fat_! Man, he's annoying. And he eats _way_ too many chili dogs. And his eyes are _black_ when they're supposed to be _green_…"

As Sonic ranted on about the Sonic from _Sonic Underground_, Silver sighed. "Shadow, best if you go now and run. It's not going to be really good when Sonic's in a bad mood."

"Fine, then…" Shadow picked up his tray, tossed it into the trash, and stood at Sonic's side. All that took two point three seconds. "Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm ready for your race."

"…look too fat as well, though Sonia looks good, but she acts too much of a snob—huh?" Sonic blinked. "Oh, yeah! Let's go run!"

The two hedgehogs crouched down, preparing to run.

"Onyourmarkgetsetgo!"

Two blurs, one blue and one black, raced through the cafeteria door. As they disappeared, everyone in the cafeteria heard Sonic bellow, "Eat my dust, faker!"

Then they heard Shadow yell, "How can I eat your dust? There is no dust here, just a carpet!"

A second later—

"And I'm not a faker!"

-ooo-

After breakfast, the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters went to do their things. Klonoa ran over to a Smasher called Pit and asked, "Are there going to be brawls today?"

"Nah," Pit replied. "Today's Sunday. No brawls on weekends, so go do whatever you want and relax. Maybe you should do some training to get ready for your audition tomorrow. I'm going to be there to cheer you on!"

"Hey, thanks, Pit."

Just then, Pikachu went racing past the two Smashers.

"Hey, fans of Pokémon!" he announced, waving two DVD discs in the air. "I've got some movies!"

"Don't say it's _Arceus and the Jewel of Life_ or _Zoroark: Master of Illusions_ again!" moaned Charizard. "We watched those at least five times last week!"

"Duh, no! They're new! They're actually considered to be one move. It's actually a dual movie… Anyways, it's the fourteenth movie! One's called _Pokémon Black: Victini and Reshiram_ and the other's called _Pokémon White: Victini and Zekrom_—"

That caught the attention of many Pokémon, both Smashers and Poké Ball Pokémon and background characters alike. "What?"

Shaymin, in his Skye Forme, came over. _"When were they released?"_ he asked telepathically.

"I dunno, they say the English version played in theaters on December 4 and December 5 or something…"

"DECEMBER 4 AND 5!" exploded Jirachi. "That was only, like…um…" He counted his fingers. "…three days ago!"

"I WANNA WATCH! I WANNA WATCH!" yelled several Pokémon. Pikachu disappeared in a mass of bodies.

"Hey, hey, hey, WAIT!" shouted Lucario. "You said the movie was a dual, and that there were two versions. Which one should we watch?"

"WHO WANTS BLACK VERSION, THE ONE WITH RESHIRAM?" squawked Red. About half of the Pokémon raised their hands, paws, or wings, or just hopped around if they didn't have any of the said limbs. "Okay… WHO WANTS WHITE VERSION, THE ONE WITH ZEKROM?" The other half chimed a loud "yeah." Red glanced over at Pikachu, who had managed to escape from the swarm of Pokémon. "What do you say, Pikachu?"

"I call…um…BLACK VERSION!" he cried.

The Pokémon who wanted the White Version all groaned sadly.

"Better watch the other version than nothing," said Squirtle. "Into the movie theater we go!"

"YAAAAAAY!"

As the crowd moved as one toward the stairs to watch the movie in the movie theater on the second floor, Reshiram popped his head through a door.

_"Did someone just mention _Pokémon Black_?"_ asked his telepathic voice. _"Hm. Will I be the main Pokémon?"_

"Likely, and I'll bet anyone ten bucks that Ash Ketchum is gonna ride on you, Reshiram!" said Mew, who had reappeared after seeing that Link had gone…or just wasn't in sight.

"Mew, you're on!" said Jirachi. He and Mew shook hands and flew off to the movie theater.

_"_…_I do not approve of betting…"_ Reshiram said after a minute.

Zekrom joined him. _"I have a feeling that we will be watching ourselves fighting one another. That surely will disrupt the balance of the Pokémon world."_

"Chill, Zekrom," Jigglypuff said cheerily. "It's just a movie."

Zekrom stared at the Balloon Pokémon Smasher. _"…That sounds like something that Kyurem would say…"_

"What…'chill'? Oh, yeah. Let's go, everyone!" Jigglypuff shouted.

-ooo-

While the Pokémon hullaballoo had been going on, Solid Snake and Falco were standing at the Smash Mansion's entrance door, looking out for Sonic and Shadow. They had set up a trip line to see who would be the first one to trip. It was a string that was nearly invisible but strong enough to withstand an object hurtling into it at seven hundred miles an hour…hopefully.

Falco continued to watch the distance for two supersonic blurs, aided by a pair of special binoculars. They could detect any movement, no matter how fast, and they could zoom in or zoom out for better viewing. They could also replay a shot of the view in slow motion. "The speed of sound is approximately seven hundred and sixty-eight miles per hour," he said. "Since those guys are running a hundred miles, they'd be back in…"

Snake did the math in his head. "…something incredibly short, like a few minutes and a few seconds. I got a weird number, so I can't say. But they've been gone for more than just a few minutes already. They can't be running at nearly eight hundred miles an hour."

"Wait a sec!" Falco peered into his binoculars. "I've picked up something. It's moving fast, but far too slow to be Sonic and Shadow…"

"Zoom in on it," Snake said.

Falco turned a knob and watched the blur. By now, it was close enough for Snake to see with his own eyes. It was very obvious—a trail of dust was flying behind it.

"Well, great Star Fox!" Falco exclaimed. "It actually _is_ Sonic and Shadow. Boy, they're going really slow for a couple of superfast runners."

Within five seconds the two hedgehogs had almost reached the entrance of the mansion…and the trip line.

"Who's going to win?" asked Snake.

"If the winner's Sonic, that'll happen only when Shadow's shoe comes loose," Falco joked.

The two blurs neared the trip line. Then a load of dust surrounded the blurs, and Snake and Falco lost them. There was a loud "oomph," and Falco started wondering if somebody got tripped or got shoved aside. When the dust cleared, both Sonic and Shadow were standing before them. For some reason, Shadow seemed to be nervous and jumpy.

"Well." Sonic coughed. "That went well."

"Sonic, _you_ were the one who suggested running at only five hundred miles an hour in the first place!" said Shadow.

"_Only_ five hundred miles an hour?" exclaimed Falco, one brow raised.

"That explains why you were gone for…" Snake checked a timer. "…twelve minutes."

"But we don't know who won," said Falco. "I'm going to watch a slow-mo replay."

He turned some knobs on his binoculars. He watched Sonic and Shadow running furiously for the trip line. Then Shadow stumbled and his shoe went flying. A cloud of dust swirled up. Sonic rushed past him and barged into the trip line. He grunted, "Oomph!" and went flying. While Sonic was momentarily disabled, Shadow was in line with him, standing before Snake and Falco.

Falco set down the binoculars. "Sonic's the winner! He tripped over the trip line first."

"Trip line?" Sonic looked around, and his eyes fell on the line. "Oh, _that_ trip line. Woot! I won, I won, I won, I won…!"

"And that was because Shadow's shoe fell off," said Snake incredulously. "Falco Lombardi, are you a psychic?"

Falco grinned cockily. "Maybe."

Shadow raised his hands in defeat. "All right, you win! But what about my shoe? It rocketed off the moment it slipped off my foot, and don't expect it to have auto-pilot mode!"

A small object rammed into the back of the black hedgehog's head, and he fell flat on his face.

"Well, there it is," Sonic stated as everyone laughed—even Shadow, whose shoe was resting on the ground past the trip line. He went off to fetch it and put it back on his foot.

"Oooh, look!" said Falco, pointing at Shadow. "It's a portal!"

Indeed there was a swirling portal of white light above Shadow. Two figures were spinning around within it.

"Who're _they_?" said Snake.

The portal suddenly disappeared. The two figures hung in midair, waving their arms desperately. One of them was a medium-sized guy who appeared to be sitting on something that looked like a motorcycle, and the other was very lean with two unusually large fists.

And then…

"WAAAAAAAH!"

Shadow's eyes widened. "Shoot."

_CRASH!_

"Ouch!"

"Ow!"

"My shoe!"

"That's my eye!"

"Get offa me!"

"Oomph!"

"Yo, watch it!"

"My shoe!"

-ooo-

"Master, there's a big somethin' goin' on at the entrance."

Master Hand left his desk to see Wario standing at the doorway. _"Wario, please knock the door next time."_

"Eh, sorry 'bout that." Wario scratched the back of his head. "Can ya come out and see what's goin' on?"

Master Hand went to the window and looked down. Sure enough, there was something going on at the Smash Mansion's door.

_"I shall see to it,"_ he said to Wario. _"Thank you for informing me."_

-ooo-

"Great Alpha! What's going on here?"

In his human form (he had decided to stay in it most of the time now), Darkrai had just opened the Smash Mansion's entrance door, and the first thing he saw was the heap that consisted of Shadow the Hedgehog and two people he had never seen before. Oh, and that red motorcycle thing.

Falco had his Blaster pointed at Shadow. "Hey, you said 'shoot.' So should I?"

"Darn you, Falco! I didn't actually mean it!"

"So you admit that you were cussing?"

"Aargh!"

"Yes! I was right!"

"Chipple, get off," said one of the strangers, who was a wolf with goggles on his forehead and a ponytail.

Sitting on him was a kangaroo with…boxing gloves? "Sorry, Gantz, but I can't. You're sitting on my leg. And ol' Red Clan's on my tail. Yowch, how heavy is it?"

Master Hand came out of the mansion and asked Darkrai, _"What is the reason behind this…er, commotion?"_

Darkrai shook his head. "That's exactly what I am asking."

"Hi, Master!" said Sonic cheerily. "Okay, so I think there's a bit of trouble going on with this pileup here, so, er, should I do something?"

_"Other than helping them up, no, thank you."_

Sonic pulled Shadow out of the bottom of load that consisted of a wolf, a boxing kangaroo, a hedgehog, and a motorcycle. "Shads, you all right?"

"Perfectly fine. Don't call me 'Shads'; a shad is a type of herring, which is a type of fish. And the last time I checked, a hedgehog isn't a fish. Where's my shoe?"

Something blundered into his back, and he fell. "There it is."

And he fainted.

Meanwhile, Snake and Falco were picking up the other two. "Are you okay? Hurt at all?"

"Nah, we're great," said the boxing kangaroo. "Thanks."

"And I'm fine, too," added the wolf. He picked up the motorcycle thing and patted it before sitting on it. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Welcome to the Smash Mansion," said Falco. "I'm Falco Lombardi, ace pilot of Team Star Fox…but you don't need to know about that. Guy over there is Snake—Solid Snake's his full name."

Snake grinned.

"And those two porcupines there—er, _hedgehogs who run at supersonic speeds_ and_ hedgehogs who don't look like hedgehogs_, I mean—are Sonic and Shadow. Sonic's the blue one, Shadow's the black one with red stripes who's lying on the ground with his shoe."

Shadow made no movement as Sonic repeatedly hit him with his shoe.

"And the guy at the door is actually a Legendary Pokémon in his human form called Darkrai; you'll learn more about him later on. And this is Master Hand, a…well…hand who's the Smash Mansion's…well…master." Falco hung his head sheepishly at the lame description of Master Hand.

The wolf's sapphire-blue eyes widened. "This is the Smash Mansion? Chipple, we got teleported to the place Klonoa went off to! It was our destination, wasn't it?"

The kangaroo called Chipple read a piece of crumpled paper. "Yup, we're here at the Smash Mansion in one piece. Woohoo! We made it, Gantz!"

Falco took a good look at the wolf called Gantz. He wore a gray outfit with a brown bullet belt around his waist, a red jacket, long-fitted gloves, black boots with red straps, and a pair of goggles. He had black fur with yellow markings, sapphire blue eyes, and large ears. In each hand was a red gun with a yellow, four-pointed star. Falco then realized that the "motorcycle" the wolf was sitting on wasn't a motorcycle after all—it was a hover-bike, floating five inches above the ground. Tied to the back of it was a suitcase.

Gantz caught the Star Fox pilot's eye and patted the hover-bike. "This is Red Clan. Don't mess with it or you're facing me."

The kangaroo, Chipple, looked more on the cute side. He had tan fur, long ears, and a crooked tail. wore a lavender sleeveless shirt, baggy shorts with a red stripe running down on each side, a brown belt with a gold "C" in the center, and large red shoes with white straps. On his head, pretty much covering his eyes, was a red headgear with a yellow star near the center. Red boxing gloves were on his fists. Next to him were two small suitcases.

"We're Gantz and Chipple, which you probably know already," introduced Chipple. "We were walking together through Breezegale Village when the MailZippoe came along and gave us this letter." He showed Master Hand the paper in his glove.

_"Yes,"_ said Master Hand. _"I sent you that. Good, you brought it. This letter proves that you were invited by me to join the Super Smash Brothers. Follow me so you can fill your applications…"_

Without another word, the hand floated back into the Smash Mansion. Gantz and Chipple exchanged a look, then followed the hand. Gantz didn't even bother to get off his hover-bike Red Clan.

"Hey," said Chipple to Gantz. "If Klonoa's here, where is he?"

-ooo-

"That's it, Klonoa. Nice hit."

Lucario nodded approvingly, watching Klonoa fight off Alloys in his training session. Marth was there, too.

Klonoa stepped back after sending off a Red Alloy. He had changed his Wind Ring into some kind of sword. Its two-foot-long blade was made of greenish wind energy from his Wind Ring's gem. Slashing and shooting Wind Bullets was a great deal better than just shooting Wind Bullets all the time.

A Blue Alloy stepped down onto the stage, which was the Final Destination. The Blue Alloy aimed a kick at Klonoa's feet, which he dodged. He dashed to the other side of the stage and blasted a Wind Bullet. The bullet hit the Blue Alloy on the chest, hard, and it staggered back before regaining its balance again.

By now, two more alloys—one yellow, one green—had arrived. The three Alloys teamed up against Klonoa and charged.

Klonoa groaned. "Come ON!"

The Green Alloy floated up and spiraled down, feet forward. This Klonoa intercepted with a slash of his sword. The Yellow Alloy punched him in the back, and the Blue Alloy kicked his shins. He gasped with pain and ran from the Alloys, all the while charging up a Wind Bullet. The Alloys followed, and he released the bullet. It struck the first Alloy in line, which happened to be the Kirby-like green one. It toppled into the other two Alloys, and they all fell like a line of dominoes. While the Alloys were getting up, Klonoa jumped ten feet into the air and went straight down with his right foot pointed at the Alloys. He landed on the Yellow Alloy, and it went flying off into the darkness.

One down, two to go.

Klonoa grabbed the Blue Alloy and started kicking it. Then he slammed it onto the ground and tossed it away. It went past the edge of the Final Destination stage and tried to recover, but it didn't jump high enough and fell toward the nonexistent ground.

Two down, one to go.

The Green Alloy floated upwards and spun around like a top. One of its flailing fists caught Klonoa on the ear, and he quickly stepped back to avoid another hit. He slashed at the Alloy's foot and it punched his arm. The Alloy then brought down its fists for a hard blow, but Klonoa slid under it and stood back up behind it. He gave it a hard punch, and it zoomed out of the stage.

Then Klonoa felt a tingling within his body. There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly he wasn't on the stage anymore.

"Welcome back to the Brawl Room," said Marth. "You fought well."

"One thing, though," said Lucario. "You seem to get hit on the back most of the time."

"Oh… I often forget about looking behind myself," Klonoa confessed. "I'll make sure I do that tomorrow."

"Good. Now." Marth swung his sword around. "Tomorrow, there will be a round of brawls for you. First round, the Alloys."

"You mean, those paper guys I just fought?"

"Yes," Lucario said, "but they aren't made of paper. Second round, the Cruel Alloys."

"Cruel Alloys?" asked the Dream Traveler.

"They're Alloys," said Darkrai, entering the Brawl Room, "but they are a great deal tougher. They're bigger, for one thing. And they know how to dodge. They jump higher than regular Alloys, and one punch from them hurts."

"A lot?"

"Not a lot. About a ton."

Klonoa grimaced. "Uh-oh."

"But they aren't that smart," Darkrai went on. "They've got attack power but not much brain power. You'll see what I mean tomorrow."

"Well, that's good to hear." Klonoa snorted.

"But the Cruel Alloys are nowhere near as good as the Smash Mansion's veteran Smashers," said Marth. "Our veterans are Mario, Link, Pikachu, and Kirby. They've fought the most out of all of us, so they're the strongest out of all us Smashers."

"And I need to fight them," Klonoa finished. "Just great."

"Don't panic, Klonoa," said Darkrai. "Items are going to be allowed, not just the Smash Ball and a couple of Poké Balls like last week and the week before that and so on. There are things like Homerun Bats and Golden Hammers and Gooey Bombs…and a lot more damage-dealing items. There are also some healing items, like the Maxim Tomato and various foods like chocolate and water."

"Water…heals me. Really." Klonoa laughed.

"No, really," Darkrai insisted. "Anyway, there are also those items that don't heal you or deal damage; they just aid you during the battle. Like Timers. They slow down time all around you, so your opponent and the stage will be moving in slow motion. But there are also timers that slow _everyone_ down, including you. And there are timers that slow only you down."

"How'll I tell the difference between them?"

"There isn't any difference." Lucario grinned. "That's the fun part. And there's another item that has a lookalike… It's called the Super Mushroom. It makes you giant-sized for about fifteen seconds, which is actually a long time during a brawl. But its counterpart is the Poison Mushroom, which looks almost exactly the same as the Super Mushroom except for some tiny differences. If you eat it, you become tiny for fifteen seconds. Not good at all."

"And I'll have to find out for myself?"

"Yes."

_"Magya."_

"Klonoa, it's rude to curse. That was a curse, was it?"

"Yes."

"Shoot."

"You tell _me_ not to curse, and yet you curse?"

"By the way, I think two of your friends are here," said Darkrai. "I think they're called Gantz and Chipple—"

Klonoa jumped. "Gantz and Chipple! Holy Phantomilian Zippoes, I've got to see them!"

-ooo-

After filling out a couple of applications for joining the Smashers, Gantz and Chipple left Master Hand's second floor office and made their way down the stairs.

"So we'll be having auditions on Tuesday, eh?" said Gantz. "I can't wait!"

"But the guys we saw so far…" Chipple looked nervous. "Will we have to fight all of them?"

"Of course not."

The wolf and the kangaroo whirled around. Gantz had his gun at ready and Chipple had his boxing gloves forward. Then…

"Gantz!"

"Klonoa…?"

"GAH!"

The three friends immediately rushed toward one another. "Wow! Good to see you two," said Klonoa. "So you got invited to join the Smashers, too?"

"Yeah!" said Chipple. "Anything going on here?"

"Not really," said Klonoa. "This place is really awesome. You have auditions in two days, right? Mine's tomorrow…"

"Whoa," said Gantz. "You think you're ready?"

"Yeah! I just finished my training. I'll probably do some more after dinner."

"Well, see you around, Klonoa. We gotta get to our room…Ice Climbers' room?"

"I'm there, too! It's right up…there." Klonoa pointed up at the third floor. "Turn right, and you'll find a door with a purple eggplant on it. Gantz, why don't you park Red Clan in there, and put away your stuff. Chipple, take off your boxing gloves or else everyone's going to think that you're going to box their heads off. I give you a tour of the mansion…"

-ooo-

It was now six-thirty—dinnertime. Since today was Sunday, all the Smashers were seated at the Sunday dinner table, waiting for the Koopa Troopas to serve the food. Master Hand's counterpart, Crazy Hand, was there as well, constantly being monitored by Master Hand.

"Who are those guys?" hissed Gantz to the wolf next him. Interestingly enough, this wolf also liked guns.

"Those turtle things?" said the wolf called Wolf. (_Lame name,_ thought Gantz, grinning.) "Koopa Troopas. They're from the world of Mario and Luigi, the two guys over there." He pointed at the two said plumbers.

Once all the food was out, Master Hand snapped his fingers to cease the quiet jabbering. _"Ahem. We all know that we have three new Smashers, but I'd like to introduce them. Please welcome three residents of the world Phantomile—Klonoa, Gantz, and Chipple!"_

The three Phantomilian Smashers stood up, smiling. Everyone clapped politely, even Crazy Hand. Nana called out, "Congrats! You three are the first Namco peeps to join the Smashers!"

_"Now,"_ said Master Hand when the clapping died down, _"how about each of you telling a little bit about yourselves?"_

"Okay," said Klonoa confidently. "Okay. So. I'm Klonoa, the Dream Traveler of my world, Phantomile. It's my job to make sure that everyone's dreams are okay and not filled with nightmares. Unfortunately, that's Nahatomb's goal… Nahatomb's my main enemy. So whenever I get a nightmare, I'm really cautious about it. Who knows if it's the work of Nahatomb…or the work of a certain Pokémon who woke me up this morning at five-thirty?"

Lucario tried his best not to laugh.

"Hey, did you know about this?" said Klonoa. "You know how…like…when you have a dream, you don't remember much about it when you wake up?"

"Sure," said R.O.B.

"If I have a nightmare and I remember it perfectly, that's not good. That's because dreams are what shape my world! If I have a nightmare that I remember, that means something bad is happening to my world.

"And…I guess that's enough for now."

The Smashers applauded. Crazy Hand laughed randomly.

"My turn," said Gantz. "Hey, everyone. I'm Gantz, a bounty hunter who's also known as the Golden Killer or the Golden Death."

Sonic shuddered.

"I admit that I'm a bit of a loner, but don't worry; I'll get over that." His voice then grew bitter. "My dad, Butz, was murdered by my longtime enemy, Janga. It's my duty to finish him off once and for all."

"How sad," said Peach softly.

"You'll always see me walking around with these guns here"—he pointed at the red guns that were strapped on his sides—"since they're my main weapons. But I use all sorts of firearms to attack. And I've got a hover-bike called Red Clan… It's parked in the Ice Climbers' room right now."

Popo and Nana giggled.

"You'll find out more about me later on. I can't tell you all of it."

Gantz bowed deeply, and everyone clapped.

"Yeah, my turn," said Chipple. "I'm Chipple, and I like to box!" He punched the air for the effect, and several Smashers cheered. "I'm an amateur boxer from Ghazzaland, and it's my dream to become stronger. I'm so happy that I got invited here! It's gotta be a great place for my training!"

"Good luck!" called out Toon Link.

"Sometimes, I'm kinda unconfident…" Chipple's ears drooped. "I hope I'll get over that someday. That's another reason why I came to join the Super Smash Brothers!"

"Yay!" yelled Kirby.

Chipple held up his hand. "And that's that, I think." Something rumbled. "Gosh, when _does_ chow-time start here?"

Everyone laughed and clapped as Chipple sat back down, one hand on his tummy.

Master Hand laughed a booming laugh that echoed around everyone's heads. _"If you insist on eating now… On your marks…get set…EAT!"_

The air was then filled with the sounds of everyone munching. Five minutes later, there was the sound of somebody getting thrown into a pot of soup by—

_"CRAZY HAND!"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that was that. Did you enjoy it? That was the longest chapter yet! Mostly because of the <strong>_**Potter Puppet Pals****_ thing. You should watch it; it's really funny._**

_**So two new Smashers have joined the brawl! What will happen?**_

**Gantz:** We have fun.

**Chipple:** We fight for victory! And we have fun!

**Gantz:** I just said that!

**Chipple:** Whatever!

**Gantz:** Shut up!

**Chipple:** Shutting up, sir!

**Gantz:** _*slaps Chipple*_

_**Good luck, you two! And Gantz, you should know by now that slapping your friends is mean. Who was thrown into Kirby's pot of soup?**_

**Kirby:** _*raging*_ ME!

**King Dedede:** HAHAHA!

**Kirby:** _*bangs King Dedede's head with a frying pan*_ SHUT UP!

_**…Ouch. Kirby, don't do that. And will Crazy Hand get punished for his act of craziness?**_

**Crazy Hand:** _…_Yes?

**Master Hand:** Yes. _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**See you next time in Chapter 12 of **_**Life at the Mansion**_**!**_

**_Credits to the Klonoa Wiki for information about Klonoa, Gantz, and Chipple._**

_**And remember to review!**_

_**And once again**_**_…_**

_**HAPPY NEW YEAR‼**_


	12. Klonoa's Auditions — Part I

**_Here is Chapter 12 of _Life at the Mansion_! It's time to watch Klonoa's tests! Enjoy._**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Super Smash Brothers, blah blah blah…blah…blah…blah…blah?  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12: Klonoa's Auditions — Part I<strong>

* * *

><p>"Today's Monday. You know what that means?"<p>

Lucas looked confused. "We're going to finish making the game?"

"No, silly!" said Ness, exasperated. "Today is Klonoa's auditions! If he passes it, he joins us! If he fails…well…you know."

Lucas gave a low whistle. "Well, I hope he gets in. Lucario told me yesterday that he fought off the Alloy team pretty well. Speaking of Lucario, let's get to the room to do the game."

The two psychic boys quietly collected their items, all the while watching their roommate Jeff. If Jeff woke up, they were busted for sure.

Ness yawned. "Lucas…what time is it?"

"Five AM exactly. What, you want to sleep?"

"Sorta…" Ness yawned again.

Lucas grumbled. "Don't you fall asleep while typing something into the game."

"Yeah, whatever…"

They reached the door of the secret game-making room. Ness tried to turn the handle, but it was locked. So he put his hand on the handle and, with a bit of PSI energy, forced the door to unlock itself. Lucas pushed open the door and carefully looked around the room before entering, and Ness followed and very silently shut the door.

"A light is on," said Ness. "They must be here, too, or just one of them."

"Hey," Lucas called softly. "It's Ness and Lucas, the PSI boys. Anyone here?"

"We're both here," a rough voice said to him. Lucario stepped out of a dark spot of the room and beckoned them to follow.

"So, what's going on?" asked Ness, hurrying after Lucario.

Lucario slowed his pace when he saw Snake, crouched over a desk with a pencil in his hand. "We got the theme song…sort of. I'm still working on the music. Snake is writing the words down, and they aren't in English."

_"Terror omnibus,"_ said Snake as he scribbled furiously on the paper. _"Mihi quoque."_

"Oh," said Lucas. "I see."

"Yesterday, when it was lunchtime, Snake and I moved an electronic keyboard into this room," Lucario continued, "so I could tinker with various tunes."

"Keyboard?" said Ness.

Lucario pointed at a spot ten feet away. There was an electronic keyboard and a bench. The keyboard was a full-size one; it had eighty-eight keys. It even had a pedal, which wasn't very common.

Lucario sat down on the bench. "My best composition yet is this…"

He put a finger on the C sharp key and started to press various keys. With that same finger, he played a tune that sounded good even without a left hand part. Then he abruptly stopped. "That's all I got for now."

"By golly, Lucas," said Ness to Lucas. "It sounds great already! If we change that into an orchestral version with singers… I can already hear it in my head!"

Lucas could have sworn that Ness' eyes were sparkling with joy.

"Lucario, that _is_ the best you got," said Snake, finally pausing between his weird muttering. "Write it down before you forget it; best if you don't change it." And he went back to his foreign language talking. _"Ille iuxta me…"_

"What's Snake talking about?" Ness asked Lucario, who shrugged and replied, "I don't understand the language he's saying. I only know English and Pokémon language."

"Hey, I know how to speak Pikachu!" Lucas piped up. _"Pika-pikachu! Pika!"_

Lucario looked shocked. "Lucas…"

"What?" the PSI boy said excitedly. "Was I good? Was I? Was I? Was I?"

"Actually, Lucas…what you just said was a swear word. And a bad one, too."

"WHAT? NOOOOOO—!"

_"Shut up!"_ said Ness and Lucario.

_"Inclusit!"_ said Snake at the same time.

The other three Smashers all stared at Snake, who added after an awkward moment of silence:

"And that means _shut up_ in Latin!"

-ooo-

It was seven forty-five exactly—breakfast time.

At one table in the cafeteria sat the two Kongs, Yoshi, and two Legendary Pokémon in their human forms—Mewtwo and Darkrai. The Kongs and Yoshi were sitting on the bench, and the Pokémon were snoozing on the table itself.

Donkey Kong pounded his fist on the cafeteria table, making the table's food trays and the two Pokémon fly five feet into the air. "This is driving me BANANAS!"

Darkrai landed back on the table with a resounding _crash_. "What?"

He sounded extremely irritated.

"There was yelling this morning at five-something," the gorilla Smasher growled. "LOUD yelling. _FIVE in the MORNING!_ Who could be up _that_ early?"

"Someone who wants to disrupt our sleep," said Mewtwo, who had missed the table and landed his head on the ground instead after Donkey Kong's violent outburst. He climbed back onto the table and said, "Good night." Then he began to snore.

Darkrai sighed. "Good grief…"

"But I didn't hear anything, DK," said little Diddy Kong as he snacked on a large banana. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

"It was real!" Donkey Kong protested. "I was awake—_wide_ awake—and I heard somebody say 'WHAT? NOOOOOOO!' really loudly! I'm not sure who it was, though; it's kind of hard to tell who's who when they're yelling."

"You got that right, DK," agreed Yoshi, tossing a whole apple into his mouth.

"I'll go investigate," Darkrai volunteered. "They can't hide from me. And they won't like it if they try."

"Oh, is that _so_!" Yoshi snorted.

Darkrai just got off the table without a word. Then he said:

"By the way, Yoshi, if there's time today, I challenge you to a brawl, if that's all right with you."

Yoshi was so surprised, he fell off the bench and shouted, _"Yoshi!"_

Darkrai nodded with satisfaction. "I'll take that as a 'yes.' See you later, Yoshi." He disappeared into the ground, having used his Shadow Travel ability, leaving the still stunned Yoshi.

Just then, Mewtwo fell off the table and hit his head on the ground—again.

"Ow! Oh, good morning. What just happened?"

"Darkrai challenged Yoshi to a brawl if time allows," said Donkey Kong promptly.

Mewtwo's lavender eyes widened. "No way!" At the ground, he yelled, "Curse you, Darkrai! You should have asked _me_! _I_ am a great match for you, better than Cresselia herself!" He teleported away, just as another human-formed Legendary Pokémon came.

"Is that _so_, Mewtwo," Cresselia said dangerously, disappearing as quickly as she had come.

-ooo-

"Klonoa, you think you're ready for your auditions?" asked Gantz.

It was now ten exactly, and the three Phantomilian Smashers and Huepow the wind spirit were sitting in the Brawl Room, facing the television screen.

Klonoa spun around his Wind Ring on his index finger. "Sure, Gantz! I did another bit of training after dinner yesterday, and Pit said I did pretty well."

"Well, good luck, mate!" said Chipple, punching the air.

"You can do it, Klonoa!" Huepow said encouragingly. "You've always fought well!"

Master Hand peeked into the room. _"There you are, Klonoa. The first part of your auditions will begin in an hour, so get ready. An hour is not that long."_

"Got that, Master Hand," Klonoa answered.

Before Master Hand turned to leave, a voice said, "Excuse me, Master Hand…"

Yoshi and Darkrai entered the room. "Is it okay if we two have a one-life brawl before Klonoa's auditions?" asked Yoshi. "I doubt we'll take a full hour."

_"Do as you wish, you two. But do not drag the battle on purpose; you need to be finished fifteen minutes before the first part of the auditions begin."_

"So we have forty-five minutes, huh?" said Darkrai. "No problem. Taking out one life won't take long. Thanks a lot, Master Hand."

"Okay," said Yoshi to the Phantomilian Smashers. "So Darkrai and I will have a one-life brawl with a few items turned on. This brawl is for boredom and demonstration purposes."

Darkrai snorted at the "for boredom" part. "And I'll be staying in my human form…since Yoshi probably can't survive against my Pokémon form."

Yoshi was steamed. "Well, _excuse_ me, mister—"

"You're excused."

Yoshi huffed. Then he went on with the brawl explanation.

"What the 'one-life' thing means is that we each get one chance to win the brawl. Each time one of us falls off the stage, gets blown past the borders on the left or right or top, we lose a life. When one of us loses our entire stock, which is one life in this case, the battle is over and the one still standing wins. You all following me?"

The other Smashers all nodded.

"Good," said Darkrai. "And we turned off most of the items, including the Smash Ball, because I don't have any move like a Final Smash. And the Poké Balls have been getting boring so we turned that off. We kept on only the items with lookalikes. Remember what I told you yesterday, Klonoa?"

"Something called the Super Mushroom and the Poison Mushroom, and they looked almost identical," Klonoa recalled. "And the Timer."

"Correct. So we kept these items on. They'll occasionally appear on the stage while we're battling. Got that?"

The Smashers nodded again.

_"Excellent,"_ said Master Hand, sounding pleased. _"Yoshi and Darkrai, are you ready?"_

They nodded confidently.

_"You are going to be transported to one of the most basic stages in the list, the Final Destination. If I sent you to, say, the Bridge of Eldin stage, our new Smashers would get confused by the bull and the bombs and the portal that rebuilds the bridge. Ready? Now, go!"_

He snapped his fingers. Yoshi and Darkrai disappeared.

-ooo-

Klonoa pointed at the television screen. "Hey, they got teleported to the stage I was in yesterday!"

The Final Destination stage indeed was "one of the most basic stages in the list." It was simply a floating platform that was the battling area. Throughout the battle, the platform would travel through the sky, into a wormhole, above the clouds, past the stars and the galaxies, and back to the starting point. Then the travel sequence would repeat itself until the battle ended.

An egg with green spots rolled onto the left side of the stage and broke open to reveal Yoshi. On the right side, rising from the ground, was Darkrai. Yoshi stuck out his tongue at Darkrai, who merely looked annoyed.

Master Hand started counting down:

_"Three! Two! One! FIGHT!"_

Yoshi curled up, and a green-spotted eggshell enveloped him. He barreled toward Darkrai at a high speed.

"What's Darkrai just standing there for?" asked Chipple.

"He's really unpredictable," said Klonoa. "Watch."

When Yoshi was just about to hit, Darkrai jumped over him and landed agilely behind the eggshell-enveloped dinosaur.

"He prefers to stay on the evasive side, see," Klonoa explained.

Yoshi broke out of his egg and threw two eggs, both of which Darkrai dodged. Then Yoshi used his Yoshi Bomb move, jumping upward and slamming down onto the ground with his tail. Two large stars flew out on impact, rushing toward Darkrai, who continued to just stand there. The star closest to him hit its length limit and vanished.

"Awww!" groaned Yoshi.

"Poor guy," Huepow commented. "Darkrai's just too fast."

"Is he all about eggs or _what_!" said Gantz. He had a paper in his hand. "I've got his move list. Egg Roll, that was his first attack. Then he used Egg Throw twice… And just now he used Yoshi Bomb… He didn't even use Egg Lay yet…"

_"Yes, Yoshi has several egg-related moves, something that even I am not sure about,"_ admitted Master Hand. _"But in the meantime, let us watch the brawl."_

Yoshi was still on the offensive. He used Yoshi Bomb three more times. Darkrai either slid under him or completely jumped over him while he was still airborne with his tail forward. Yoshi was getting more and more frustrated by the minute.

He raced toward Darkrai and kicked at him. It narrowly missed, for Darkrai took a quick step back at the last moment.

Now the Pokémon went on the offensive. He jumped forward and brought down his right hand, which was covered with a black shadow in the shape of three sharp claws. It caught Yoshi's boot, but since it was a boot that got hit, it didn't deal Yoshi any damage.

"Nice Shadow Claw, Darkrai," said Lucario, entering the Brawl Room with the rest of the Smashers, excluding Yoshi.

"We heard that there was a brawl going on before Klonoa's auditions, so we all decided to check it out," Samus said, answering the wondering looks on Klonoa, Gantz, Chipple, and Huepow's faces.

_"Aargh!"_

All faces turned to the television screen. Yoshi had just gotten hit by a Dark Pulse attack.

"Darkrai's a meanie," Jigglypuff said.

Yoshi tossed an egg, which caught Darkrai on the shoulder. Darkrai hopped back, then rushed forward using Quick Attack. Amazingly, Yoshi dodged the lightning-quick move and slammed downward with Yoshi Bomb. This one hit Darkrai, and he stepped back, scowling.

A mushroom appeared. It was small and red with white spots and had two eyes on it.

"I suppose that's a Super Mushroom?" guessed Huepow.

Yoshi saw the Super Mushroom—that is, if it _was_ a Super Mushroom—starting to travel toward the right end of the stage. He shoved Darkrai out of the way and gobbled down the mushroom.

Then he grew three times larger. Yoshi was now Giant Yoshi!

"Yup, it's a Super Mushroom, alright," Klonoa confirmed.

Giant Yoshi stomped on Darkrai's foot. Darkrai's eyes widened as the pain shot up his leg. Then Giant Yoshi whacked the Pokémon soundly with his tail, causing the latter to fly back several feet. He retaliated by jumping _onto_ Giant Yoshi's back and attacking savagely with Dark Pulse and Shadow Claw attacks. Yoshi tried to shake off his opponent, but the latter somehow held on while attacking.

"Whoa, Darkrai's good," Pikachu said.

Link felt a little scared. Yoshi was a friend of his, and he didn't like seeing his Subspace partner getting clobbered by the Legendary Pokémon like that.

Giant Yoshi shrunk back to his usual size. Darkrai slid off his back and went on battling.

"Damage is rising for both of them," said Marth, watching the damage meters. "Yoshi has a hundred percent exactly and Darkrai has fifty-seven as of now."

"If this is a demonstration," Gantz said to Klonoa, "it's awfully violent."

Yoshi saw an opening and shot out his tongue, attempting to swallow Darkrai up. But the Pokémon saw this and avoided it by diving into the ground as a shadow. He reappeared behind Yoshi and ran away.

"The ground to him is the deep water to us," said Sonic, sniffing. "I hate water."

Gantz looked down at Yoshi's moves list. "That would've been a successful Egg Lay if Darkrai hadn't dodged it."

Yoshi began chasing Darkrai all over the stage, all the while trying to swallow him. It seemed like Darkrai was back to evasion mode, for he was jumping all over the place, leaping over Yoshi and sometimes just rushing right past him.

"Mama mia, he's-a fast!" Mario complained.

A Timer appeared, and Darkrai picked it up. "Well, I hope this isn't a bad one," everyone heard him say.

A light shone from the Timer and spread all around the stage. When it died away, everything—even the stage itself—was in slow motion.

Yoshi was, too.

Darkrai was not.

"It's a good timer!" cheered Bowser.

Darkrai grinned. "Well, I must thank you for once, Dialga."

He used Quick Attack and crashed into the slow-motion Yoshi. Yoshi tried to use Egg Throw, but he was just too slow. Darkrai grabbed Yoshi's leg and started spinning him around and around in circles. Then he tossed the dinosaur away.

"Oh!" several Smashers gasped.

Luckily, Yoshi managed to stop his flight. He landed on the ground without trouble. Darkrai was probably feeling sorry for the dinosaur now, because he waited for Yoshi to land rather than attack him as he fell in slow motion.

The Timer's effect ran out, returning time to normal. Yoshi dusted his boots and said, "Thanks for not attacking."

"No problem. Back to the battle."

A mushroom appeared. It looked like a Super Mushroom. But it obviously wasn't because Darkrai looked straight at the Phantomilian Smashers through the television screen and said, "This is what happens when you eat a Poison Mushroom, rookies."

He picked up the mushroom and ate it. Almost instantly, he shrunk until he was almost five times smaller than his original size.

"Whoa… I didn't know you'd get _that_ tiny," Chipple said. "But I'm not worried."

He sounded plenty worried.

_"Yoshi!"_ cried Yoshi happily. For a moment he thought Darkrai had just eaten a Super Mushroom. He attempted an Egg Roll…

Unfortunately, Darkrai was just as fast when small. He nimbly hopped over the eggshell-enveloped Yoshi and ran for it.

"How does he dodge all of Yoshi's moves?" exclaimed Toon Link. "I could easily tell that Yoshi's throwing his moves out as fast as he could."

"If you check any Pokédex with Darkrai's entry, you'll see that his speed is five stars out of five, which is _really_ fast," explained Red.

Yoshi lugged out egg after egg. Darkrai dodged them all. He reached the edge of the stage and jumped…

_…off the stage?_

"WHAAAAAAAAAT!" some Smashers yelled with shock.

Even Yoshi looked surprised as he peered over the edge Darkrai had just jumped off. "Where'd he go? Did he suicide?"

"My god, people," Snake muttered disapprovingly. "How many times do I have to say that the word _suicide_ is NOT a verb? You say it as '_commit_ suicide'!"

"Well, good afternoon, Yoshi."

_"YOSHI!"_ cried the dinosaur, nearly falling off the edge himself. "How'd you get back here?"

The Legendary Pokémon, who was standing on the _opposite_ end of the stage, had grown back to his usual size, and he shrugged. "Simple. I jumped."

And he rammed into Yoshi with a full-power Quick Attack.

"Owowowow!" squealed Yoshi, flying back fifteen feet.

"Oh, no, Yoshi!" said Peach.

Luckily, thanks to his Flutter Jump ability, Yoshi safely made it back to the stage. Though his damage was soaring, and though he could be defeated with one strong attack, Darkrai waited patiently for him to clamber back onstage.

"Awww… Darkrai's really nice," Nana observed with a grin. "And yet you say he's a _meanie_, Jigglypuff?"

Jigglypuff flushed. "Well…he was back then!"

"How'd he make it back to the stage? And on the _other_ side?" Popo asked Red.

"Since flying isn't really allowed in brawls, he must've jumped twice and used his recovery move," answered Red. "But I'm not sure. Darkrai's a real toughie." His expression darkened. "After all, _he_ was the Pokémon who stopped Dialga and Palkia from trashing the whole entire Alamos Town…"

Popo's blue eyes bugged out. "Whoa, _really_? What happened?"

"Long story. Watch _The Rise of Darkrai_."

As if to prove Red's point, Darkrai grabbed Yoshi again, this time by the tail, and started swinging the poor dinosaur around and around in wide, dizzying circles.

And he let go.

"YOSHIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" hollered Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Link.

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

"And you said you _won't_ take long!" scolded Gantz the moment Yoshi and Darkrai returned to the Brawl Room. "Though it didn't feel like it, that was half an hour!"

"Look, I can't be _that_ exact," Darkrai responded.

_"About time you two finished!"_ Master Hand thundered. _"You have kept us waiting. Congratulations on your victory, Darkrai… And Yoshi, since you fought a hard battle against a…rather difficult Legendary Pokémon today—"_

Darkrai smirked at that part.

_"—you are excused from your regular brawl this week."_

"Thanks!" Yoshi said gratefully.

"Aw, _c'mon_!" Wario whined. "What about me?"

_"You did not have a brawl today against a difficult opponent, so, no,"_ Master Hand said firmly.

"AWWWW!"

To Klonoa, the hand said, _"You have about twenty minutes before your auditions. Prepare yourself, chat with the other Smashers if you like. I will be back at eleven exactly."_

And he left.

"'Prepare yourself'?" said Ike. "Sounds like something I'd say." He pointed Ragnell at Marth. "Prepare yourself!" he stated formally.

Marth grinned and pointed Falchion at Ike. "And so I shall, good sir!"

"But the Brawl Room is not a good place for a duel of blades, however!"

"Nay, 'tis not, my friend! Let us two swordsmen duel after young Klonoa's auditions, shall we?"

"Aye, let us duel after the auditions, good sir!"

The two swordsmen roared with laughter, and many other Smashers joined in.

"So, buddy," Pit said to Klonoa, "you think you're ready?"

The rookie and his wind spirit partner gave the angel a thumbs-up sign. "Good as ever, Pit!"

Everyone talked for the next fifteen minutes. Peach went to the kitchen and returned with a team of Koopa Troopas, all of which were carrying a very large platter of cookies above their heads.

"Just in case Kirby and Yoshi eat too many and make the cookies run out," explained the princess.

The twenty minutes passed too fast; so fast that all the cookies had been devoured. Two Koopas took the empty platter and exited the Brawl Room just as Master Hand returned.

_"All right, Klonoa,"_ he said. _"Your auditions will all take place on the Battlefield stage. Like the Final Destination stage, the Battlefield is a very basic stage—flat with some platforms. Very simple in structure. You will have three tests. The first one…"_ He held up a piece of paper. _"Defeat the Fighting Alloy Team without any items!"_

"The Fighting Alloy Team?" asked Chipple.

_"Klonoa fought them yesterday, remember?"_

Huepow remembered. "You mean those guys who look like they're made of metallic paper and have balls of light on their hands and feet?"

_"Exactly. Those are called Alloys. I believe Darkrai told you that."_

"That I did," Darkrai said. "And I'm staying right here…just to put pressure on you."

"_Excuse_ me?"

"You're excused."

"Oh, no! Not again!"

"Just kidding. I'm leaving. I've got business with…well, you know." And the Pokémon left without another word.

_"Your first test is to defeat the Fighting Alloy Team,"_ Master Hand cut in._ "Quite simple, actually…but you will have to fight a hundred enemies."_

"WHAT?"

_"It is rather easy, really."_

"And just-a to warn you, not-a all of them are-a Alloys-a," Mario added.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You'll-a have to find-a out for yourself-a!"

"WHAT?"

_"I shall teleport you to the Battlefield. Are you ready?"_

Klonoa and Huepow saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"I think!" Huepow squeaked. Klonoa glared at him.

_"Excellent. Prepare for battle!"_

"WAIT! But I said 'I _think_'—"

Master Hand snapped his fingers. A loud _crack_ sounded, and Klonoa and Huepow vanished.

-ooo-

"So _this_ is the Battlefield," Klonoa observed.

The Battlefield _was_ very simple, as Master Hand had said. It was a stage that floated above a deep seaside valley and had some strange purple thing at the bottom. Klonoa guessed that it made the stage float. Three platforms hovered motionlessly in midair above the stage in a triangular formation. Trees, shrubs, and some old stone structures decorated the background.

_"Klonoa, the Fighting Alloy Team is going to arrive any moment, so get ready,"_ said Master Hand's voice.

"Got it!" To Huepow, Klonoa said, "Okay, Huepow, it's time to fight."

As if to answer his statement, four Alloys—one red, one yellow, one green, and one blue—stepped down from floating platforms ("Revival Pads," Falco called them) and got into battle stance. Huepow dived into Klonoa's Wind Ring, and Klonoa extended the ring's energy into a pale green, two-foot-long blade.

_"Three!"_

_It's nearly time._

_"Two!"_

_I can do this._

_"One!"_

"Time to brawl…"

_"FIGHT!"_

The four Alloys came as one. Klonoa waited patiently for them to come. Then…

_Slash!_

The Alloys went flying off, all because of that one slash of the Wind Ring sword.

"Holy Phantomile, they're as weak as Moos!" Klonoa remarked.

Another four Alloys arrived. But, like the previous foursome, they were blasted out of the stage by Klonoa's sword.

While the next four Alloys were coming, Klonoa jumped onto the topmost platform and waited.

"Up here, Alloy-heads!"

The Alloys came and were kicked out, one by one.

"Whoa, even kicking them upward works!"

Another foursome came and were sent off immediately.

"Master Hand's right. This is easy, and this is fun!"

Four more Alloys were blasted off. Two went to the left, and two went to the right.

"_Wahoo!_ Just eighty more to go!"

-ooo-

"He's one optimistic fellow, ain't he," said Wario.

"He's dang good," Captain Falcon commented.

"Funny how he didn't hit yet," said Falco. Then—

"_Yowch!_ Stupid Alloy!"

"Eh… Never mind."

-ooo-

Klonoa had earned the kick from a Blue Alloy, the Zero Suit Samus-style one. He responded by giving it a fully charged Wind Bullet to the butt—and it went flying.

"No more punches for _my_ poor rear…"

-ooo-

Samus was literally steaming—the canon of her Power Suit was leaking some smoke. "If the kid ever does that to the real Zero Suit Samus—"

"He won't," Pikachu reassured her. "After all, everyone's terrified of your Zero Laser."

At the words "Zero Laser", everyone backed away from Samus, who sighed.

"But _why_…"

-ooo-

Klonoa was now on his thirty-eighth Alloy, which was defeated when Klonoa threw it off the stage.

"Thirty-eight…"

A Yellow Alloy, the Mario-style one, came at him and tried to punch him. He sidestepped and tripped it. Then he picked it up by its feet and heaved it off the stage with a grunt.

"Thirty-nine…"

A Green Alloy, the Kirby-style one, kicked his shins. He stumbled a little and retaliated with another special attack of his.

Klonoa stepped back and prepared his move. Then he launched himself off the ground, aided by a wave of greenish wind, and flew forward like a cannonball, his sword pointed directly before him and aimed at the Alloy.

_"Wind Rush!"_

He landed smack-dab in the Green Alloy's face and stabbed it with his sword, and it went past the left boundary of the stage.

"Forty…"

-ooo-

"Wind Rush, eh?" said Link. "It's like Ike's Quick Draw combined with Marth's Shield Breaker. Nice one, Klonoa."

-ooo-

The rookie Smasher was in a frenzy now. He was now throwing out kicks and punches left and right, taking out at least four Alloys at a time. Nothing could stop him now…

…or _was_ there?

-ooo-

"Ready, Kirby?"

Kirby waited inside a cylindrical container about seven feet tall. "Yeah! Press it, D!"

King Dedede pushed a red button, and Kirby started glowing.

"Whatcha you doing, Dedede?" Chipple asked.

King Dedede patted the kangaroo on the shoulder. "Watch and see."

_Boy, Klonoa's in for a real big surprise…_

-ooo-

And indeed he was.

"All righty-o, Alloy-butts! An early Christmas present for you two!"

Klonoa tossed away the two Yellow Alloys and sent them each a Wind Bullet. Though he hadn't charged the attacks up at all, the Alloys blasted off.

"Team Alloy's blasting off again! Woohoo!" He chuckled before turning around to beat up a…Kirby?

"WHAT THE HECK!"

-ooo-

"He stole my line!" Pikachu fumed. "And Team Rocket's! Boy, is Meowth going to be _mad_!"

"He said 'Team _Alloy_,' not 'Team Rocket,'" Red pointed out.

"Eh? Oh. Then, uh… He stole eighty percent of Team Rocket's line!"

"Why eighty?" Snake asked. _Just testing his math skills…_

"Because four out of the five words of the line was in his statement! The only different word was 'Alloy's!' And four out of five, which also means four divided by five, equals zero point eight, which is eighty percent if you don't like decimals!"

Snake signed. _He's showing off his knowledge of percents. Big deal._

-ooo-

Kirby grinned wickedly and took out a heavy-looking wooden hammer. Klonoa paled and inched away.

"Come on, Kirby, what's up with you? Why're you so…pale pinkish? Feeling sick? Nah, you can't be sick. Why else would you be lugging that wooden sledgehammer around?"

Kirby swung the hammer at him, and he flew backwards and grabbed his stomach.

"Ow. Oh, I get it! Maybe you _aren't_ the Kirby I know. Either you're forced to fight me…or you're just a clone! Yeah, that's it! You're a _clone_ of the real Kirby!"

Klonoa jumped over the clone Kirby's Final Cutter and kicked his face. Then he used his special upward move, Rising Gale, and took out the clone in a flash.

"Just slightly tougher than the Alloys…but still he's really weak…"

-ooo-

"He figured out the clone thing a lot faster than you, huh, Ganondorf?"

"Sh… Shut up, Toon!"

-ooo-

After his sixtieth enemy (he had defeated fifty-six Alloys and a clone Olimar, Snake, and Peach), Klonoa jumped off the platform he was standing on and released Huepow from his ring.

"How many more?" Huepow whined.

"Just forty. No biggie."

"'No biggie'! Are you crazy?"

"Not as crazy as Crazy Hand, that's for sure."

"KLO-_NO_-A!"

The sixty-first Alloy, a blue one, kicked Klonoa's back. Huepow dived back into the ring for safety while Klonoa performed a roundhouse kick on the Alloy, defeating it instantly. When the Alloy disappeared, Huepow popped back out.

"And you call that 'no biggie'?" he scolded.

"Fine, fine, I lied. No…_huge_ biggie!"

Huepow groaned.

-ooo-

"Klonoa's so carefree… I'm worried," Zelda said quietly.

"He's going to be okay," said Gantz. "Just look at him fight! He's bound to pass the auditions. And I am, too!"

"Oh, yeah?" Chipple challenged.

"Yeah!"

"Guys, go put a sock in it!" Sonic said crossly.

-ooo-

_Bang!_

"Seventy-one…"

_Bam!_

"Seventy-two…"

_Crash! Boom! Wham!_

"Seventy-three—seventy-four—seventy-five…"

_Smash!_

"Seventy-six…"

_Thud! Clonk!_

"Seventy-seven—seventy-eight…"

_Pow!_

"Ow!"

_Thump!_

"That's better. Seventy-nine… Oh, here comes a squad of them."

Four Alloys, one of each color, came rushing toward him. Then they were gone, having been hit by a strong Tornado Attack.

"Tornadoes are good! Alloys are bad! That's a fact!" Klonoa shouted triumphantly. "Where was I? Oh, yeah, eighty-two…"

-ooo-

Snake grimaced. "His mathematic skills are horrible. Seventy-nine plus four equals eighty-two?"

Just as he said it, Klonoa realized his mistake and shouted, "NONONONONO! I mean, uh, eighty-_three_! Yeah, that's it. Eighty-three…"

A Pit clone came with an angry face and went with a missing shoe.

"Clones are bad, too! And what's with the shoe?" Klonoa kicked it off the stage. "Hey, it rhymes, haha. Eighty-four…"

"I never lose my shoes!" Pit said angrily as he stepped out of the cloning chamber. "What's with my clone today? Shoe not tied properly?" He then turned his attention back to the television screen.

"Funny, the exact same thing happened to Shadow just yesterday," Sonic said to R.O.B.

If R.O.B. had a mouth, he would have been grinning. "Gee, I wish I hadn't missed that. Back to the TV."

_Blam!_

"Eighty-five…"

_Boom-boom-boom-boom!_

"Eighty-nine…"

"Holy Alpha of the sky!" yelled Pikachu. "He's almost done already!"

Lucario looked at him. "Are you _sure_ Arceus lives in the sky?"

"Well…doesn't he?"

There was a sudden flash of light at Pikachu's feet. A paper sat there, looking quite plain. He picked it up and read it silently.

And his jaw dropped.

"HOLY ALPHA OF POKÉMON! _JINX!_"

Red stared. "Where? Where?"

"No, he doesn't mean the Pokémon," said Lucario, "he means the _curse_ kind."

"JINX! JINX! JINX! JINX! JINX! JINX! JINX!…"

"SHUT UP, PIKACHU!" Bowser roared. "What does the paper say?"

"…I…I can't say…" Pikachu said faintly before he blacked out.

Lucario snatched the paper from the motionless Pikachu's paws and skimmed it over.

Gantz tried to peer at the paper. "Well? What does it say?"

Lucario's fur visibly whitened. "It says…'I am currently not in the sky, young Pikachu of the Super Smash Brothers of Brawl. I am visiting Giratina in the Distortion World. And get this! It's signed…_Arceus_."

And he fainted as well.

Red took the paper from Lucario's paws. "This paper has the holy bacteria of the most Legendary of the forty-five Legendary Pokémon in the universe! Holy Alpha, I must keep this safe somehow…"

Charizard glanced at Ivysaur and Squirtle and snorted. "Really…"

Meanwhile, Ness was rubbing his chin. _Wait just a little minute…_

After a moment of thought, he snapped his fingers and smiled to himself.

_That's it!_

-ooo-

"Ninety-three—ninety-four—ninety-five…"

If this wasn't a virtual brawl, Klonoa would have been sweating buckets. He had just thrown off a clone Ganondorf from the stage, and since Ganondorf was so much larger than Klonoa, it took the Dream Traveler some effort to defeat the clone Smasher.

"I…hate…clones… Ninety-six!" he gasped, kicking away a Red Alloy.

The remaining four Alloys—red, yellow, green, and blue—came to him as a team, the best one Klonoa had seen so far. Obviously, the Alloys were trying to stop him from passing his test.

"Gee, you think so?"

The Alloys split into two groups of two. The Red and Yellow Alloys stood in front of Klonoa, and the Green and Blue Alloys blocked his back.

"I hate it when I'm surrounded."

The Alloys dashed toward him, fists raised. Klonoa intercepted their punches with a well-landed Tornado Attack and blasted them off the stage…almost.

"Hmm. These guys are pretty smart. This'll be some trouble."

-ooo-

Back in the Brawl Room, Gantz and Chipple were cheering loudly for their friend.

"C'mon, Klonoa! Beat 'em up!" shouted Chipple, punching with his boxing gloved fists.

"Knock the wind out of them, Klonoa!" Gantz called out. Then he turned red. "Pun not intended!"

Everyone watched as Klonoa was getting surrounded by the four Alloys again.

"He'd better make it through," Nana said fervently, "I was having such a good time with him."

The moment the Alloys closed in on the rookie Smasher, he jumped into the air and jumped again—and stayed in the air for four seconds or so as he _hovered_ over the Alloys and to the left side of the stage. Then he came down again.

"It looks-a like that-a Klonoa has the same-a hovering ability as you-a, Peach," Luigi said to the princess.

"True," she agreed, happy to see that another Smasher had adopted her signature ability.

Then everyone heard Klonoa say, "About time I started learning a bit from Darkrai."

"What?" said Lucas.

Klonoa quickly dodged around the four Alloys before him and waited at the right end of the stage. One more step and he would be freefalling.

The Alloys closed in on him.

"Three…"

Nine feet, eight feet, seven feet…

"Two…"

…six, five, four…

"One…"

…three, two…

"And NOW!"

The Dream Traveler jumped backwards. There was no ground to save him. The Alloys brainlessly pursued him and jumped as well.

"Ha!" Klonoa punched the yellow one on the face, and it fell. "Ya!" He did a midair roundhouse kick into the red one's chest, sending it away from the stage and unable to recover. "Yeah!" He did a spin-kick and caught the blue one on the back, and it flew off. "And last but not least… _Hiya!_" he cried, stepping on the green one and launching off of it and making it back to the stage in one piece. The Green Alloy, despite its flying ability, soundlessly fell toward the nonexistent ground and exploded when it passed the bottom border.

_"GAME!"_ Master Hand announced to the cheers of the Smashers.

-ooo-

"OH MAH FREAKING GAWD, KLONOA!" Chipple shouted the moment Klonoa reappeared in the Brawl Room, completely tuckered out. "YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT…"

"Yeah… I made it," Klonoa said, grinning tiredly.

_"But do not get to relaxed,"_ Master Hand reminded him, _"you still have two more parts of your auditions to do."_

"YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT…"

"That's just…_magya_… Can I…rest…thirty…min…"

He fainted before he could finish the last word. Amazingly, he did not drop his precious Wind Ring and possibly break its gem. Huepow didn't even bother to come out. Maybe he was sleeping already.

"YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT…"

Master Hand stared. _"Ah… Yes. Though I believe you are doing so already…and not…even…listening…to me…er…"_ He paused, feeling a little bit awkward. _"…Ah. So. Once Klonoa revives (which I hope will be in about thirty minutes), we shall go on to part two of his auditions. For now, you may talk, go to the kitchen for snacks…anything as long as it is not…destructive."_

"OKAY!" everyone said…everyone, that is, except for Chipple.

_"YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT—"_

"SHUT UP!" roared Gantz.

-ooo-

Exactly half an hour later, Klonoa came to, and Huepow a moment later. Mr. Game & Watch gave him three cookies and a bottle of water.

"Water always refreshes those who're completely pooped out! Oh, and cookies, too!" the two-dimensional Smasher added quickly as the rookie Smasher ravenously gobbled down the cookies.

"Kid, the second audition part's gonna start shortly," Donkey Kong said, helping Klonoa up from the ground.

"I know, I know. Don't make me panic."

"Sorry."

Master Hand reentered the Brawl Room. _"Good to see you up and at it again, Klonoa. As you know, you still have two parts of your auditions left to do. Do you think you are ready for the second part?"_

"I think so… Is it, like, me versus Cruel Alloys?"

_"Yes,"_ Master Hand said, surprised. _"How do you know?"_

"Darkrai told us yesterday," Huepow explained. "He gave us some hints. And he told us that the final part of Klonoa's auditions would be…him versus the Veteran Smashers, who are Mario, Pikachu, Link, and Kirby."

_"Precisely,"_ Master Hand said in agreement. _"I believe you are well prepared. So! Back to what we were talking about before. In a moment, part two shall begin. Once again, you will be fighting on the Battlefield without the help of items, this time against a team of Cruel Alloys, who are enhanced versions of Alloys—faster, stronger, larger, more agile, and much smarter. I can only allow one hint to be told to you: Tactics are the key."_

"Huh?" Klonoa was confused for a second, and then he shrugged. "Meh, I'll find out what you mean. Anything else?"

_"Nothing much. But be careful. The Cruel Alloys live up to their names. They are indeed cruel and merciless to their opponents. They will stop at nothing to defeat you."_

"How many lives will I have?"

_"Only one."_

"One! Ew…" Huepow said sourly.

"How many Alloys?" Klonoa asked, ignoring his partner.

_"There is an infinite number. They will keep coming until you are defeated. To pass the test, you must defeat at least ten."_

"Just ten?" the Dream Traveler said brightly. "Okay!"

_"Even defeating just _one_ of the Cruel Alloys is a difficult task,"_ Master Hand warned him. _"That is why I said that tactics are the key."_

"_Must_ you speak in riddles?" Huepow grumbled.

_"It is not a riddle. You will see what I mean when the Alloys attack. To preserve your one and only life, Klonoa, only one Cruel Alloy will be on the stage until you defeat it—but not with strength."_

"Not with strength!" Klonoa burst out with shock. "How am I supposed to defeat them without attacking?"

_"_Tactics_, Klonoa. Tactics."_

"Tactics," Klonoa repeated. "Tactics. I could never forget that word again. Send us in!"

_"All right, then. In you go."_

And with a loud _snap_ of the large hand's fingers, Klonoa and Huepow disappeared from the Brawl Room again.

-ooo-

"Well, we're back," Huepow said the instant they landed on the Battlefield. "Let's get ready for the ol' kick-butt Cruel Alloys."

As if on cue, a platform landed on the stage, and a tall, metallic creature stepped off of it before it disappeared. It was a Red Alloy, similar to a normal Red Alloy but taller, leaner, and more…menacing.

_"This is a Cruel Red Alloy,"_ said Master Hand's voice. _"It has similar moves to a normal Red Alloy. It will feel like fighting a taller version of Mario."_

The next thing they heard was the stammered protests of Mario and the loud guffaws of several Smashers. _"Whaddya mean—taller version-a—wait a minute-a—_are you calling me short?_"_

Apparently, Mario was pretty mad, since he wasn't putting the usual Italian accent "-a" after his words.

_"No, I am simply saying that the Cruel Red Alloy has a different height than yours,"_ Master Hand said calmly. _"Anyway! Klonoa, get ready. Three!"_

The other Smashers in the Brawl Room joined with the countdown.

_"Two!"_

Klonoa took a deep breath as he lowered his head, the shadow of his Pac-Man cap's visor darkening his closed eyes…which gave him a rather mysterious air.

"Let's do this."

_"One!"_

His head snapped back up. "Let's go."

_"FIGHT!"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you go. If you are a fan of Harry Potter and pretty much know how the storyline of <strong>_**Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix** _**goes, there is a Harry Potter-ish scene near the end of this chapter that was located after Harry's trial thing with Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter book. Can you find it?**_

**_Whew! Klonoa passed his first test. Now, how about the second one? What will happen in _this_ test?_**

**Klono****a:** Meh… Beat up some Alloys, get beat up by some Alloys, yell at Huepow… The usual. _Magya._

_**…Okay… Don't be so negative about it, Klonoa. No need to worry. Where do you think Darkrai went off to after his brawl with Yoshi?**_

**Yoshi:** He said he had business with someone…

**Darkrai:** You should all know who this "someone" was.

**Cresselia:** _Ahem._

**Darkrai:** _*sweatdrop*_ Oh… MAY THE ALPHA SAVE ME FROM THE LUNAR POKÉMON'S WRATH! _*runs away, followed closely by Cresselia*_

_**Er. Ah. Eh. Yeah. Um. So. Uh. Gah. Will any other Smashers to-be arrive at the Smash Mansion soon?**_

**Sonic:** _*exploding*_ They'd better! It's getting awfully boring here without any other Smashers from my world, Mobius! Do you think I can ask Master Hand to make Knuckles or Blaze or someone a new Smasher or somethin'?

**Blaze:** I'd be glad if he did do that. We should ask him tomorrow, first thing after breakfast.

**Sonic:** Nah, first thing after breakfast _and_ my race with Shadow.

**Blaze:** But…you had one with him just…yesterday…

**Shadow:** We're having a rematch…this time, with _secured_ shoes. Hmph. Readers, if you don't know what I'm talking about, read Chapter 11 of this story.

**Sonic:** They should've done that already, Shads! I mean, this is Chapter _12_, and that was Chapter _11_, and everyone should know that 11 comes before 12!

_**Enough with the counting stuff, Sonic. Funny how Crazy Hand hasn't been seen lately… Where was he?**_

**Crazy Hand:** I was playing with the furnace—

**Master Hand:** AHA! So _that_ was where you disappeared to! Well, I will put a stop to that! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**See you next time in Chapter 13 **_**_of _****Life at the Mansion**_**!**_

**_By the way, here is Klonoa's move-list:_**

**Standard Special (B):** Wind Bullet  
><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>←**/**→**):** Wind Rush  
><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>↑**):** Rising Gale  
><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>↓**):** Tornado Attack

_**Wind Bullet and Tornado Attack are actual moves. I made up Wind Rush and Rising Gale.**_

_**Credits to the Klonoa Wiki for information about Klonoa's moves…well, two of them.  
><strong>_

_**And remember to review!**_


	13. Klonoa's Auditions — Part II

**_After loitering and toiling for…uh…I don't even know how long it was! Anyway, after loitering and toiling for some unknown amount of time, here is Chapter 13 of _Life at the Mansion_! Please enjoy.  
><em>**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything here, which I do not like. _At all._  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: Klonoa's Auditions — Part II<strong>

* * *

><p>Klonoa waited for the Alloy to come. But it didn't.<p>

"I've got a funny feeling that it's waiting for _me_ to come at it. But I'm not falling for it!"

He released a charged-up Wind Bullet at the Alloy, but it swiftly dodged it, much to Klonoa's surprise.

"Eh…? But the bullet was moving pretty fast…"

He had no more time to mutter to himself, for the Cruel Red Alloy came rushing toward him and caught him on the shoulder with a strong punch. It kicked his shins, knocking his feet out from under him and causing him to fall flat on his face. It finished the sequence with an uppercut, launching Klonoa high into the air, stunned by the ferocity of the Cruel Alloy.

"_Magya!_ He really lives up to his name! That is, if it even is a 'he'…"

He extended his Wind Ring into the pale green blade and tried to slash the Alloy as he came down. It sidestepped and threw him upwards again.

"Tactics. Master Hand said, 'Tactics.'"

He thought about Master Hand's words as he ran from the Alloy.

_"Tactics are the key… Only one Cruel Alloy will be on the stage until you defeat it—but not with strength…"_

_Not with strength,_ Klonoa mentally chanted,_ not with strength. Okay. Got that. So what should I do?_

He continued to fend off the Alloy with some swings of his sword as he pondered.

_If only someone gave me another hint…_

_"Klonoa."_

Klonoa was so startled, he nearly dropped his sword. Fortunately the Alloy had tripped at that exact moment and was momentarily unable to attack. "Huh?"

_"Klonoa!"_

"Whoa, who's that? Sounds like…Darkrai?"

_"Klonoa! Can you hear me?"_

"Clear as daylight. What's up…uh…being's voice who I think belongs to Darkrai?"

_"Yes, it's me, Darkrai. And it's 'whom,' by the way."_

"Forget the grammar, just tell me the main stuff!"

_"If you insist. Master Hand let me refresh your memory a bit with a little clue. So. What did you do to finish off the last four Alloys from your first test?"_

"The last…four…Alloys…?"

_"Yes. Do you remember what you—"_

"Um, sorry to disappoint you, Darkrai, but there's an Alloy that's trying to murder me right now. Can you tell me later, please?"

_"We disabled the Alloy temporarily so you could listen to me. Now, once again: Do you remember what you did to those last four Alloys?"_

"Uh…"

_"Okay, that's all I can say. Good luck, Klonoa. Please pass this test. I'd really hate it if I wasn't able to bug you anymore."_

"DARKRAI!"

The moment the voice had completely gone, the Cruel Alloy sprang back to life and kicked Klonoa. Hard.

"Ow! Jeez, can't I sit somewhere to think? Sort of like Winnie the Pooh and his ol' Thinking Spot?"

Apparently, the Alloy did not agree, for it ran forward and punched his chest.

"Oomph!"

As Klonoa ran crazily around the Battlefield in circles, he mulled over Darkrai's words.

_"Do you remember what you did to those four Alloys?"_

_Well… I ran off the stage and—gah! That's it!_

He ran past the Red Alloy and ended up on the stage's right side. The Alloy followed.

Klonoa jumped—right off the stage.

After some thinking, the Alloy jumped off, too.

"Now I recover!"

He used Rising Gale, curving over the Alloy and kicking downward at its head before grabbing onto the Battlefield's edge. Then he noticed the Alloy below him, struggling to recover.

Klonoa fired a Wind Bullet at it, and it fell.

_Boom!_

_"KLONOA!"_ Darkrai's shout was deafening. _"You just defeated your first Cruel Alloy—without strength!"_

There was a pause.

_"…Eh, sort of!"_

Klonoa pulled himself back onto the stage. "I just…what?"

_"You just defeated your first Cruel Alloy,"_ Darkrai repeated, slightly calmer than before. _"And it was the Captain Falcon-style one. Impressive!"_

"Whoa! Cool!" the rookie Smasher exclaimed. "But…what about the rest of them?"

_"I shall supply you with one Heart Container,"_ said Master Hand's voice. _"It will replenish your health by one hundred percent. This is your only chance to heal… I think you need it now, so do not wait."_

A sparkling red heart with a gold trim materialized next to Klonoa. He ate it, and instantly he felt his most of his strength coming back, even though he still had about thirty percent left.

"So _that's_ what you meant by 'tactics'," he realized, "and the 'not with strength' stuff! By _faking your death_! Oh, and thanks for the Heart Container."

_"Congratulations, Klonoa,"_ Master Hand's telepathic voice praised him. _"That was one Alloy. Just nine more to defeat. Starting from now, the test will get more challenging. Four Cruel Alloys, one of each color, will appear and attack you. Get ready."_

True to his word, four Cruel Alloys—one red, one yellow, one green, one blue—stepped down from four Revival Pads and immediately charged at Klonoa.

"Hi, guys!" Klonoa taunted. "I'm-a gonna go suicide! _Ooooops_, that was-a bad grammar! But I don't-a care-a! That's-a right, Snake! I don't-a care-a! Heehee!"

-ooo-

"He's gone nutty as a Seedot…" Jigglypuff sighed.

"If a Seedot heard that, it'd beat all the air out of your pink, balloon-like body," Pikachu muttered.

"He sounds-a every bit-a like-a Mario," said Luigi. He paused. "And-a me."

"Shut up, everyone," Gantz broke in. "I'm watching something important."

"What's-a that?" said Mario.

"The audition, duh."

"Oh."

-ooo-

Klonoa had defeated the Yellow Cruel Alloy by faking a suicidal jump, then kicking its head. Now he was jumping off the stage at a downward forty-five degree angle and recovering with his Rising Gale move, which he did over and over again, trying to get another Alloy to jump.

"Come on."

Off the stage again.

"Butts here, guys."

He used Rising Gale and grabbed onto the edge again, and then he released and repeated the sequence.

"Stubborn, aren't you?"

-ooo-

"Lucario here. Aura Pokémon, Fighting- and Steel-type, home region is Sinnoh, three feet and eleven inches tall, one hundred nineteen pounds exactly. The Pokémon who's most sensitive to Aura."

Only a Lucario itself would know all that information. Snake instantly let the Aura Pokémon into the EarthBound trophy room.

"How's Klonoa?" the mercenary asked once he had quietly shut the door. _Weird. The lock seems unusually loose…_

Lucario shrugged. "Pretty well, actually. Last time I checked, he had blown out two Alloys. Impressive for such a young Smasher to-be."

"He's twelve," Lucas called from somewhere above them. "That's not so young. Someone help me up here, please!"

He was tugging at a trophy of Ness' Final Smash, PK Starstorm, which had somehow ended up getting glued upside down on the ceiling. So he had to use his PSI powers to hover in midair while trying to pry the trophy off.

Lucario raised a brow. "Now how in Arceus' name did a _trophy_ get _glued_ onto the ceiling?"

"Dunno," said Ness. He joined Lucas and started pulling with him.

"How's the game?" Lucario asked Snake, who sighed.

"It needs major editing," he replied. "All the characters as of now are done and ready, but the list is probably still incomplete. We need to wait."

"Okay. I got the music written down with separate parts and everything, but it requires an orchestra and a choir. I'm starting to wonder where I'll get all that… How are the words going?"

"I got them down, but if you translate it literally into English, it doesn't make sense. But it sort of does, and that's all I care about. After all, we don't need to know the words to like the music."

"That's right. How's the trophy, boys?"

"Some darn idiot stuck it up here with superglue," Lucas grunted. "Superglue! Who'd do that? Only an idiot would—"

"Or Crazy Hand," Ness cut in. Then his eyes widened.

Lucario guessed that he was so shocked that he forgot how to levitate, and the boy crash-landed onto the ground.

"Crazy Hand. _Crazy Hand._ He's the only guy who's crazy enough to do this kind of thing!"

Lucas finally got the trophy of PK Starstorm to get unstuck from the ceiling, and trophy and Smasher landed together on the floor.

_Crash-crash!_

"You're right!" Lucas said, ignoring the pain on his rear end. "Crazy Hand must've broken into this room! GWAAH! WE'VE BEEN DISCOVERED!"

"If you keep yelling, we will be," Ness said to him. Instantly the latter shut up.

"No wonder the lock seemed so loose," Snake realized with dismay. "Oh, God. Did anyone pack up all the supplies before we left the room this morning?"

"Nope," said Ness. "I just assumed that no one could break in. I thought the door would hold… I thought you could enter only if you had the key…but it's in my pocket…"

"Hey, look on the bright side, people," Lucario said, attempting to loosen the tense mood. "I put the discs and Lucas and Ness' laptops into a safe I found at the back of the room. Oh, and I stored Snake's words for the song in there, too, along with the music I wrote. But I had to leave some other things out…like Snake's computer. Unfortunately, the one has the most important data and stuff. Is it password enforced?" he asked the mercenary.

"Of course. Only I know the password. It's really hard to remember."

"Then Crazy Hand would've discovered us…if he either broke the safe or hacked into Snake's computer," Lucario reasoned. "Both seem unlikely."

"Snake's computer is still in one piece…and so is the safe," confirmed Lucas. "So…we weren't discovered?" _But I've still got this uneasy feeling. The safe's lock feels a bit looser than before…_

"We just have to keep quiet until it's the right time," said Ness.

"Uh…bad news, everyone," Snake said slowly.

"Eh?" asked Ness.

"We're missing a disc… And that one has the most important information…"

"Holy Arceus!" Lucario shouted. "What's stored in that disc?"

"…The most important stuff… The characters…rules… And it had the final plans for that one thing that would instantly give away the topic of the game…"

_"What?"_ the other three Smashers said impatiently.

"…The _title_."

-ooo-

Right outside the door which concealed the room where the four Smashers were working, someone was twirling a disc between his fingers. It seemed to shine brightly despite the dimness of the corridor.

"Now, if only somebody would lend me a computer without knowing that I've got this valuable little disc in my possession," Darkrai said to himself.

-ooo-

Klonoa's audition was still going pretty well.

"Five down…" he huffed, "five to go…"

He had lost track of the time as he fought off the Cruel Alloys, though he was sure that it had been at least twenty minutes.

_If you average it out, it'd be four minutes per Alloy…which sounds kinda fast if you're beating up _Cruel_ Alloys…_

He was still faking suicidal falls, trying to lure the Alloys off the stage. A yellow one jumped, then realized that it was about to fall, and got back on the stage just before Klonoa could kick it downwards.

"Okay. So I'll just keep jumping."

Jump, recover. Jump, recover. Jump, recover. Jump, recover.

_This is bound to get boring sometime…_

-ooo-

Samus was getting a little bored of Klonoa's audition. After all, he was just jumping and falling over and over again.

"Pikachu," she said to the Electric-type, "I'm going to my room."

"I wanna come!" the Pokémon piped up, clambering onto her shoulder. Samus then made her way out the Brawl Room's door. "So, what do we do?"

"I guess I'll just do some things on my computer."

"Sure, sure. I'll get my 3DS."

Neither Smasher spoke as Samus raced up two flights of stairs and into a corridor that led to her room. Pikachu dashed into his room, came out with his blue 3DS, and joined Samus just as she opened her room's door.

"Oh, hi, Samus," Kat and Ana, the Assist Trophy siblings, greeted when the Smasher entered. They were lying on Ana's bed, each of them toying with a small but sharp katana.

"And Pikachu, too!" Kat said happily. Pikachu hopped into her lap, and she patted his head. "You cutie!"

"_Chu,"_ Pikachu said, feeling satisfied.

"So, what's going on out there?" Ana asked Samus as the latter booted up her MacBook Pro.

"Klonoa the newbie is doing the second part of his auditions. He's still going strong, despite the fact that he's fighting a bunch of Cruel Alloys."

"He's really cute!" Kat exclaimed as she patted Pikachu. "Where's he from?"

"Some place called Breezegale Village, I think, located in Phantomile."

"Cool. I want to go there someday."

Suddenly there was a sharp rap on the door.

_Knock._

"Eh?" Ana whirled around, katana at ready. "Who's there?"

_Knock._

"No use asking," Pikachu said. "I'm opening it."

He went to the door and reached for the handle, but found that he couldn't. Kat held him up, and he turned it and pulled open the door.

A boy stood there, clad in black from top to bottom with a red scarf around his neck. A mass of messy white hair covered the right of his blue eyes.

"Sorry to barge in so rudely, ladies—and Pokémon," Darkrai added quickly after noticing Pikachu in Kat's arms. "But do you mind if I borrowed one of your computers?"

"Actually, I was just about to check my e-mail," Samus told him. "You may borrow it after I'm done with my stuff."

"Sure. I'll wait."

Samus went to her Yahoo! Mail and clicked around. There was nothing except an e-mail from Peach, which read, _SAMUS‼ Klonoa's having his auditions…RIGHT…NOW. COME ON‼_

That was from yesterday, when she had been too preoccupied to check her mail. Quickly, she replied: _Princess I know. Now he's having part 2. You didn't need to tell me that, you know; the word spread fast._

She clicked _Send_, then turned to Darkrai, who was starting to get impatient.

"Okay," she said, handing the MacBook to him. "Please bring it back in one piece."

"Whatever you say, Samus," the Pokémon said. "I'm going to keep it away from Mewtwo. No doubt he's going to try hack into your accounts."

"Um, right. Keep it safe."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Kat and Pikachu waved good-bye before closing the door. Once he was sure that he was all alone, Darkrai smiled and took out the disc he had found earlier.

_It's time to see what those four Smashers were up to._

-ooo-

"WHOOAAA! Just three more, kid! C'mon!"

Gantz, Chipple, and the rest of the Smashers and Master Hand eagerly watched as Klonoa defeated his seventh Cruel Alloy, a blue one.

The rookie was a mess. His fur was flying in all directions, and though this was a virtual brawl, he was aching all over and gasping for air as he repeated his jump-then-fall sequence.

"If Huepow wasn't hiding in that Wind Ring," Chipple said to Gantz, "he'd be in an even worse state that Klonoa."

"Right," Gantz agreed. "After all, Huepow's the one who gives power to the ring."

There was a great shout from Olimar and Meta Knight. "Whoa! He just got a bad beating from the Green Alloy! Ouch!"

-ooo-

Klonoa grunted with pain, his chest throbbing. He clung onto the edge of the Battlefield, catching his breath.

_Ouch… I don't know if I can hold on much longer…_

His hands slipped a centimeter.

_Gantz…Chipple…everyone… If I don't pass this…I'm sorry…_

_And Darkrai…though you annoy me (ahem)…you're great. Just don't wake me up with a nightmare next time…_

This time, his hands slipped an entire inch. Now his audition results depended on how long he could hang on with his fingers.

_Can't…hold…on…_

The remaining three Cruel Alloys—red, yellow, green—crept closer. The Green Alloy bravely went ahead of its comrades and looked down at Klonoa with its hidden eyes as if it were pondering over what to do.

It raised its foot.

_Maybe…I should…just…drop… If the Alloy…steps…on me…I'll…fall…and…not pass…the…audition… Wait…_

Klonoa smiled as a plan formed in his head.

He let go.

And the Green Alloy stumbled, its foot hitting nothing but air. It fell, and its comrades followed.

Knowing that he had only a few seconds, Klonoa proceeded to beat up the Alloys.

Those three Alloys received the worst beating of all.

"Ha!"

_WHAM._

"Ho!"

_BOOM._

"Whee!"

_BAM._

"Time for a little spin! _Tornado Attack!_"

Two miniature tornadoes flew out and whirled into the three Alloys. Unable to dodge or strike back, they got caught and were taken down…down…down…

_BOOM-BOOM-BOOM._

Huepow burst out of Klonoa's Wind Ring, and the duo had just enough time to high-five each other before Master Hand's voice sounded.

"_GAME!"_

-ooo-

"HOLY FREAKIN' MOOS OF PHANTOMILE! _YOU, LIKE, _PASSED_!_"

The moment Klonoa and Huepow were warped back into the Brawl Room, they were knocked down like a couple of bowling pins by an over-exuberant Chipple.

"YOU MADE IT! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA DIE! Wait. YOU WERE PRETTY MUCH DEAD! OH MAH FREAKING GAWDS OF PHANTOMILE, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! NOW ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PASS THE THIRD PART OF THE AUDITIONS…"

Gantz, Olimar, Marth, Link, and the rest of the Smashers all stared at Chipple as he cheered and shouted at the top of his lungs, patting Klonoa and Huepow's heads rather painfully with his boxing gloves and beaming widely all the while.

"…Excitable much?" Ike asked Gantz.

Gantz nodded once. "Very."

_"YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT, YOU MADE IT…"_

Sonic started rapidly tapping his foot. "It's like half an hour ago repeated, but with the volume amplified by about three hundred and seventy-five times. I'll just go out to the courtyard and have a volleyball match with Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, and the rest of the team."

"Why?" questioned Peach.

Sonic gave her a thumbs-up sign and a cocky grin. "Did you forget something?"

"Oh-a!" Mario realized. "The London-a Summer Olympics-a. I almost-a forgot-a all about it-a!"

"But they start on July 27 of 2012," Toon Link reminded the plumber, "and today is August 2 of 2011!"

"Oh. Right-a."

"Even if the Olympics are in a year, I want to do some volleyball for three reasons." Sonic raised three fingers to emphasize his point. "One—I want to win. Two—I want to beat Mario. And three—IT'S TOO LOUD IN HERE!" he finished with a loud yell, making everyone jump with surprise. "I'm out!"

And with that, the hedgehog streaked out of the room, faster than any being's eye could see.

"Hey-a, wait for me-a!" Mario ran out of the Brawl Room.

"Wait up-a, bro!" Luigi ran after his older brother, followed closely behind by Peach, Bowser, Wario, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Yoshi.

A few seconds later—

"Shadow! Let's do some volleyball in the courtyard!"

"And why should we, Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"To train-a for the London-a 2012 Summer Olympics, of course-a!"

"They begin in a year."

"_Yoshi!_ Who cares?"

"And yes, I _know_ they begin in a year, Shads! But don't you want to beat Team Nintendo?"

"Yes…"

"BUT YOU WON'T!"

"Shut up, Bowser."

"BWAH."

"What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean…?"

"So let's go, Shadow!"

"No."

"Why-a?"

"My specialty is the track. Get Vector or Amy or Eggman or—"

"EGGMAN! Just last week on Friday we were sent off to stop him from trying to wake up Dark Gaia again. Do you think I'd like a replay of _Sonic Unleashed_—oh, and for the second _live_ time? No, thanks!"

"But he always works well with Team Sega during the Olympics, doesn't he?"

"Very true, Peach, but that doesn't mean he'll work well with Team Sega now."

"Whatever."

"Yeah, whatever. Heh, I've never heard of a princess who said 'whatever'…"

"What was that, Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Nothing. Wanna come or not?"

"Sonic, you sound so annoying."

"Why, thank you."

"Hmmm."

"Well, Shadow?"

"Hmmm…"

"WELL?"

"…All right, Sonic, you win for once. _Fine._"

"OH, YEAH! Let's go beat up some Nintendo butt."

"_Excuse_ me!"

"You're excused, DK."

"SONIC! That's _my_ trademark phrase!"

"Shut up, Darkrai."

"I'm not shutting up until you do—"

"GUYS, GO STUFF A SOCK IN IT—"

"I DON'T EVEN _WEAR_ SOCKS, YOU IDIOT, I'M A _MONKEY_, FOR DARN BANANAS' SAKE—"

"WHO DARN CARES IF YOU'RE A CHIMP, DIDDY—"

"I'M NOT A _CHIMP_, I'M A _MONKEY_, AND SINCE YOU'RE MY UNCLE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT THERE'S A DIFFERENCE—"

"ARCEUS, WHO CARES IF YOU'RE A MONKEY OR A CHIMP OR AN APE OR AN AIPOM OR A MANKEY—"

"GO AWAY, DARKRAI, AND STOP BLABBERING ALL THOSE WEIRD POKÉMON NAMES—wait, where'd _you_ come from?"

"Shadow Travel. Jealous?"

"Very."

"That's good to know, Diddy Kong. What are _you_ doing with the participants of the Olympics?"

"I may not be part of the team, but is there any rule against being a sideline person—in my case, sideline monkey?"

"No…"

"Exactly! So there's nothing wrong about watching the team."

"Hey, someone get Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Blaze, Vector, Metal, and Silver! I wanna get out and run in exactly forty-five seconds!"

"None of us can move that fast, Sonic, other than Shadow…"

"Shadow, go get them-a."

"_Really_, Luigi? Must I look for seven members of Team Sega throughout this entire Smash Mansion?"

"You can-a run through-a all the rooms and-a floors and stairs in less-a than ten seconds-a, you know-a."

"FINE. I'm going. What am I, a servant?"

"Um…maybe?"

"SONIC! Ah—never mind. I'm off."

_Whoosh!_

"…You know, Mario, we should've sent off Darkrai to get our team."

"Why me?"

"Well, you don't have to run through all the corridors and stuff. You can just go right through them as a shadow."

"Using Shadow Travel uses energy, Diddy."

"Oh. I knew that."

"You didn't."

"Darkrai, why do you have Samus' MacBook Pro?"

"How did you know it was Samus'?"

"'Cause it has her little Metroid logo instead of the Apple logo, dummy."

"Oh. I knew that."

"You didn't."

"Is it just me, or is there an echo going on here?"

"It's just you, Sonic."

"Excuse ME!"

"You're excused."

"AARGH! Sometimes I just want to knock you unconscious and make you forget that stupid phrase, Darkrai. You're so annoying!"

"I thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"No need to bow to me. Did you get that little act from _Sonic the Hedgehog 2006_?"

"No…why?"

"'Cause Mephiles the Dark did the exact same thing to Shadow."

"Now, now, don't you start comparing me with that time-destroyer…"

The voices of the Smashers (and one human-formed Legendary Pokémon) faded away as they left.

Meta Knight coughed. "Eh… That was a pretty long conversation."

Fortunately for the Smashers in the Brawl Room, Chipple had stopped his ranting halfway through Team Sega and Team Nintendo's "little" discussion. Master Hand was now helping Klonoa and Huepow off the ground after being squashed by their still-thrilled boxing kangaroo friend.

_"Congratulations on your victory, Klonoa,"_ the hand said as the said Dream Traveler got over with from his shock and dusted the, well, dust off his shorts and Pac-Man hat. _"You figured out the answer remarkably fast, I must say."_

"Yeah, certainly a lot faster than Wolf," Fox piped up, much to Falco's amusement.

Wolf snarled. "It took _you_ long enough, too, in case you don't remember, McCloud."

_"Please, you two, will you ever stop your constant bickering?"_ Master Hand asked, getting irritated.

Fox and Wolf shut up.

_"Thank you. Ahem. As you know, Klonoa, you have one more test to complete."_

"The hardest one of all," Huepow grumbled.

"Defeat Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu," Klonoa said monotonously. "Got it. But how can I do that if Mario and Pikachu aren't here?"

As if on cue, Mario came huffing and puffing into the room, with Pikachu right on his heels.

"Mama mia, Klonoa, I'm-a so sorry," the red-clad plumber apologized. "I almost-a forgot about your test-a. Well, I'm-a here!"

_"Pikachu!"_ added Pikachu. "I was hanging out in Samus' room for a little bit. Sorry about forgetting about you!"

"Come on, now, guys," Klonoa said exasperatedly. "It's okay. First, though, I want a…nap…" He yawned loudly.

Master Hand sighed. _"For how long?"_

"One…hour…g'night…"

And the Dream Traveler promptly fell asleep on the floor, with everyone in the room staring at him.

"…Honestly, I think he sleeps too much," Marth said nervously.

"Does he always double his sleeping times?" Zelda asked Gantz, who shook his head.

"No…not often."

"Not often?" Link repeated. "How about right now?"

"Well, I hope today isn't a doubling-his-sleep-time day. I remember a few months ago he was so pooped out that he slept half an hour…then one…then two…four…eight…sixteen…thirty-two…and finally sixty-four—"

"Wait." Toon Link turned towards Gantz. "You're meaning to tell me that he slept _sixty-four hours straight_?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So that means he slept almost _three days in a row_! That's just amazing!"

Gantz grinned. "Yes, very amazing. If you were a Dream Traveler, you'd know all about sleeping."

"Heh."

-ooo-

"Interesting."

Darkrai clicked around on Samus' MacBook, reading every single line that the disc he had found contained. He was hanging out in the observatory, all alone. Fortunately, that nosy Lunar Pokémon wasn't there to bother him.

_"Project SSBB,"_ the Legendary Pokémon read, smiling. "A very fitting name…"

He clicked on a file and started browsing through it.

"Characters…moves…abilities… I'm quite impressed on how they could do so much work in so little time."

He clicked on another file.

"Music. Hmm. So they'd been collecting all the worlds' music… That must have been bothersome."

He clicked on another file, and his visible eye widened.

"Items! So many items! Arceus, this is an incredibly long list. How long did it take them to plan all this out?"

Darkrai snapped the laptop shut and smiled darkly to himself.

"It's interrogation time…for Lucario, Snake, Ness, and Lucas."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Hmm, that was a surprisingly short chapter. Very unlike me.<strong>_

_**Oh, noes! The game-making Smashers have been discovered! What's a Smasher to do? And what will happen next?**_

**Darkrai:** HEY! Don't tell them yet!

_**Oh, I won't, I won't, calm down. Thank you. My, that Cruel Brawl seemed pretty short. I wonder why?**_

**Sonic:** Uh… Because the so-called "little" discussion with Team Nintendo and the present members of Team Sega took up most of this chapter?

**Shadow:** Yes. Exactly.

**Mario:** We-a ought to shorten-a our conversations just a little bit-a next time-a.

**Klonoa:** _Zzz…_

**Mario:** My, he's-a one sleepy fellow-a, eh? But being-a the Dream Traveler-a, I suppose he-a has to be more-a sleepy than all of-a us.

_**Very true, Mario. So! I'm also wondering where Crazy Hand went.**_

**Crazy Hand:** Gluing a—

**Master Hand:** WHOA! Do—not—tell—the—readers—yet! (Though they probably know already… What a spoiler.) You are coming with me! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**See you next time in Chapter 14 of **_**Life at the Mansion_!_**

_**Credits to the official **_**Mario and Sonic and the London 2012 Olympic Games_ website. You see, I didn't know who was going to be participating. Believe it or not, I _just_ found out that__ Bowser Jr. and Silver the Hedgehog were going to join their respective teams! Gosh, I'm so stupid!_**

_**I really want that game. But I'm kind of busy with schoo****l right now… Boo-hoo.**_

**_Anyways, please review!_**


	14. Klonoa's Auditions — Part III

**_At last, here is Chapter 14! Please enjoy! WARNING: This is a _very_ long chapter! And by "very", I mean _VERY_! I'm sorry, but writing about brawls takes a lot of time, you know!  
><em>**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Smashers, and I don't own anything that they own, et cetera, et cetera, and all that. Peace out.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14: Klonoa's Auditions — Part III<strong>

* * *

><p>"DIE! DIE! DIE!"<p>

Frantically pressing buttons on her pink DSi and screaming "DIE!" all the while, Jigglypuff was playing _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky_ at the point where her exploration team was battling a certain villainous team of Pokémon in a place called Dark Crater.

That villainous team's leader was Darkrai.

In the game, Darkrai was behind all the bad things that had happened, mainly the destruction of time and the distortion of space. Jigglypuff's Team Destiny, which consisted of a female Eevee named Jade (she wanted to evolve her into a Leafeon later on) and a male Riolu named Azure, were the targets. Now, along with their guide Cresselia, Team Destiny was battling for justice.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! _DIE!_ YOU EVIL DARK-TYPE SCUM!"

The enemy team consisted of Darkrai and his minions—a Poison-type Arbok, a Fire-type Magmortar, a Ground- and Rock-type Rhyperior, a Steel- and Rock-type Aggron, a Fire- and Rock-type Magcargo, and a Ghost-type Mismagius. Jigglypuff was pretty confident that she wouldn't lose this battle, for she had thirty Reviver Seeds in her Treasure Bag.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! _DIE_, YOU DARN LEGENDARY POKÉMON OF DARKNESS WHO CERTAINLY DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE LEGENDARY… GOSH, WHAT WILL ARCEUS _SAY_!"

She made Jade defeat the Mismagius with a Shadow Ball attack.

"YEAH! IN YOUR FACE, MISMAGI-BUTT! HAHAHAHA!"

Then Azure landed a Force Palm attack on the Rhyperior, who fainted right on the spot.

"OH, YEAH! TEAM DESTINY OWNS YOU DARN DUMMIES!"

Since the Cresselia guide was a dumb CPU Pokémon, she didn't attack. The Aggron and the Magmortar walked one step closer to Cresselia, and the Arbok went toward Azure. Darkrai just used Double Team, which didn't do any damage but was nonetheless annoying—very annoying.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN RAISE YOUR EVASIVENESS, EH? WELL, EAT THIS, YOU NIGHTMARIC GHOST OF NIGHTMARES! _SHADOW BALL!_"

It missed.

_"I HATE YOU SOOOO MUCH, DARKRAI!"_

"Sorry, what was that?"

"WHAT THE HECK! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE, DARKRAI?"

"Just…now?" replied Darkrai with uncertainty, carefully hiding Samus' MacBook behind his back. _NO, Darkrai. DON'T let the disc fall out. You'll get yourself into a heap of trouble if you do._

"HOW DID YOU GET IN? I LOCKED THE DOOR!"

"Jigglypuff, you should know very well by now that locked doors don't prevent someone from Shadow Traveling in."

"OKAY, I'M STARTING TO HATE THE ALAMOS TOWN DARKRAI, TOO! YES, _YOU_, DARKRAI! OKAY, BACK TO THE GAME! NOW LET'S TRY…A _QUICK ATTACK_ THAT HOPEFULLY DOESN'T MISS!"

It missed.

_"GAAAHHH!"_

When Jigglypuff was once again engrossed in her game, Darkrai quickly set down the MacBook in a shelf and strode over the Smasher. "What in the name of Arceus are you playing that makes you so mad?"

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" shrieked the Smasher, completely ignoring him.

Darkrai groaned. "Who?"

"THIS GUY!"

"Stop yelling! Which guy?"

"THIS GUY! AND I WON'T STOP YELLING!"

"_Which_ guy?"

"_THIS_ GUY!"

Darkrai maintained his voice's volume at a good level; he never raised his voice. "Who in Arceus' name is 'this guy'?"

"DARKRAI!"

"Excuse me?"

"YOU HEARD ME! THIS GUY IS DARKRAI!"

With a sigh, Darkrai looked over Jigglypuff to view her DSi's screen. "What do you mean by… Oh, I see. Playing _Explorers of Sky_ again?"

"YES, DUMMY! _DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! _DIE_, YOU EVIL DARK-TYPE, WHITE-HAIRED, BLUE-EYED, COWARDLY _SCUM_!_"

"You know he doesn't die in the end… He only loses his—"

"DON'T YOU START GIVING ME SPOILERS! GET OUTTA MY ROOM!"

"It isn't your room."

"GET OUTTA MY ROOM!"

"You share it with Pikachu, Lucario, and Red and his Pokémon."

"GET OUTTA MY ROOM!"

"And all the Pokémon, including us Legends, are allowed the enter this room, so it's considered to be our room, too."

"GET—OUT—OF—MY—ROOM—BEFORE—I—HAVE—TO—MAKE—YOU!"

"Make me… How?"

"WITH A…A…A…FULLY CHARGED _HYPER VOICE_!"

Darkrai winced as he sneakily picked up the MacBook from the shelf and stepped out of the room. "Okay, okay…"

_Arceus, she's practically doing a Hyper Voice already. Why must she be so loud when it comes to Pokémon video games for DS and DSi?_

He looked around to see that he was alone, then dived into the ground as a shadow and swiftly went towards the EarthBound trophy room.

_I hope those four are still in there. It's about time they gave me an explanation about their not-so-secret…_Project SSBB_._

-ooo-

"Crazy Hand, did you happen to glue Ness' PK Starstorm trophy on the ceiling of the EarthBound trophy room yesterday or something?"

That was Lucas, facing Crazy Hand, who was twiddling his fingers like mad.

_"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't,"_ the hand replied. _"Heehee!"_

Ness tugged on Lucas' arm. "C'mon, Lucas, it's no use asking. He won't tell us anything."

"Let's just make sure," Lucas told his friend. Walking over to Crazy Hand, he asked, "No one else would try glue a trophy on a ceiling, Crazy. It must've been you. Don't you remember?"

The hand curved slightly sideways, his way of shrugging. _"Nah. How could I remember something from yesterday? Heeheehee!"_

"'Cause you're crazy," Lucas muttered under his breath. "You're right, Ness, this is pointless. Let's run a DNA fingerprint test on the trophy or something."

"That's a great job for Deoxys," said Ness.

The two psychic boys turned to leave. But they hadn't gone five steps yet when Crazy Hand called out:

_"He told me to!"_

The psychic boys whirled around. "What?" said Ness.

"Who?" asked Lucas.

_"White hair, black clothes, red scarf, creepy blue eyes. Heeheehee! I remember now. He told me yesterday to smash into the trophy room! I guess that's why this place is called the Smash Mansion…? LOL. Heehee! Then he gave me a bottle of superglue and told me to glue any trophy I want onto any surface so I got a PK Starstorm and—heeheehee—glued it onto the ceiling with the superglue! Heehee! Then he told me he was done and I should be, too, and I was done! He told me to fix the door, so I did! Heeheehee! But too bad I couldn't fix the lock properly… I'm not like Master Hand. But oh, well! Heeheehee! What a fun day it was!"_

"Oh, my gosh!" Ness looked at Lucas, horrified. "Do you think it could be…"

Lucas didn't answer. He just remembered something he heard this morning at breakfast in the cafeteria:

"_I'll go investigate. They can't hide from me. And they won't like it if they try…"_

He grasped his head in his hands with a feeling of dread.

_Oh… _Oh.

"CRUD! WE GOTTA TELL LUCARIO ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW!"

-ooo-

"Klonoa versus the Veteran Four—Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu!" Chipple announced dramatically as the five said Smashers approached Master Hand, ready for the upcoming brawl. _"Who shall WIN?"_

"Let's go, Klonoa, let's go!" All the young Smashers (the ones who weren't adults) cheered and clapped their hands in unison.

Just a few minutes ago, Klonoa had woken up from his rather long nap, just in time for the third and final part of his auditions. He was told by Master Hand that would be fighting them all at once, much to his shock and surprise. Then Master Hand reassured him by saying that he would be the only one allowed to use health-replenishing items, like Heart Containers and Maxim Tomatoes.

"Okee-dokee, Klonoa," said Kirby. "This'll be a three-life match. That'll make the brawl a teensy bit longer and fun!"

"The Smash Ball is going to come out as well!" Link added. "It's set to come out infrequently, though."

"With the power of the Smash Ball, you could use your Final Smash," Pikachu said. "Then you'll find out what your Final Smash is!"

"Hopefully, it-a won't-a be too dangerous-a," Mario said, grinning. "Mine is-a, so watch out-a!"

"Oh, be quiet," Klonoa said crossly.

"Hm, looks like we're ready," Link said. "All right, Master Hand."

_"Good. Allow me to explain to you, Klonoa, about this final test. Unlike before, your stage consists of…all the stages. You see, as you fight the terrain around you will be changing from stage to stage every two minutes. For example, you enter the fight and the stage is 75 Meters, and two minutes later the stage changes into Castle Siege, and another two minutes later the stage changes into Halberd, and so on and so forth."_

"…So basically, we'll be fighting on all the stages?"

_"Correct. This will get you used to every stages' funny occurrences. It will teach you what to avoid on every stage. Going on. All items will be turned on, which will make the brawl quite…interesting. As Kirby had said, this is a three-life match. And…that just about covers it all. Good luck, Klonoa."_

And with a snap of the hands fingers, Klonoa, Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu were teleported into the television, and they reappeared on…

-ooo-

_Well, there they go,_ Snake thought, peering into the Brawl Room from behind the wall. _Best of luck to the rookie._

He left his hiding spot before he could see which stage the five Smashers ended up on.

_That missing disc… I wonder what happened to it. I still think someone broke into the EarthBound trophy room, though. Why else would the locks of the door and safe feel loose?_

He turned a corner after looking out for people he must not meet at that certain time.

_We searched to whole mansion yesterday…but it was nowhere to be found. What could have happened to it? It couldn't just disappear like that. That's impossible. If it was broken and thrown away, or just plain lost somewhere, that's bad enough… But worst of all…_

…_What if it was…_stolen_?_

"SNAAAAAAKE!"

Ness, Lucas, and Lucario dashed into the hall, running so fast their feet were just blurs. Snake had just enough time to think:

_Did three more Sonics just e—_"Oomph!"

"Oh, gosh! Sorry!" the two psychic boys apologized as they helped the mercenary up.

"We were panicking," Ness began.

"And we've got bad news!" Lucas continued.

"And it's related to the disc," Lucario finished. "I just heard it from them a minute ago. I was up at the observatory when the boys came up and told me the news."

Snake stared at them all. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, guys. What's going on?"

Ness grabbed his hand. "C'mon; this isn't the right place to talk. We're too close to the Brawl Room."

The foursome walked closer to the EarthBound trophy room and stopped. Lucario turned and looked straight into Snake's eyes.

"We really _have_ been discovered," he said. "And I'm sure the missing disc with the important stuff of the game is currently in his possession. We have to get it back, but…our discoverer…"

"…Is a little too tough to fight?" Ness guessed.

"No. Well, yes, but I mean something else. About our discoverer… I don't want to fight him, of course… Just look at the way Yoshi was beaten up by him… Poor guy…"

"Yoshi? Beaten up? When was… _Oh!_" Snake said, for he suddenly remembered.

"See?" Lucas told him. "Now you know."

Lucario looked at the door of the trophy room, then at each of his fellow game-making friends, then back at the door.

"Somehow, we need to get the disc back from him…and persuade him to not spoil the secret… But I don't know if Darkrai would do that…"

"What makes you think that?"

Everyone whirled their heads around at the sound of the familiar voice.

Lucario, being the Aura Pokémon, easily located the voice's owner. He growled and set his gaze above the four Smashers, his red eyes glowing menacingly. "Darkrai."

Hovering near the ceiling was the Legendary Pokémon, who shook his head at the four. "Lucario…Snake…Ness…Lucas. You've gotten yourself in a heap of trouble."

Though the hall was a little dim, Ness could easily make out the shape of the disc that Darkrai was holding in his right hand. "Hey! That's our stuff! Give it back!"

He jumped high into the air, powered up by his PSI abilities. He grabbed for the disc, but the Pokémon was too quick for him. Ness went blundering headfirst into the wall, and he cried out with pain. "Ow! You meanie!"

Lucario edged closer to Darkrai as the latter stepped onto the ground. "Darkrai, that's ours. Return it now."

"Why should I?" Darkrai countered.

Lucario's flaming eyes turned steely. "You know why, and you have no need of it now. Return it."

Darkrai smiled. "Not until you explain why you planned this out."

"Aargh!" shouted Lucas. "Just _return_ it already!"

He tried to throw out a PK Thunder at the Pokémon, but even that attack was dodged. Next he aimed a PK Freeze, but that missed, too.

Darkrai held the disc above his head. "Hey, remember that if you hit me, you'll be hitting the disc, too!"

Lucas stopped his PK Fire attack, and the flames disappeared from his hands. "Gah… I really hate it they do that."

"Hand it over now!" Lucario demanded. "It's important, and you probably don't need it now that you know its contents!"

"He's got a point!" Ness piped up. "You know the secret, so why keep it away from us?"

"If you don't give it back now," Lucario warned, "then I'll _fight_ for it!"

"Wh-_what_?" Darkrai said. "Why is this disc making you act up like this? That's just absurd—"

At last, Snake flew off the handle.

"ALL RIGHT, YOU PEOPLE!" he exploded. "What's the damn crappy point of FIGHTING over a darn DISC? It's just a darn crappy DISC, for crying out LOUD! DARN you stupid people. Humph!"

Everyone looked a little shocked at Snake's foul language.

"…Snake…?" Lucario said uneasily.

Snake ignored him and pointed straight at Darkrai, calming down a bit. "I know you know the secret, and what we've been doing for the past few months. You want to know why we planned this out? Because we wanted to design a game for everyone to enjoy. Rather than playing your own games, like me playing _Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty_ or Kirby playing _Kirby's Return to Dream Land_ or Mario playing _Mario Kart Wii_, why not play a game that has all the Smashers in it?"

Darkrai nodded slowly. "I see…"

"So that day, Ness and Lucas snuck into my room and told me about their plans. I gotta say, half the credit goes to those two geniuses."

For some reason, the two boys suddenly looked quite proud of themselves.

"Lucario caught me a few weeks later. I didn't want to admit to him about the secret game Ness and Lucas and I had been making. So I…uh… You know, I don't really want to talk about it."

"Best if you not," Lucario agreed, looking relieved.

"Let's just say that we two had a little dispute that actually wasn't that little. Okay, that's done. Ness, Lucas, and I continued with the game. I started feeling a little guilty for what I'd done to Lucario, so I…let him into the secret."

"Boy, were we shocked!" Ness remembered, mirroring Lucas' wide grin.

"We continued to make the game," Lucario continued for Snake. "Then Klonoa came. There was one night when he woke up because of a nightmare (ahem, because of you, Darkrai), and he decided to investigate, along with Cream the Rabbit. He bumped into me as I was on my way to the room where we were making the game—this room." He pointed at the EarthBound trophy room's door. "He was a little suspicious about me walking around the Smash Mansion at five in the morning."

"Actually, it was five thirty, to be exact," Lucas corrected the Aura Pokémon.

"Eh, it's only a half-hour difference. Going on. We started to feel like we were going to be discovered soon, because a week later Pikachu found me missing from the Pokémon room. Luckily, he found me in the cafeteria during breakfast and decided that I had just come down earlier than usual.

"That was the very day when you had said you'd find us."

Darkrai smirked. "And I was right, wasn't I?"

"Yeah…you were," Snake grumbled. "That was the day you started to feel suspicious about us game-making Smashers. You then told Crazy Hand to smash into the EarthBound trophy room and distracted him by telling him to glue a trophy onto the ceiling while you were looking for an important piece of our game. And you were lucky enough to find _the_ most important one—the disc you're holding."

The Legendary Pokémon looked at the disc in his hands. "This disc…?"

"Yes, that disc," Snake said. "You asked Samus for her MacBook. That darn woman didn't ask you why… So stupid. No offense."

Lucario noticed that he was blushing. Then the mercenary coughed, the color disappearing from his cheeks, and he continued.

"You borrowed it and saw our information. By golly, we're so darn stupid, too!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Guys, how could we have forgotten to make the information password-enforced?"

Ness gawked at him. "Y-y-you're right!" he stammered. "H-holy EarthBound, h-h-how d-dumb!"

"Another lucky event for me, I guess," said Darkrai, laughing.

"Yes, indeed. Stupid Victini," Lucario growled.

"…It didn't have anything to do with him…"

"It's just an expression."

"Oh."

"Well, I guess we'll have to let you into the secret, too," Snake said to Darkrai. "You know how it's titled…_Project SSBB_?"

"Yes."

"The title…" Snake glanced at Lucario and exchanged a mental conversation with the Pokémon. Thanks to his Aura abilities, Lucario could "hear" Snake's thoughts and reply to them through his mind.

_"Should we tell him?"_ asked Snake.

_"No point not to,"_ Lucario replied._ "Knowing _Project SSBB_ is already enough."_

_"So…I tell him."_

_"Yeah. Go tell him. Let him into the secret."_

_"Do you think he'll spoil it?"_

_"I doubt it. Darkrai's always been a secretive Pokémon. Just ask any Alamos Towner."_

_"Okay, then… Here I go."_

"_Project SSBB_…" Snake paused before continuing.

"The _SSBB_ part stands for _Super Smash Brothers Brawl_."

-ooo-

"…the Green Greens? That's…okay, I guess. Good thing it wasn't something like DK Falls or Rainbow Cruise."

The five Smashers—four veterans and one rookie—had landed on the Green Greens stage. It was basically made up of two small floating islands with a gap between them. Boxes with yellow star designs lay on either end of the stage. Kirby knew very well that occasionally a box with a bomb in it would fall and join the pile of boxes. In the center sat a large talking tree with a face whose name was Whispy Woods. Klonoa stood at the center of the left island.

Mario winked at Klonoa from the right-side island. "You-a ready?"

The Dream Traveler nodded. "Ready whenever you are, Mario."

"I'm all ready!" Pikachu announced.

"And so are we!" Link and Kirby sang out together.

_"Three! Two! One! FIGHT!"_

Mario launched a Fireball over the gap between the islands and at Klonoa. He immediately regretted his rash attempt to get the first hit, for Klonoa easily dodged the slow-moving fire and struck Mario with a slightly charged Wind Bullet.

Link knelt down and fired an arrow, which got snagged on Klonoa's shorts. He yanked it out and threw it aside, then jumped onto the right-side island and slashed with the blade that had extended from his Wind Ring's gem. The blow caught Pikachu and Kirby and threw them onto their backs.

Kirby leaped back onto his feet and aimed a punch at Klonoa, while Pikachu stayed low to do a tail whip. Klonoa blocked both attacks with a Tornado Attack. Then he did a scissor kick which knocked Kirby and Pikachu off balance and sent them sprawling onto the ground again.

"Hmm, you've-a got nice-a kung fu moves-a," Mario commented.

Klonoa smiled. "Hey, thanks."

Whispy Woods, at the back of the stage, shuddered and dropped a load of large apples. One hit a bomb box and blew it up, along with the rest of the boxes around it. Fortunately, none of the Smashers were harmed.

…_These can't be for eating…_ Klonoa thought, picking one up. _Too big, too hard. And if they could detonate a bomb, best if you don't eat them. Hey, wait a minute—_

He chucked the apple at Pikachu's head. The Pokémon reeled back and cried, "Ouch! Wow, you learn fast! Those apples are actually weapons, not—KIRBY, THOSE _AREN'T_ FOOD!"

"What?" Kirby replied as he finished inhaling all the apples, including the one that had hit Pikachu. "They're tasty!"

"You gotta be kidding me! Those things are like rocks!"

"They're apples!"

"They're _rock-like apples_!"

Klonoa snorted with amusement.

Then the fight broke out again.

Mario kicked Klonoa's shins, and the rookie went down. From the ground, the rookie tripped the plumber by wheeling his legs in a circle. Link came along, drew out his Master Sword, and slashed at Klonoa. Pikachu used Thunder and zapped the rookie, and Kirby used Final Cutter and sent out a wave of damaging wind. Klonoa held them back with a volley of Wind Bullets. Then he found a large brown nut next to him, and he picked it up and threw it at Mario.

_Bang!_

"Oooh…" the plumber groaned, "…ahhhh…yow…owwww…"

"That was a Deku Nut," Link said. "They originate from my world. If one hits you, you get stunned and temporarily unable to move. The moment you land an attack, the other will snap out of his stunned state, so be careful."

Then Whispy Woods turned to the mass of Smashers on the right-side island and blew out a forceful gust of wind.

"Eep!" Kirby yelled. "Run to the other island! He won't get you there."

Everyone jumped to the left island. Mario woke up from his dizziness and followed them. Immediately they continued to brawl.

From the corner of Klonoa's eye, he saw something appear near him—a three-foot-long sword with a blade that seemed to be made of bright blue energy. He put his Wing Ring in his left hand, grabbed the sword, and brought it down on his opponents. Hard.

_Slash!_

All four veteran Smashers flew back several feet and lay on the ground, stunned by the ferocity of the new sword's painful wallop.

"Klonoa," Kirby said, "that's a Beam Sword. It's got a blade made of highly concentrated energy. The more power you put into it, the farther the blade extends!"

_So _that's_ how it hit all of them at once, even when Link was eight feet away,_ Klonoa thought.

He slashed at them again and again, managing to hit them several times. Mario stayed on the ground while the other three rolled out of the way and countered with their moves—Link's arrows, Pikachu's Thunder Jolt, and Kirby's Final Cutter.

Klonoa glanced at his Beam Sword, made a face, and tossed it away. _Meh, kinda bothersome. I prefer my Wind Ring._

Then Kirby, feeling slightly braver than before, quickly ran forward and used Inhale. A vortex of air was sucked into Kirby's mouth and tugged at anything near—like Klonoa.

"Yikes!" he shouted as he was swallowed.

"Mmmm!" Kirby said before spitting the Dream Traveler back out.

Kirby looked different now. He had on a blue Pac-Man cap and Klonoa's puffy ears, and in his right hand he held a Wind Ring.

Kirby was now Klonoa Kirby!

_"Magya!"_ Klonoa raged. "You copycat!"

"Heehee!" Kirby said. "My Inhale move allows me to swallow Smashers up and copy their basic special moves. In your case, _Wind Bullet_!"

With that, the Dream Land hero shot out a Wind Bullet from his Wind Ring at Klonoa. It rammed into the latter's chest, and he fell down.

_Really? That's how painful my Wind Bullets are? That's really, uh…cool!_

He let out his own Wind Bullet, which hit Link's arrow instead of Kirby. Kirby ran toward Klonoa, pulled out a gigantic hammer out of nowhere, and swung it at him. Luckily, it was slow, and Klonoa easily hopped out of the way.

"Superrrrrr Jump Punch-a!" yelled Mario, leaping abnormally high into the air, right fist raised. His fist caught Klonoa on the chin and sent him flying.

Suddenly, the Green Greens stage started to rumble. All five Smashers fell onto the ground.

"The stage-a must-a be changing-a!" Mario exclaimed. Everybody else rolled their eyes at his statement of obviousness.

The next stage was Shadow Moses Island, Solid Snake's favorite. Surrounded by two tall walls, the stage was dark (it was nighttime there) and gave every fighter a chilling feeling of danger. It was snowing lightly, though the wind was blowing hard. At the back of the stage was an empty wall of steel. There were two levels—the ground floor and the second floor that was about fifteen above. A small platform located between the ground and the second floor jutted out of each wall.

_So the only way to defeat someone is by launching them upward…or…_ Klonoa examined the wall behind him.

_It looks really weak… I don't think we'll really be doing anything to it, though._

"We'll continue from here," Link said to everyone.

Kirby then thought that having to bother with a Klonoa ability was too much, so he spat the power out. Meanwhile, Mario launched a Fireball. Klonoa dodged it, and the Fireball hit Link instead.

"Oooh! Oh! Hot! Hot!" the swordsman shouted, his clothing smoking.

"Oopsie! Sorry, Link-a!"

"Sorry! You just singed my tunic! It was custom made!"

"…It-a still looks-a like a skirt-a to me…"

"MARIO! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT IT'S A TUNIC? A _TUNIC_! T-U-N-I-C!"

"Mama mia, I get the point-a!"

"Well, then show it!"

"But-a I am-a!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mama mia, of-a course, yeah-a!"

Using the brief argument to his advantage, Klonoa snuck up on the two veterans and crashed into them with a well-landed Wind Rush.

"Mama mia!"

"Ow!"

"OHHHH!" Pikachu fumed. "Now you're making me MAD!"

He slammed headfirst into Klonoa's back with Skull Bash, pitching the rookie forward. Klonoa jumped back up and used Rising Gale, throwing Pikachu high into the sky.

Kirby floated above Klonoa and used Stone, turning into a spiked iron ball. Klonoa saw Kirby's shadow and quickly sidestepped before getting impaled by the spikes.

"_Magya_, Kirby, that's bloody murder!"

Kirby transformed back into himself and replied, "Remember, this is a virtual brawl. It's impossible to die!"

"Maybe," Link told him.

"Maybe! It _is_ impossible!"

Suddenly, the wall at the back exploded. A colossal robot appeared and stomped toward the hole, roaring.

"Metal Gear RAY!" Kirby exclaimed.

The bipedal robot looked at each Smasher and roared again.

"Don't worry; all it does is stomp around and roar like an idiot," Pikachu reassured Klonoa, who was shaking.

The brawl intensified. Klonoa threw out a Tornado Attack, bowling down Link. Link got up and retaliated with his Gale Boomerang, which struck Klonoa twice. Kirby somehow forgot that Mario was an ally and attacked him with his hammer. Then the plumber quickly reminded Kirby that they were all against Klonoa.

"Oh," said Kirby.

All the while, items were appearing—Timers, Beam Swords, Star Rods, Warp Stars (just copies of Kirby's original Warp Star, thank goodness), Smoke Balls, Poké Balls, banana peels, Bob-ombs, Smart Bombs, and occasionally food like Maxim Tomatoes and Heart Containers. Of course, everyone knew that only Klonoa was allowed to eat the food.

Suddenly—

"Mama mia, it's-a the Smash Ball-a!" Mario gasped.

For a split second, everyone looked stunned. Then all chaos broke loose.

Kirby started to float upwards toward the ball, but was forced to back up when Klonoa came charging in with his Rising Gale attack. Link threw Klonoa out of the way and stabbed the ball twice. However, that wasn't enough to break the ball. As Link fell, Mario toadstool-hopped on Link's head, apologized, and did a Super Jump Punch on the ball. Pikachu stayed on the ground and summoned a Thunder, zapping both the ball and Mario, who flew off with an interestingly frizzy hairdo and mustache.

While they fought for the ball, the Shadow Moses Island stage changed. With a rush of wind, everyone reappeared, along with the Smash Ball, on the Lylat Cruise stage.

_Hmm, we've got a lot less running space now,_ thought Klonoa. _But first things first!_

He jumped towards the ball again, but Link beat him to it. The swordsman raised his sword and slashed downwards, hitting the ball and Klonoa.

_Crack!_

Rainbow flames exploded around Link, and his blue eyes changed to gold. Klonoa backed away and tripped over Pikachu.

"…Okay… I have a really bad feeling about this…"

"You should," Pikachu replied. "Run if you want to live!"

Klonoa obeyed, practically running over the Mouse Pokémon and running for it.

_ESCAPE! Gotta escape—oh—NO!_

Since Link had the Smash Ball's power, he moved a lot faster than normal. He quickly caught up with Klonoa and raised his sword. The Triforce symbol on the back of his left hand glowed brightly and expanded, trapping Klonoa in a prison of triangular light.

_"Hah! Triforce Slash, _GO_!"_

With that, Link started chopping up Klonoa the way Kirby's friend Chef Kawasaki chopped up cabbages. Klonoa screamed as the pain he felt went off the scale.

_MAGYA!_

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Klonoa began to breathe again, and he looked up at Link.

"Is…it…d—oh…"

Link smirked at him before bringing down his Master Sword for the final blow.

_"HIYAAAAA!"_

_BOOM!_

"GYAAAHHH!" Klonoa yelled. He crashed into Mario, Kirby, and Pikachu, giving them a decent amount of damage, then flew off into the distance and past the right border of the stage.

-ooo-

"Oh, no!" Gantz said. "Klonoa lost a life when none of the others lost one yet!"

"Hey, Gantz, look at their damage meters," Captain Falcon said. "Mario has a hundred thirty-two, Link has a hundred forty, Kirby has a hundred twenty, and Pikachu has a hundred nineteen. Klonoa's bound to KO a life out of each guy in no time."

-ooo-

And he was right.

Klonoa carefully stepped down from the Revival Pad and onto the Pleiades spacecraft. He thought about how he had felt himself getting blasted hundreds of feet—if not several miles—away from the stage after Link's Triforce Slash. Then he had felt himself getting weightless and reappearing on a glowing platform that slowly flew him down and back to the stage…

_I wonder if my Final Smash is as destructive as Link's._

He noticed that the veteran Smashers were all breathing heavily.

_I could KO them fast now!_

Without any warning, he let loose two Tornado Attacks in a row, both of which struck down the four veterans and tossed them onto the ground. He targeted Link and Pikachu and did a strong scissor kick.

"That's for killing me with that darn Final Smash, Link!"

Link, having the most amount of damage, flew away from the Pleiades and disappeared. The same went for Pikachu, except he vanished from view on the other side of the stage.

_"Wind Rush! Rising Gale!"_

He let loose these moves upon Mario and Kirby, respectively. Mario was thrown off the stage and was too low to recover with his Super Jump Punch move. Kirby soared way above the stage and was star-KO'd, Team Rocket-style.

-ooo-

"SEE, Gantz? I told you he'd beat them in no time. It's only been ten seconds!"

"…Cool…"

-ooo-

"Is it password-enforced _now_?"

"_Yes_, Darkrai, thank God. I still can't believe we forgot. But better late than never."

Darkrai nodded with agreement. "How much more work to be done?"

"A lot." Snake scrolled through the disc's information on his laptop. "If Master Hand invites any new Smashers to-be, then we aren't even close to being finished."

"I think he is," called Lucas from the back of the room. "Last night I heard Master Hand telling Crazy Hand that he may send a letter to this person called Amaterasu and another person called Tetra. I think Toon Link knows Tetra."

"Sonic has also been saying that Shadow and Silver really want to join the Smashers," Lucario added, typing something up on a computer. "Apparently, Shadow is tired of simply using Chaos Control when summoned, and Silver is sick of just flying the shuttle loop at the back of the Green Hill Zone stage."

"Also, I overheard Tails talking to Cream and Blaze earlier," Lucas said. "From what I heard, Tails himself wants to join the Smashers. He says his Final Smash is one you'd never expect. I wonder if he'll get accepted?"

"Well, we'll just have to keep the game a secret just a little longer," Ness stated. "C'mon, guys, let's get down to business. Let's put in the characters we know."

"And Klonoa?" asked Snake.

"Since he seems like he'll flatten the veterans, go ahead."

"But what if he doesn't make it?"

"Then I'll call you a pessimist, kick you out of the game-making team, and keep Klonoa in the game."

"Ness!"

Darkrai did nothing except to sigh.

_Here we go again… I'm sure Klonoa will make it, though. Go for it, Dream Traveler. I'd hate it if I could never go into your dreams after this final audition. Not intending to do you any harm, of course. Haha._

-ooo-

Half an hour and loads of crates, Gooey Bombs, Assist Trophies, capsules, Party Balls, Sand Bags, Blast Boxes, Bumpers, Cracker Launchers, and food later…

"Master Hand must've turned the items on High!" Kirby shouted as he ducked to avoid a swing of Klonoa's Wind Ring sword.

"Well, speak of stating the obvious!" Link said as he released two arrows from his bow.

By now, the stages had gone from the Lylat Cruise to DK Falls to Yoshi's Island to the Bridge of Eldin to Norfair…to many more stages. Occasionally the Smashers ended up on a stage they had gone on before.

The five Smashers were currently brawling on a stage called Corneria, which took place atop the Great Fox, Team Star Fox's mother ship. Fox McCloud piloted the Great Fox when he embarked on dangerous missions, for instance when stopping Andross. In the Smashers' Subspace adventure, Falco Lombardi had taken control of the Great Fox when Fox left on his Arwing to chase after the runaway Battleship Halberd, only to never return. Much later, Falco reunited with Fox, who had partnered with Diddy Kong, and continued their journey together and chased after the enemy in their airship. Then the Subspace Army-controlled Halberd met with the Great Fox and began a huge midair battle; of course the Great Fox lost due to the amazing power and resistance of the Halberd. The Subspace forces then captured the Great Fox and damaged it severely by smashing it onto the side of the Glacial Peak. Fortunately, the Smashers on board didn't lose their heads over the damage and managed to escape. Later, they fixed up the Great Fox until it was ready to fly and fight again.

For some reason, the Corneria stage's Great Fox was two-dimensional—perfectly flat. (Good thing the Smashers weren't.) Fox thought it was because Master Hand was feeling lazy when creating the stage. Mr. Game & Watch didn't mind it at all.

"Doesn't this make you think you're a 3D part of a 2D drawing?" Klonoa shouted to Mario.

"Oh, yes-a!" the plumber agreed. "It's a really strange-a feeling-a!"

A two-dimensional Arwing joined the Great Fox. Kirby was floating directly in front of it, and he was about to use Stone when the Arwing shot him twice with its laser.

"Oh! Ow! That's the thing I hate about Corneria!" he complained.

Klonoa was fighting hand-to-hand with Mario when an Assist Trophy appeared near him. He snatched it and held it high above his head.

_Bling!_

Shadow the Hedgehog appeared out of the light and grinned at Klonoa. "Hey."

"Hi, there. Help, please?"

"Sure. _Chaos…Control!_" the black hedgehog shouted. All at once, everything except Klonoa was slowed down by three times. Link was shooting a fully charged-up arrow, but it was moving…so…slowly. Klonoa easily dodged it.

"Hurry!" Shadow urged Klonoa. "I can't stay here for long!"

"Okay!" Klonoa ran between Pikachu and Link and kicked them both very hard. While they were flying away, Klonoa went up to Kirby and did a strong uppercut on the pink puffball.

_Bam!_

"EEAAHHH!" Kirby shrieked, soaring out of sight.

Shadow's Chaos Control effect ended, and the black hedgehog showed Klonoa a clenched fist. "Good luck, Klonoa."

He disappeared in a flash.

And Klonoa's surroundings went back to normal speed.

"You killed Kirby!" Pikachu kept on bawling. "You killed Kirby! You killed Kirby! You killed Kirby! I shall avenge his death! RAAHHH!"

"Oomph!" Klonoa's breath was knocked out when Pikachu head-butted him in the chest. Right at that moment, the stage shifted from Corneria to Pirate Ship.

The Pirate Ship stage was based on a ship that Toon Link had encountered during one of his many great adventures. From time to time, a small talking ship he had sailed on, the King of Red Lions, would join the Pirate Ship as the Smashers onboard brawled. Hidden at the bow was a catapult that launched Smashers far. Now and then, a storm would brew, and sometimes a massive tornado would pick up the Pirate Ship and the Smashers and send them into the sky; then the ship would lose altitude and fall back to the ocean and land with a great _splash_. Other times, the Pirate Ship would hit the rocks and get stranded, but half a minute later the ship would escape. Also, a watchtower would catch sight of them occasionally and bombard them with bombs.

Klonoa didn't waste a single minute. He went right to Pikachu and tripped him, then followed that up with a grab and throw. Next he went to Link—but he immediately shrunk back when the swordsman's bomb blew up right at his foot. Mario saw a chance to attack and whacked the rookie Smasher's head with his cape. Klonoa quickly turned around and tripped Mario. Then Kirby, who had returned on the Revival Pad, joined the fight and slammed his hammer into Klonoa, who flew into Pikachu by accident.

That was when Klonoa caught sight of a bat. It looked like an ordinary wooden baseball bat, but he picked it up anyway.

Almost instantly, his opponents paled and took a step back. Klonoa looked at them, confused by this.

_…What…? It's just a bat…_

Before the veterans could react, Klonoa was standing directly in front of Mario. He hefted the bat, did a professional baseball player pose…

…and the bat descended upon the sweating plumber.

_BAAAANNNNG!_

"OOOHOOHOO!"

_Bam!_

"Yikes, Klonoa!" Pikachu said. "That's a Homerun Bat you're holding. Even when you have no damage at all, those things instantly kill you if you're hit!"

"Oh, really?" Klonoa looked at it. Somehow, it felt perfect for him. "That's…awesome!"

And so, Klonoa started pursuing the fleeing Veteran Four with his agonizing baseball bat of smash.

-ooo-

"Even if you use the Homerun Bat for a regular attack, that thing _hurts_!" exclaimed Mr. Game & Watch as he saw the Pirate Ship get carried into the sky by a tornado.

"I always feel like my hidden stock of bananas would all tumble out," Diddy Kong said.

"All the nuts and bolts and sense and fuel get conked out of me by that thing!" R.O.B. yelled.

The ship splashed down, along with the five Smashers. Klonoa still had his bat, but a second later he threw it over the edge of the ship. Apparently, he preferred his Wind Ring.

"Once, Charizard's Poké Ball flew out of my hand when Wario nearly hit my hand with a Homerun Bat," Red said. "I knew I had to get it back. Unfortunately, we were on the Smashville stage…"

Everyone remembered that day. The Smashville stage was simply a long island, suspended in the air with absolutely nothing below it. If you dropped something there…

"Luckily, when the Pokémon's Final Smash was used, Charizard and his Poké Ball were summoned back to the stage, and he joined Ivysaur and Squirtle to execute their Triple Finish move," remembered Marth. "Red won that brawl."

"Wah, y'all makin' me _mad_!" Wario complained. "I don' wanna think about that brawl!"

"I shall keep making you think about it!" Charizard declared proudly. "After I was thrown over the edge"—here Red snapped, "It was the bat's fault!"—"Squirtle was recalled into his ball and Ivysaur went out. He tackled you with Vine Whip, causing you to drop the Homerun Bat. Then a Smash Ball appeared, and you two chased after it. Ivysaur cracked the thing open with a conk of his bat. Then I was called back to the stage. While we were charging up, Ivysaur passed me the bat since I had the greatest arm power. ("That's not true!" Ivysaur sniffed indignantly.) We blasted you with a Triple Finish. While Ivysaur was using SolarBeam and Squirtle using Hydro Pump, I stopped my Fire Blast, went next to you, charged up the Homerun Bat, swung it, and…"

All the while, Wario was ducking on the ground, hands clamped tightly on his ears.

-ooo-

After eating a Heart Container and lowering his damage by one hundred points, Klonoa continued fighting hard.

The stage had changed from Pirate Ship to Mario Circuit. This stage was based on a popular raceway used by Mario Kart competitors in the Mushroom Kingdom. On this stage, a bunch of Shy Guys raced around in superfast Karts, circling the raceway over and over again until the brawl was over. They completely ignored the Smashers and ran right over them. Sometimes, if a Smasher had enough damage, a Shy Guy's Kart could knock out the Smasher. The Smashers could knock out the Shy Guys, too, so the Smashers and Shy Guys were equal. The stage was composed of a ground level and a second floor with a floating platform. On the ground floor, the Shy Guys would rush towards the television screen; on the second floor, they would just drive right by, crashing into each other and the Smashers.

The first item to appear was a Smash Ball, strangely enough. But that didn't matter.

"SMASH BALL!" five voices shouted.

Mario threw two Fireballs at the ball. Link jumped onto a platform and into the air, using Spin Attack on it. The ball floated away from the plumber and the Hero of Time and went closer to Kirby and Pikachu. Kirby whacked it with his hammer, and Pikachu rammed into it with Quick Attack. Klonoa struck the ball with two strong punches. Yet even all this wasn't enough, and the ball floated up and away from everyone.

All five Smashers suddenly had a panic attack. If they waited too long, the Smash Ball would fly out of the stage, and the Smashers would lose a good opportunity to defeat the opponent!

Desperately, Link jumped off of a passing Shy Guy's Kart and raised his sword for more reach. Pikachu climbed onto his back and attempted to head-butt the Smash Ball. However, this didn't reach the ball. Kirby and Klonoa fought their way up Link and Pikachu's backs, both of them hitting the ball once and not even cracking it. Then Mario came along, sprinted up the Link-Kirby-Pikachu-Klonoa ladder, and hit the ball with Super Jump Punch.

At last, it opened, giving Mario all the energy it contained.

The Link-Kirby-Pikachu-Klonoa ladder collapsed, and Mario ran up to Klonoa.

"Ha! Watch out-a!" he said. The Dream Traveler, alarmed by Mario, looked left and right for a way out…

He noticed that the Shy Guys were almost at the second floor of track, the one with a floating platform. He jumped onto it, and Mario followed.

The Shy Guys were getting closer. Klonoa found himself thinking: _Come on, come on, just a little bit more, you guys!_

But Mario knew what Klonoa was up to. Right before the Shy Guys could drive by, he unleashed his Final Smash.

"_Oh, yeah! MARIO FINALE!"_

The plumber's hands suddenly became enveloped in flames. Taking a step back to give himself more room, he let out two massive zigzags of fire, which closed in on Klonoa.

_Bam! Bam! BAM-BAM-BAM!_

"WAAAHHH!" the unfortunate rookie Smasher howled with pain as the inferno burned every inch of him. Right before they could pass, the Shy Guys saw what was happening to Klonoa. Immediately they turned around and fled, continuing the race in the other direction.

Link, Kirby, and Pikachu heard the announcer's voice say, "Hey! What's going on? They're going the wrong way!"

Then another voice said, "Mr. Lakitu, look there. Who'd want to go through _that_?"

The announcer called Mr. Lakitu must have been looking at Mario's Final Smash at that moment, for he said, "Ah. Okay, Shy Guys, the Mario Circuit race is officially over! Let's go to Luigi Circuit—anywhere where you won't get burned…"

Klonoa didn't hear anything except screaming.

He later realized that it was his own self.

_KABOOM!_

With an explosive _bang_, the Mario Finale sent him hurtling out of the stage and way past the left border.

And so, Klonoa lost his second-to-last life.

As Mario calmed down from his crazy Final Smash, Link ran up to him and punched him, causing the plumber to give a yelp of pain.

"Mario!" he said. "Couldn't you have been a little lighter on him?"

Mario shrugged. "Hey, this-a is his audition-a. We can't-a go easy on him-a."

The Mario Circuit stage rumbled. Two seconds later it had become a stage called Skyworld.

This stage was one of the smallest and most constricted on the list. It was located in the sky, which made it kind of dangerous. It had two floors, the first and second level. The first floor was slightly longer because it had a slanted part on the left. Above that slanted part was a small floating platform. On the right of the first floor was another small platform. Unlike the little one on the left side, you could bounce on this one. And, moving from left to right and back below the first floor, was a third small platform. The fun thing about Skyworld was that the floor was made of crumbly tiling. If you hit it enough times, the floor would break apart and reveal a floor made of clouds. Not having a solid floor increased the danger factor if you fell through it…because it was a long way down.

Klonoa stepped off the Revival Pad and onto the second floor, and he stretched a bit. This crazy brawl was really driving him, well, crazy. Maybe Crazy Hand would like it…

_I've got only one life now…but they do, too. I have a good chance of defeating them._

All five Smashers went to the first floor, getting themselves surrounded by platforms. From there, they continued their crazy brawl.

Link took out a bomb from some secret hiding place and chucked it at Klonoa, who dodged it and let Pikachu get hit instead. Mario got mad and jabbed at Klonoa's back multiple times. Klonoa whirled around and grabbed Mario, kicking him in the shins three times before tossing him upwards. Since there was a "ceiling" overhead, Mario crashed into it and rebounded onto the ground, where he lay still for a few seconds before getting back up, dazed. Kirby used Inhale, swallowing Klonoa, and he turned around and spat the rookie out and over the edge. Klonoa was anticipating this, though, and he quickly recovered by using Rising Gale and grabbing onto the edge. As he climbed back up, he hit Pikachu on the head with a Wind Bullet. In retaliation, Pikachu electrocuted Klonoa with several Thunder Jolts and little sparks.

Klonoa found two Poké Balls next to him. He threw them both, letting out a Torchic and a Gardevoir. The two cute and pretty Pokémon smiled happily at one another before proceeding to attack the veteran Smashers like not-so-cute-or-pretty Pokémon.

Torchic hopped around a bit and, with a sudden _whoosh_, let out a massive Fire Spin attack, trapping Mario and Link within the flames. Gardevoir, meanwhile, went to Klonoa and surrounded itself and the Dream Traveler with a protective barrier called Reflect. Pikachu, for some stupid reason, forgot about this and used Thunder Jolt twice. As its name suggested, Gardevoir's Reflect move reflected the Thunder Jolts and caused Pikachu to get hit by his own moves.

Torchic's Fire Spin finally ended, and Mario and Link ended up with about seventy percent more damage than before. Klonoa made sure he stayed inside Gardevoir's barrier until it disappeared.

And then…the lights dimmed…

…and that familiar rainbow-colored floating ball of power appeared.

"YES! Finally!" Kirby cheered.

And that was when ultimate pandemonium erupted.

All five Smashers clambered onto the second level of Skyworld. Link jumped up and landed two arrows on the ball. Mario landed a hard Super Jump Punch on it. Kirby took out his blade and used Final Cutter, hitting the ball on the way up and back down. Pikachu used Thunder, frying both the ball and a few unfortunate Smashers, including Klonoa.

-ooo-

"Why do I have this funny feeling that whoever's getting that ball is going to end the brawl?" Wolf said to no one in particular.

Gantz's mouth was sent in a tight line. If his thoughts were spoken out loud, he would've been screaming.

_C'mon, boy! Just a little more and you'll make it! Think of it—becoming the first Phantomilian Smasher! Go for it, kid! DO YOUR BEST, KLONOA!_

-ooo-

All five of them could tell that the Smash Ball was ready to crack open with a few more hits. They were all panting heavily, Klonoa the hardest.

_Gosh… Sometimes…I just…hate brawls…but…I gotta…finish this…and pass…this audition!_

Pikachu jumped up. With help from Mario, he bounced off the plumber's head and pawed the ball three times before falling. Link ducked down and served as a stepping stool for Mario, who let out a Fireball at the ball. Link followed that up with a bomb, which exploded on impact, and Kirby collided into it with Stone, transforming into a pink rock with two squinty eyes.

Yet this wasn't enough. The ball floated up and away—and the stage changed.

"We're…at the Final Destination," Link realized.

"Great timing," Pikachu grumbled. "This _is_ the final part of the battle, after all."

Klonoa gazed at the Smash Ball, his golden eyes sweeping over every side of it.

He knew that, if he gained its power, this brawl would finally end.

And he would discover his Final Smash…

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, struggling to calm his nerves.

_I can do this._

The four veteran Smashers watched him warily as they approached him and the ball.

_Gantz and Chipple… They'd be so disappointed if I didn't make it…_

Mario's hands got covered with fire. Link lifted his Master Sword. Kirby balled up his fists. Pikachu's red cheeks sparked with electricity.

_Everyone would get sad._

_I'll miss the Pokémon—even Darkrai, though he's extremely annoying at times, especially at night._

_I'll miss everyone._

_But I can't do that._

_I can't fail._

_I _won't_ fail._

_I…can…do this._

_I _WILL_ DO THIS!_

"HIIYAAAA!" the Dream Traveler shouted, sending out a mighty Tornado Attack in both directions. The four veterans suddenly found themselves getting thrown into the air and onto the ground. Klonoa, in the meantime, jumped high into the air. He extended his Wind Ring's energy into a sword.

He raised his weapon…

Mario gasped as he saw the silhouette of the rookie with a glowing blade of wind energy.

_He… He's-a gonna get it-a…_

…and down the sword came.

_CRACK._

A multihued cloud of colors exploded around Klonoa, whose gold eyes turned an even more magnificent gold. As he softly landed back on the ground of the Final Destination, it was his turn to smile triumphantly.

All four veterans quickly scrambled to the right side of the stage to avoid him and whatever his Final Smash was going to be. But that turned out to be the worst move ever.

Klonoa raced to the left edge of the Final Destination. He brought back his sword of wind and began to charge up energy.

_"Klonoa…"_

A fierce wind kicked up around Klonoa. The veterans could now clearly see ten blades of fast-moving air whirling around the rookie.

_Like boomerangs of wind,_ Link thought.

All of a sudden, Klonoa whipped out his hand, the one with the sword.

_"_…_HURRICANE!"_

The ten air blades, along with a fifty mile-per-hour wind, exploded from Klonoa and went towards the veteran Smashers.

Mario gawked at Klonoa's Final Smash. It was…awfully dangerous! He did his best to avoid the air blades and managed to dodge two, but then the wind slammed into him and easily blew him away.

_Mama mia. I'd-a better make-a sure I don't-a have a hundred seventy percent-a damage next time-a._

Link did several intricate sword attacks and dealt with about three blades, but soon the wind overpowered him and threw him out of the stage.

Kirby quickly used Stone to make himself become invincible, but he soon absorbed so many attacks that he was forced to turn back into himself. The first thing he felt was an air blade slamming into him and carrying him far past the right-side border.

Pikachu was the last one standing by now. Grabbing onto the edge of the Final Destination, he hid himself from the wind and the last of the air blades. But he knew that he soon wouldn't be able to hold on…

All at once, everything was calm again.

The Mouse Pokémon cautiously climbed back onto the stage. "It's over? Wow, I actually survived a Final Smash I know nothing about? Cool!"

But something was strange. Klonoa still had the rainbow-colored flames…

Then, without any warning at all, a single air blade, larger than the previous ten, burst out of Klonoa's Wind Ring-sword and smashed into Pikachu's stomach.

And…the brawl was over.

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

"That," Zelda proclaimed, "was the wildest brawl I'd ever seen."

"Wilder than a Dialga-versus-Palkia-versus-Giratina-versus-Arceus battle?" Red questioned.

Zelda paused. "Maybe not. A Dialga-versus-Palkia-versus-Giratina-versus-Arceus battle is probably more…destructive."

Red smiled dryly. "_Arceus and the Jewel of Life_, eh…?"

A pile that consisted of Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu appeared near Master Hand. A moment later, Klonoa emerged and released Huepow from his Wind Ring.

"That," the wind spirit proclaimed, "was the wildest brawl I'd ever experienced." With that, he promptly fainted.

"So." Fox turned his attention away from the heap of veterans to Klonoa. "Your Final Smash is called Klonoa Hurricane. A strong wind blows out in the direction you're facing; then ten air blades zoom out in that same direction. One last air blade, the strongest and fastest of them all, zooms out to take care of any other opponent. Am I right?"

Klonoa didn't answer. Instead, he looked rather green.

"Ugh… I don't feel so good…"

Mario staggered out of the veteran Smasher pileup and examined Klonoa. Since he had been Dr. Mario for the past few years, he instantly knew what was wrong.

Master Hand did, too. He came over and asked, _"Smash Sickness?"_

"Yeah," Mario agreed. "Smash Sickness-a."

"Excuse me?" Klonoa asked weakly.

"Smash Sickness," Peach told him. "This is the first time you used so much energy at once, right? Because of that, you got the Smash Sickness. For a few hours, you'll feel really weak and queasy and ready to throw up any moment, but don't worry—just because Mario isn't Dr. Mario now doesn't mean that he can't be Dr. Mario again!"

"Okay, Klonoa." Mario helped Klonoa up. "Let's-a go up to the hospital wing-a so I can-a fix you up-a…"

"The medicine doesn't taste bad, does it?"

"Eh! Of course not-a! My pills-a _never_ taste-a bad-a!"

"…Okay… Lead on…"

Everyone watched as the two Smashers left.

"…Aw, shucks," Chipple complained. "I didn't have time to congratulate him."

"I wouldn't like it if you did," Gantz said to him. "I don't want you to make him even more beat up."

"Excuse me?"

Everyone instantly shut up. By now, they all knew that Darkrai could pop out of nowhere and say those words…

Luckily, he didn't come out. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

Master Hand turned to Gantz and Chipple. _"You may congratulate Klonoa later. For now, we must give him some rest. By the way, I hope you two have not forgotten that your auditions are tomorrow."_

"Huh?" Gantz asked. "Wait, that's right! Wait—will we have to get the Smash Ball, too?"

"_Yes,"_ Master Hand replied, slightly confused.

"And we'll have to use our Final Smash?" asked Chipple, turning a little pale.

"_Yes…"_

"So… We'll have to go through the Smash Sickness, too?"

_"…Unfortunately…yes."_

For the next two minutes or so, the Brawl Room was filled with the two Phantomilian Smashers' screams.

"NOOOOOOO!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you go. My, I didn't know that one innocent disc with the information of a <strong>_**certain game_ (ahem) could cause such a fight._**

**_So, Lucario and Snake and you two PSI boys! What's going to happen next?_**

**Lucario:** We're still waiting.

**Lucas:** I'm sure that Master Hand will get new Smashers, so we can't finish it up just yet.

**Snake:** I hate waiting.

**Ness:** Well, you have to now, so too bad.

_**That's great to know, you four! Going on. How did you think of Klonoa's magnificent brawl? And what about his Final Smash?**_

**Mario:** Oooh, it was-a _painful_. The brawl _and-a_ the Smash-a.

**Link:** I swear I felt myself getting cut in half by those air blades!

**Kirby:** I'll never be able to inhale again…

**Pikachu:** …Ouch. That's all I can say.

**Klonoa:** _Zzz._

**Pikachu:** There he goes, snoozing away. Do your best, Dr. Mario.

**Mario:** What, you think-a I'll fail?

_**Of course not, silly you! Anyways, let's continue! Why does Jigglypuff always go berserk when it comes to _Pokémon_ games for her DSi?**_

**Jigglypuff:** DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! _DIE!_

**Darkrai:** …She still hasn't defeated the dark side of me yet.

**Jigglypuff:** DIE! DIE! _DIE!_

**Darkrai:** …And she hasn't stopped shouting "DIE!" ever since I entered her room. What in Arceus' name is wrong with her?

_**…Okay, that's great to know… What did **_**YOU_ think of this chapter?_**

**Crazy Hand:** …It was awfully long.

**Master Hand:** Nevertheless, quite interesting.

**Crazy Hand:** Yeah! Right!

_**Oh my gosh! Will this be the first chapter where Crazy Hand doesn't get dragged away?  
><strong>_

**Master Hand:** _*silence*_

**Crazy Hand:** _*praying*_

**Master Hand:** …Well. _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**…Guess not.**_

_**Credits to the Smash Bros. DOJO‼ website for giving me some information about the stages!**_

_**And remember to review!**_

_**By the way, I'm feeling confused. In this chapter, Snake, Lucario, and the two PSI boys said that the game they'd been making was called **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, which was released in _2008_. But, in the previous chapter, Team Nintendo and Team Sega (Mario and Sonic's teams, respectively) were preparing for the _2012_ London Olympics._**

**_What? 2008 and 2012 going at the same time? Hmm!  
><em>**

_**Does this mean that **_**time is going crazy in the Smash World**_**?  
><strong>_

_**Again, remember to review! Thank you very much!**_

_**Also, please give me some suggestions for a new Smasher! I'd greatly appreciate it! Note: ****NO OCs.**_

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE to all anonymous reviewers**_**_: Since your reviews sometimes need replies, and since I can't reply to them because you're anonymous, I'll be replying to you through my profile page. When you post a review, check my profile page the next day and a reply will likely be there!_**


	15. More Arrivals!

**_And here is Chapter 15 at last! This is an extremly long chapter, I know! But that's because I put the newcomers' move-lists at the bottom, which just so happened to take up a_ ton _of space! And I mean, a_ TON_! Okay, I'll stop my ranting now. Enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me, sadly. Not even the new Smashers****… Boohoo.****  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15: More Arrivals!<strong>

* * *

><p>Fortunately for Gantz and Chipple, they both aced their auditions and became members of the Smash Brothers. Unfortunately for them, they were forced to endure the painful aftereffects of their Final Smashes for about an hour before Dr. Mario's medicine took effect and made them well again.<p>

Gantz's Final Smash was a dangerous technique called Shinigami Fire, in which he jumped up and center of a stage and started rapidly firing his twin handguns. The blasts were much larger and stronger than the usual bullets, enough to set fire on Gantz's enemies. If a Smasher got hit by a bullet, he or she would get caught in a violent bonfire and ultimately get blown up after receiving about thirty damage points. Several Smashers noted that this move was like a combination of Lucas and Ness' PK Starstorm and Torchic's Fire Spin, multiplied about five times in power.

Chipple's Final Smash was merely called Smash Finish. It sounded simple, but it sure wasn't! He would home in on the closest enemy, pummel him with a barrage of vicious kicks and punches, then pick him up and toss him away from the stage. Kirby compared this to an Assist Trophy called Knuckle Joe's moves and said that Chipple's attacks dealt much more damage. This gave Chipple something to be proud of and made Knuckle Joe a little disappointed. Later that day, Meta Knight had caught sight of Knuckle Joe in the courtyard with a Sandbag, punching all the fluff out of the poor white sack.

_He will definitely challenge Chipple to a match sometime soon,_ the little knight of Dream Land had thought to himself. He resisted the urge to rescue the Sandbag; though it was mostly used for training purposes, it was sentient. Then he had left the courtyard, cape flapping behind him, leaving Knuckle Joe with his practice.

It was now about a month and a half later—another peaceful Saturday, filled with the daily events of the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and Pokémon.

Lucario, Snake, Ness, and Lucas had disappeared again to work on their game. Since Darkrai wasn't going to be there to keep watch, Snake installed a special lock on the EarthBound trophy room's door that was made it nearly impossible to get in without alerting the game-making Smashers. _Nearly_ impossible.

Kirby and Yoshi had gone down to the kitchen to help Peach put her fifty extra cookies to good use.

King Dedede was steaming his brains out as he looked for his Waddle Dees and Doos; apparently they wanted to poke some fun at him and had stolen his giant wooden mallet. Unfortunately, he was already in a bad mood.

Wario was in his with several cloves of garlic he had stolen from the kitchen, munching away and farting all the while. Thankfully, none of his other roommates were in there at that moment—not even his own brother, Waluigi. But even so, Wario wasn't observant enough to realize that he was being too…smelly.

Gantz was on the rooftop balcony, polishing his hover-bike Red Clan. How he managed to get the bike all the way up there, nobody knew. And Gantz wasn't about to let anyone know.

Tails was searching around the mansion for Sonic. Where could that blue supersonic hedgehog have gone?

-ooo-

_"I'm falling free in the wind, in the wind  
>Free to be me in the wind, in the wind…"<em>

Sonic the Hedgehog raced around the Smash Mansion, circling it over and over and yet not getting dizzy at all. Being the fastest thing alive, he was used to that.

But he wasn't running.

He was flying.

He was speeding across the sky on an Extreme Gear. An Extreme Gear was a special hoverboard that used air as a fuel, capable of flying at speeds from two hundred to four hundred miles an hour. Sonic had first used Extreme Gear when a rival team of his, the Babylon Rogues, challenged him to a race. Later, when an Extreme Gear competition was announced (it was actually just another of Dr. Eggman's tricks), Tails had upgraded Sonic's Extreme Gear into a better form.

The first time Sonic's team received Extreme Gear, they were all surprised at its abilities. At the end, Knuckles still had one question.

"Still, how can a plank like that just float?"

And Tails had replied, "That's easy to explain. According to the Kutta–Joukowski Theorem, the control surface flow is balanced by the inverse kinetics of the—"

And Knuckles had interrupted, "Stop! I get it, okay? It just floats and that's good enough for me!"

Apparently, Tails was still too smart for Knuckles, even though he was a whole eight years younger. (Knuckles was sixteen.)

Sonic's Extreme Gear was called the Blue Star. It was a speed-type Gear, meaning it was _very_ fast, which matched his personality quite well. Tails the Fox had a flight-type Gear called the Yellow Tail, while Knuckles the Echidna had a power-type Gear called the Red Rock.

Sonic was wearing his Rider clothing—a pair of green-tinted goggles and a pair of nice-looking red boots. He was finally bringing his Blue Star back into flight. He had gone back to his world to get his team's Gear after his Subspace adventure. Before leaving the Babylon Rogues, which was far before Subspace took over, he had asked them to take good care of the Extreme Gear. As Sonic now flew around on it, he was glad to see that the sly Rogues hadn't tweaked the Gear at all.

_"What would it feel like to be speeding light  
>And move the night and day<br>Watch as it passes by you, the masses try you  
>But they just can't keep up…<br>Into the free, into the me  
>Into the ever knowing<br>Felt so refrained, felt so constrained  
>But now I'm breaking out and<br>I'm falling free in the wind, in the wind  
>Free to be me in the wind, in the wind…"<em>

On Sonic's ears was a pair of headphones, playing a song called "Break Free." This was one of his favorite songs—a song of freedom, flight, and…best of all…speed!

_"Beg, borrow, steal, you make a deal  
>And with no hesitation<br>Crawl, walk, or run, you've had your fun  
>Of which is very certain<br>Into the free, into the me  
>Into the ever knowing<br>Felt so constrained, felt so to blame  
>But now I'm breaking out and<br>I'm falling into the free, to the free  
>Free to be me, I am free, I am free…"<em>

He zoomed a corner and turned back towards the mansion. Then a voice interrupted his thoughts:

"Sonic!"

It was Tails, also in his Rider clothing, flying on his Yellow Tail. He quickly caught up with Sonic and said, "There you are. I was looking for you in the Smash Mansion! Then I remembered seeing you going down to the basement where the Extreme Gear were stored…"

_Sure, that's where all our Gear are stored,_ Sonic thought. _It's also the place where Meta Knight is making some heck of repairs on the Battleship Halberd…_

"Um, can I tell you something?" Tails asked.

"Sure," Sonic said. "I've got all day, so there's no need to hurry.

Tails opened his mouth, then closed it again.

_I… I don't know if I should tell him or not… Does he already know? Did he hear the rumors?_

"…You know, I actually forgot what I was going to say.

"Oh. It's okay, buddy. Everyone forgets things once in a while." Tails mentally breathed a sigh of relief at that. "Right, the song!" Sonic remembered, and he continued:

_I'm falling free in the wind, in the wind  
>Free to be me in the wind, in the wind…"<em>

Tails joined in.

_"What would it take for you to make  
>A simple speed transition<br>Into the known, from the unknown  
>I feel this wild temptation<br>Into the free; this started me  
>Into the ever knowing<br>Felt so constrained, felt so ashamed  
>But now I'm breaking out and<br>I'm living in—in the free, in the free  
>Free to be me, I am free, I am free…<em>

_"I'm falling free in the wind, in the wind  
>Free to be me in the wind, in the wind<br>I'm falling free in the wind, in the wind  
>Free to be me in the wind, in the wind…<em>

_"I'm free…"_

"Sonic! Tails! Get your butts down here or I'll make you!"

Tails grinned at Sonic. "Sounds like Knuckles is getting mad. Let's go."

They found the red echidna at the Smash Mansion's entrance.

"Hey, Knuckles, what's up?" Sonic said cheerfully.

Knuckles did not return the expression. "Hey. Where the heck are Shadow and Silver?"

Tails scratched his head. "I have no idea. Oh—speak of the devil. That must be them!" He pointed at a distant dust cloud.

Sonic looked at it. "Yep, it's Shadow and Silver! Where'd they been? And what're they doing?"

The reason behind Shadow and Silver's strange disappearance from the mansion suddenly became apparent, for Shadow was running as fast as he could while Silver was flying overhead, blasting him with shots of psychic power.

Yep, it was just another daily Mobian hedgehog race.

One wave of psychic energy hit Shadow, paralyzing him. Silver sped on ahead and lightly dropped down to the ground.

"Yeah! I win!" he cheered. "I actually won a race against someone who ran at _seven hundred miles per hour_! Woohoo!"

Then Shadow staggered in. "Humph. You got to fly, _and_ you were allowed to attack me. All I could do was run."

"Hey, but remember, _you're_ the one who suggested that in the first place!" Silver reminded him. "You were all, 'The Ultimate Life Form is too fast for you anyway. Attack me all you want, and I'll still win the race.' Well, who just _won_ the race, smart one?"

"That didn't necessarily mean that you _had_ to do what I said."

"Meh, whatever. Where's your right shoe?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your right foot is bare," Sonic pointed out. "Hey, didn't this happen, like, last month or somethin'?"

Shadow grumbled. "Don't remind—"

_Smash!_

"Jeez… I _do_ wish that would stop someday…" Shadow fainted on the spot as his right shoe came to rest on his head.

Sonic, Silver, Tails, and Knuckles looked at each other and chuckled. Then they dragged the unconscious black hedgehog back into the mansion.

When Toon Link opened the door for them, it only took one look at Shadow for him to know what had happened.

_Mobian hedgehog races always have disastrous endings. Hm, that makes a pretty good quote of the day! "'Mobian hedgehog races always have disastrous endings.' Toon Link." That has a nice ring to it…_

-ooo-

When Ike entered the Brawl Room, he found Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, and Darkrai fighting a bunch of Alloys on the N's Castle stage. The Pokémon for the stage turned out to be Zekrom, the Legendary Deep Black Pokémon. Zekrom probably didn't know it, but all his moves were frying the Alloys instead of the Smashers (plus one non-Smasher Pokémon), which helped them quite a bit.

Ike watched them for a minute before going over to a table. On it was a peculiar remote control. Aiming the remote at himself, he pressed a button and vanished.

A second later, he reemerged on the stage and in the virtual world.

Falco was startled for a second at the swordsman's sudden appearance. "Oh, hi, Ike! Here to kick some Alloy butt, I see." He whacked a Green Alloy out of the way, then looked back to Ike. "If you're not aware, this is a fifteen-minute Alloy battle. So if you're feeling sick or hungry or something, best if you leave"—he paused to give Darkrai some room to chase after a couple of freaked Alloys—"now!"

Ike brought down his massive sword from his shoulder and swept away two Yellow Alloys. "Me? Leave? As if!"

Just then, a Charizard clone lighted down from a Revival Pad. It barely had enough time to even bring up its claws when it was instantly star-KO'd by Fox's strong upwards kick.

Ike dealt with four Alloys with two swings of Ragnell before asking Darkrai, "How much time has passed so far?"

Darkrai pointed at Fox. "Ask him. If you'll excuse me…" He nimbly jumped out of the way and made a Red Alloy and a Blue Alloy collide into each other.

"I've got a watch," the Star Fox leader said. "Hmm… Three and ten seconds."

At the back of the stage, Zekrom roared and charged onto the stage, his body surrounded by yellow electricity. Instinctively, the fighters ran out of the way and let the Pokémon electrocute about fifteen Alloys with his Bolt Strike move before lumbering back to the…back.

For the next ten minutes, the fighters fought off about five hundred Alloys, no joke. It wasn't until about thirteen minutes later when Falco broke the silence.

Doing two Falco Phantasms on several Alloys, the Star Fox pilot asked, "So, any news? I don't have any."

Darkrai tossed three Alloys out of the way with two Shadow Claw attacks, then answered, "Nothing much. We Pokémon don't have much to do here."

Ike unleashed a fully charged Eruption, accidentally burning Fox and Falco along with a bunch of Alloys that were immediately blown off the stage. "Whoa, sorry about that! Anyway, about that… There's a rumor going on that the hedgehogs and Tails are joining us Smashers."

Falco gawked at Ike for so long, an Alloy got a chance to punch him twice on the back before it was taken down by Darkrai's Quick Attack. "WHAT? Are you telling me, mister, that first we start out with _one _Sega dude and end up with _four_? _What madness is this—_" he stated dramatically.

Fox slapped Falco on the back, adding to the pain given by the Alloy. "Stop exaggerating, Falco. Yeah, I heard that rumor this morning. Sonic still doesn't know about it, though. And Shadow was hinting that his moves were really different from Sonic's, even though they're so alike."

"I wonder what Silver's moves would be like," Darkrai mused while he was absentmindedly stomping an angry Red Alloy into the ground. "Psychotic psychic attacks… Something that Mewtwo would like a lot…"

"Well, _I_ wonder what Tails' moves would be like," Falco said, blasting away with his Blaster. "That kid's so young, he doesn't even look like he has any good moves!"

"Ah, be quiet," Ike snapped. "The Ice Climbers are younger than him by a year. Is there any rule against eight-year-olds joining the Smashers?"

"Well, no…"

Zekrom roared in the back and summoned a massive Thunder, zapping ten Alloys and, unfortunately, Darkrai.

Darkrai shook a fist at Zekrom. "Hey, I'm a fellow Legendary Pokémon, mind you!"

Zekrom hung his head sheepishly.

"Whoops!" Fox said, looking at his beeping watch. "Time's up. Let's get out of this, um…as Falco calls it…madness."

Even when they and Zekrom were back in the real world, Falco continued to do his dramatic act.

_"What madness is this—"_

He was shut up at once by Ike, who brought down the flat of his sword onto the Star Fox pilot's head.

_CLANG!_

"There. That will do very nicely."

And Darkrai and Fox picked up each of Falco's booted feet ("Jeez, they stink!" Fox joked) and dragged him out of the Brawl Room, Ike following them with Ragnell propped on his shoulder as always. Zekrom walked off in the opposite direction of the Smashers in search of Reshiram and Kyurem.

-ooo-

"If I had a bottle of Pepsi and you had your bare fists, who'd win?"

Nana snorted. "Ha! How could you win with some Pepsi?"

The Ice Climbers were in their room, debating over whether a bottle of Pepsi could overcome a Smasher or not.

Popo set down his Pepsi bottle on his dresser. "Easy. I just swing it like a Homerun Bat and knock the sense out of your head."

"Oh, but I could dodge that, you know," Nana said smugly.

"Then…let's say you aren't able to dodge it—"

"Popo! No cheating!"

"Gee, fine! Okay, then let's say you're able to dodge it. So…I chase after you while swinging it around?"

"It could start leaking if you keep that going. Plus, I'm hard to catch! For once, I'm finally the leader and you're the follower!"

Popo grumbled. "Really? Most of the time, _you're_ following _me_!"

"You liar! I had to drag you up the Glacial Peak! Remember? You got completely frozen by several Glices halfway up! Meta Knight dealt with all the enemies while I pulled you up. Gosh, I was so tired when we reached the top! Then you woke up, and then we met Lucario…"

"But that was only _once_. Most of the time, _I'm_ leader."

"Fine! Leave it that way. Anyways, about that Pepsi…"

"I got it! Instead of trying to hit you with the bottle, I shake the bottle until its contents are ultra-explosive, and I open fire on you!"

"I could dodge that!"

"Then I spray it everywhere so it's unavoidable!"

"Then I get out a Reflector and make the Pepsi spray deflect with twice the power!"

"Stealing Team Star Fox or Wolf's Reflectors is bad!"

"Then I get out a mirror!"

"How can a mirror deflect Pepsi?"

"I don't know!"

"Where did you get it from?"

"From…um…the air!"

"But that's physically impossible! According to the law of conservation of matter—"

"Stop sounding like a nerd, Popo!"

"I'm not!"

"Whatever! On with the battle! So I get out a mirror and deflect it back at you! Ignore the fact that mirrors can't reflect liquids!"

"Sure! Then I release some more Pepsi and cancel out the reflected Pepsi!"

"If you keep doing that, you'll run out of Pepsi!"

"Then I get out a bottle of Diet Coke!"

"Why diet?"

"'Cause diet is healthier!"

"Where did you get it from?"

"From…um…the air!"

"But that's physically impossible! According to the law of conservation of matter—"

"Stop sounding like a nerd, Nana!"

"Look who's talking! Wait—is it just me, or am I hearing an echo?"

"It's just you!"

"Fine! So, what next…after you somehow get out that Diet Coke?"

"I shake it until the soda's all extra-explosive, then aim at you and FIRE!"

"But all the stuff that happened with the Pepsi will happen again, this time with Diet Coke!"

"Oh, yeah. Then I switch tactics! I shake the Diet Coke until the Coke's all extra explosive, then open it and let the whole bottle fly at you instead of just the Coke!"

"Are you still holding the bottle?"

"Duh! Why'd I want to lose such a valuable object?"

"But if you hold onto the bottle, you'll fly with it!"

"What do you mean?"

"It's like a soda rocket that will carry you away with it!"

"Oh, yeah! Then I'll get some kind of soda bottle that won't drag me along with it when it rams into you!"

"There's no such thing as that!"

"Fine! Then I shake the Diet Coke until it's ultra-explosive, then hold it closed while I superglue myself to the ground, then let the bottle fly at you!"

"Where did you get the superglue?"

"From…um…the air!"

"But that's physically impossible! According to the law of conservation of matter—"

"Stop sounding like a nerd, Nana!"

"Look who's talking! Wait—is this the third time this happened?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay! That's great! Okay, let's shut up about this soda-versus-Nana the Ice Climber-battle and…um…go to bed!"

"Sure! Wait—it's only eleven something in the afternoon!"

"Then let's have an afternoon nap!"

"Great idea!"

At that moment, Pikachu and Jigglypuff were passing the Ice Climber room when they heard some rather loud snoring.

Pikachu winked at Jigglypuff. "Let's go steal that Pepsi!"

"Okay! But wait! There's more!" Jigglypuff said. "We don't have the key!"

"Then let's get Snake to infiltrate the room!"

"Great idea!"

"Why is everyone sounding so hyper today!"

"I don't know! But let's shut up and get Snake!"

"Great idea!"

-ooo-

Meta Knight hurried down the long flight of stairs that led deep into the basement. He knew that his assistants, Sword Knight and Blade Knight, were already down there, waiting for him.

He reached the bottom, where two small knights were standing—Sword Knight and Blade Knight.

Sword Knight was about Meta Knight's height. He wore turquoise-colored armor a long helmet of the same color. Through the slit of his helmet, you could see that his eyes were yellow like Meta Knight's. Around his waist was a black belt. In his right hand he held a sword that had a sharp jag on either side protruding from the middle.

Blade Knight was a squat little knight, shorter than even Meta Knight. He wore a green suit of armor and a long helmet with red tassels at the tip and a pink mouth guard beneath it. His eyes couldn't be seen, which made some people wonder how he could see out of his helmet. The blade of his sword, like Sword Knight's, had a sharp projection emerging halfway up on each side.

"Hello, Sir Meta Knight," said Sword Knight.

"We checked the Battleship Halberd earlier and it looks like a Halberd hunk-a-junk, despite all the repairs we did all this time," said Blade Knight.

"Let's get to work, then," said Meta Knight. "Down to the hangar."

The three little knights all went into an elevator. When the doors closed, Blade Knight pressed a button, and the elevator zoomed downwards.

Soon, the knights emerged in a huge hangar. Since all the lights were turned off, it was very dark and gave everyone a slight twinge of nervousness. But they ignored it and went on.

Sword Knight felt his way to the right-side wall and found several switches. He flipped all of them upwards.

At once, all the lights in the room flared, momentarily blinding everybody. When they got used to it, they found themselves facing the colossal Battleship Halberd. Beside it were the Great Fox and Blue Typhoon. Parked near the left wall were the Falcon Flyer, Metroid Gunship, two Arwings, a Wolfen, and the X-Tornado.

Before the repair work began, the Halberd's four wings had all been burned quite badly, especially the upper left wing. The Combo Cannon at the bridge of the ship had been totally destroyed, as were the small cannons placed around it. But the place where the most damage had been taken was the entire interior.

During the Smashers' Subspace adventure, Meta Knight was piloting the Halberd, which held all the Smashers (minus Sonic and the manipulated Bowser, Ganondorf, and Wario), and flying it toward a region of Subspace where the monstrous Subspace Gunship could be seen. As the Halberd flew into the Gunship's view, Ganondorf gave the order to fire. The Gunship's cannons all turned onto the Halberd and sent out a frenzy of explosions, lasers, cannon shots, and more. Meta Knight persisted and continued to fly the Halberd toward the Subspace Gunship, retaliating with his own cannons and such. Sadly, the Halberd hardly did any damage to the powerful Gunship. Then a single energy beam struck the Halberd's front mask's center, pierced through the ship's interior, and came out from the back. This was all too much for the Halberd, and it split into two blazing halves that fell into the sea. Ganondorf and Bowser, onboard the Gunship, thought they had destroyed the Smashers along with the Halberd, but no! The Smashers had packed Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Samus' Metroid Gunship, Falco's Arwing, Wolf's Wolfen, and Olimar's Hocotate Ship into the Halberd before setting off, and those airships all proved to be very useful and lifesaving as the Smashers quickly boarded them and flew on towards the Subspace Gunship, abandoning the Halberd. Ganondorf and Bowser ordered the Gunship's cannons to fire at the airships, but they all missed, thanks to Captain Falcon, Samus, Falco, Wolf, and Olimar's superb air maneuvering skills. Then Kirby shot down towards the Subspace Gunship on a Dragoon and tore through the Gunship, causing it to suffer the same fate as Meta Knight's Halberd. The Smashers then escaped from all the flying debris and dust and entered the realm of Subspace for the first time.

After defeating Tabuu, Meta Knight had insisted on searching for the remains of his Halberd. So the Smashers, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand searched around the sea for pieces, being fortunate enough to find all the parts. Master Hand and Crazy Hand kept the parts safe while half of the Smashers went out to restore the ruined worlds and the other half began construction on the Smash Mansion. When the mansion was complete, Master Hand teleported the Halberd's parts to the mansion, where the Smashers stored them in the underground hangar.

Blade Knight got a tall ladder and climbed it up to step onto a protrusion on the side of the Halberd. He looked tiny compared to the huge battleship.

"So far, the wings and the mask have been fixed," he yelled down to Meta Knight. "The Combo Cannon is great, too. But we haven't really started on the Halberd's interior just yet."

Sword Knight and Blade Knight were expert mechanics, especially with airships, both big and small. But not even they could fix the Halberd that fast.

Meta Knight nodded in understanding. "I see. Let's begin our work, then. I want to get the wings fixed by the end of today."

-ooo-

"Hm! What's this?"

That was Fox, looking down from the Smash Mansion's rooftop balcony. Gantz was still there; he had finished polishing Red Clan and was now tuning up the rockets at the back.

Without turning around, Gantz said, "Who? What? Where?"

Fox's eyes followed the figure that was walking along a path that led straight to the Smash Mansion's front door. "He's coming here…"

"Then I guess he's a newcomer who got Master Hand's invitation," Gantz said, still focusing on Red Clan.

"Yes. That must be it. He's holding a paper with a Smash Ball on it. I'll go meet him."

"Sure, sure."

Fox climbed over the balcony's railing and jumped, making a quiet landing in front of the mansion's front door. The newcomer stopped and brought down his sword from his shoulders, which Fox just realized was…massive.

It was even larger than Ike's sword, and it was certainly looked a great deal heavier. It had a long hilt, indicating that this sword was for two hands. The blade was very wide and looked like it consisted of several pieces. It was shaped somewhat like a knife, only it was twenty times larger.

_Don't panic, Fox McCloud. It's just a very…big…sword…_

The newcomer himself was in his twenties and of average height with a lean but muscular build. His outfit consisted of baggy pants with a sleeveless shirt, which were dark indigo in color, and a belt. He also wore brown military boots and gauntlets; around his left wrist were two metallic bracelets. A single black pauldron rested on his left shoulder.

His eye-catching features were his blond hair and his eyes. His hair was spiked and looked rather crazy but neat at the same time. His eyes were blue and glowed faintly, which made Fox think: _He's a human, and yet his eyes _glow_? I'm an anthropomorphic fox, which is something you don't see every day, and yet my eyes don't even do anything…_

At that moment, Falco joined Fox and landed next to the latter; it seemed like the ace pilot of Team Star Fox had been watching and decided to intervene before things got ugly.

"Hey," Falco said to the newcomer. "New Smasher to-be?"

The newcomer hesitated, then relaxed and put his sword back on his shoulders. "Yeah. I got a letter from some guy called Master Hand… It looks like I'm invited to join as a Smasher. By the way, the name's Cloud—Cloud Strife. And don't get intimidated by my Fusion Swords."

Fox and Falco shook the hand Cloud offered. Then Falco, with one brow raised, asked, "Fusion _Swords_? Why plural?"

Cloud showed the sword to the Star Fox Smashers. "I don't want to disassemble it right now, so I'll just explain. This is actually made of six swords, called the Fusion Swords. Combined, the make this thing. Now, who're you?"

"I'm Fox McCloud," said Fox, "and this is Falco Lombardi. Hey, your first name's a lot like my last…"

"We're the two main dudes of Team Star Fox—protectors of the galaxy, fighters of freedom, heroes of the stars—_ouch_!"

Fox had just smacked Falco on the back. As he smiled frustratingly, he said, "Cloud, we're just two members of Team Star Fox. I'm the leader, and _no_, we _don't_ protect the galaxy (we sort of do, but…eh), we _don't_ fight for freedom (actually, we do, but that was a long time ago), and _no_ we are _not_ heroes of the stars—well, not really. We two are just a couple of Smashers. Falco Lombardi, don't over-exaggerate, and don't give the newcomer a bad impression of the Smash Brothers when he first arrives, _please_…"

"Will do, sir!"

_Smack._

"Ow!"

Cloud observed this scene quietly before saying slowly, "Um, you know, I have to go see this Master Hand person…first thing…"

Fox and Falco stood up to attention.

"Right," said Falco. "Follow us two, please…"

-ooo-

Wolf had gone up to the rooftop balcony when he saw Fox and Falco greeting the newcomer. He saw the newcomer and the Star Fox Smashers enter the Smash Mansion, which meant that the Smashers were leading the newcomer to see Master Hand.

"So, we've got another newbie here," said Wolf to Gantz, who had finished with Red Clan.

"What's his name?" asked Gantz.

"I couldn't hear him say his name from all the way up here, but I do know he's got one heck of a sword."

"Probably a broadsword… Boy, he's gotta be dangerous."

"A great choice for a Smasher."

"Yeah."

Then Gantz traced the path that the newcomer had been walking on and found another person. He leaned over the railing of the balcony and looked closer.

"Wha…? Is that guy also a newcomer?"

Wolf followed Gantz's finger and saw the person. "He's holding a paper… Probably an invitation."

Gantz looked at Wolf. "Whoa! He must be another newcomer!"

"Right…" Wolf turned his attention back to the person, who was nearing the Smash Mansion's door. He yelled at the newcomer.

"Hey! Yo!"

The person looked left and right but didn't see anyone.

"Look up! Up here!" Gantz chimed in.

The person looked up and saw two wolves waving at him from the balcony of the Smash Mansion.

"Hi!" said Gantz. "I'm Gantz and this is Wolf O'Donnell."

"We're two Smashers of the famous Smash Brothers group," Wolf boasted. "Newcomer?"

The person below shrugged. "Yeah, I guess…"

He was pale-skinned teenager. He wore a sleeveless shirt with a funnel-shaped collar and an indigo stripe outlined with gold going down the middle, white shorts with two pockets, and a loose-fitting belt. Headphones of the same shade of indigo sat on his head and over his ears. His large shoes were like his shirt—black with an indigo stripe in the middle. Hanging from his collar was some sort of necklace with a tube pendant. On his left wrist was a yellow sweatband. His spiky hair was bright orange, and his eyes were blue like sapphires.

_Seriously, how many Smashers have blue eyes?_ Gantz thought.

"Neku Sakuraba," said the newcomer. "Um… Where's Master Hand?"

Gantz jumped off the balcony and landed next to Neku. Gantz noticed that Neku flinched back a little. _Is he unsociable or something? He's awfully quiet. Oh, well, I gotta show him to Master Hand._

"Just follow me, Neku. He's probably waiting for you in his office. And just to warn you…don't get intimidated by his appearance."

Neku said nothing.

Gantz grumbled quietly. _Sheesh, this guy needs to learn how to open up a bit more…_

-ooo-

"Two newbies! Two newbies!"

Kirby continued to cheer like this as he paraded through the third floor, which was also the Ice Climbers' room. Despite all the ruckus Kirby was causing, there was no sign of the Ice Climber siblings being disturbed as they continued their afternoon nap.

"Two newbies! Yay! I wonder if Meta Knight knows. Speaking of Meta Knight, where'd he go?"

Kirby pondered this for a little while before deciding.

"He must be down at the kitchen, eating all the snacks Peach made! Yeah, that must be it. Oooh, then I can show his face to everyone here! Heehee…"

Only Kirby and King Dedede knew that Meta Knight was of the same species as Kirby. He was exactly the same as the Dream Land hero, except he was navy blue instead of pink, and his eyes were bright yellow instead of blue. No one—not even the other two Dream Land Smashers—knew why the Dream Land knight refused to take off his mask.

"I know," King Dedede had said when he and Kirby were discussing this. "He doesn't want Peach to cuddle him up and say, _'Awww, he's sooooo cute! Can I hug you? Can I kiss you? Oooooo!'_" He had imitated Peach's voice when saying this and acted like a little girl. Unfortunately, the Mushroom Kingdom princess happened to be walking by at that moment…

King Dedede had to tolerate his next three days with a rather large bump on his head, given by a stainless steel frying pan.

Kirby chuckled with amusement as he recalled this event as he ran back down the stairs to reclaim his cookies.

"Hiya, Peach!" the pink puffball said as he entered the kitchen. "And hi to you Koopas and Waddle Dees," he added when he saw the walking by. "Peach, have you seen Meta Knight anywhere?"

Peach turned around with a bag of cookies. "Here, Kirby. You must be hungry, so snack on those. Anyways, about your question. No…why?"

"…Oh. I thought he'd taken my cookies… Thanks." Kirby opened the bag, dumped the contents into his mouth, and tossed away the bag into a trash can. "I wanted to tell him that two new guys have come!"

"Two newcomers?" Peach asked. "What are their names?"

"Cloud Strife…and Neku Sakuraba."

"Wait," Peach said, eyeing behind Kirby. "Not just two. Wow…there's _way_ more than just two! Look there!"

Walking into the Smash Mansion through its tall doors were nine strangers. All but three had a paper with the Smash Mansion's seal on it, a Smash Ball.

One was a short female pirate. She had an interesting hairdo and wore a sleeveless blue vest with a lavender shirt underneath. Around her neck was a red bandana, and a sash of the same color was tied around her waist. Her ankle-length khakis were white and had a lavender stripe near the bottoms. On her left was a small, curved sword. She was carrying a leather satchel that seemed to be bulging with…bombs? Peach noticed that she looked very much like a cartoon Zelda. Perhaps it _was_ a Toon Zelda, dressed as a pirate?

Next to her was a man who looked like he was about seventeen or so. He had brown eyes and wore a bright red shirt and boots, dark gray pants, and two belts around his waist with a sword on either side. In his hands was another pair of swords; one was blue and straight, and the other was red and curvy. The collar of his shirt had two long, white strips of cloth dangling around on the back. His brown hair was somewhat spiky and leaned toward the right.

Following the swordsman was a teenage boy. His eyes were blue (which added the number of blue-eyed Smashers, as Gantz had noted earlier) and his hair was brown and very spiky. He had a black and gray vest and a gray shirt with a white X. His shorts were baggy and red with gray bottoms. His yellow shoes were huge—not really in proportion to his body. In his right hand, he held a three-and-a-half-foot-long skeleton key-like weapon with a chain attached to the hilt. At the end of the chain was a silver Mickey Mouse-shaped pendant. In his left hand was a suitcase.

_Jeez,_ Kirby thought. _Everyone must've heard of him; he's so famous. But who expected _him_ to actually come along to the Smash Mansion?_

On the left of the boy was a white she-wolf with red markings on her head, shoulders, and sides. The fur on her shoulders, ankles, and tail looked very similar to Japanese-style clouds—swirly and soft. Floating a few inches above her back was a plate-like object surrounded in flames.

Hiding behind this she-wolf was a tiny wolf cub. It was obvious to Kirby and Peach that he was the she-wolf's son. Unlike his mother, however, he didn't have a plate on his back.

Walking side by side were two Pokémon-like creatures, both of which were bipedal.

One was a little over five feet tall and looked like a female fox. She had blue eyes (another blue-eyed Smasher!) that had black parts instead of the usual white, similar to those Pokémon like Dialga or Palkia. Under her eyes were jagged purple lines. Her ears were long and had white tips. She had golden fur, a white front, and a long tail with a white tip like a fox's. A fluffy bunch of white fur hid her neck; Peach noted that this fur was like Silver the Hedgehog's. From the knees down, the fur was white. She had purple gloves with a yin-yang symbol on the backs, and on each thigh was a purple yin-yang-like pattern.

The other creature was likely a male, judging from his appearance. His eyes were crimson, and he was mostly blue in color and looked a little dragon-like. His front and snout were whitish, and he had two crests on the back of his head and a long tail. Most of his body was covered by armor with flame designs. Three menacing claws were on each hand and foot. Extending from the center of his head was a single blade that looked like it could cut through steel.

Behind the two Pokémon-like creatures were two humans, a boy and a girl. Both of them were carrying two suitcases each. The boy looked like he was eleven, the girl twelve. The boy had frizzy reddish-brown hair and had a pair of large goggles on his forehead. His eyes were brown. He wore a white shirt under his jacket, which had flame designs like the male Pokémon-like creature. His shorts were brownish, his large boots were white and orange, and his gloves were yellow. The girl had fire-orange hair tied back in a short ponytail and lavender eyes. She wore a light orange bandanna around her neck, a T-shirt with cyan sleeves and a dark blue heart that was ripped in two, a leather belt around her waist, blue jeans, and funny-looking brown shoes with steel fronts and bottoms. She also had a sweatband around each wrist and two brown bands around her left thigh.

_Are they all new Smashers?_ Peach thought. _Even that little wolf cub? No… Maybe he's going to be an Assist Trophy. And if those Pokémon things are Pokémon, then those two people behind them must be their Trainers._

"Yikes," Kirby said. "These guys look so intimidating! Okay, not that little wolf; he's cute, actually. Ugh, I don't want him to see Meta Knight's bad side! Speaking of Meta Knight, I'm going to go look for him, which I should have done a long time ago!" And the pink puffball ran off.

Peach looked at the Koopa Troopas and Waddle Dees gathered behind her. "Okay, you guys take over the kitchen business. I'll deal with these newcomers here."

She dusted herself up the best she could, then went out to greet the strangers.

"Hello! My name is Peach. Welcome to the Smash Mansion. Here to meet Master Hand, huh? Well, just follow me…"

-ooo-

It was now lunchtime, and all the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters were in the cafeteria. As usual, Peach, the Koopa Troopas, and the Waddle Dees were futilely trying to prevent Kirby and Yoshi from eating up all the desert snacks they were going to serve after lunch.

King Dedede had managed to get back his hammer, which he happily used to knock some Waddle Dees and Doos senseless.

"And that'll teach you all to never mess with the king of Dream Land!" the penguin king had proclaimed triumphantly to his cowering Waddle Dees and Doos.

There was a great deal of talk about the eleven newcomers. Eleven in one day! That was unheard of.

"So, the new Smashers are Cloud Strife, Neku, Tetra, Lloyd Irving, Sora, Amaterasu, Renamon, and Flamedramon," Bowser said.

"And Chibiterasu, that lil' wolf cub, is the new Assist Trophy," Wario added.

"And those two kids who're almost always with Renamon and Flamedramon are their Tamers, Davis Motomiya and Rika Nonaka," said Marth.

"The Cloud-a Strife guy looks-a really cool," Mario said to Luigi.

"Yeah," the green plumber agreed. "And-a so do Sora and-a Neku!"

"Hey," Jigglypuff said to Lucario. "Doesn't that yellow Pokémon thing look a lot like you?"

"Yes, but she's a Digimon, not a Pokémon."

"A…Digimon?"

"Yeah, a Digimon—a Digital Monster. Some people see so many similarities between us that they think we originated from the same world."

"Is that true?" Jigglypuff asked.

Lucario shook his head. "Pokémon were created by Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon. I don't know how Digimon appeared. Funny how they're so similar to us… They even have masters who're a lot like Pokémon Trainers, called Digimon Tamers…"

Snake was sitting at the Pokémon's table, listening. He swallowed down whatever he was eating and said, "I find it funny that Master Hand got so many newbies at once. It's strange, isn't it? And I don't see any bad stuff going on, so what's with it?"

"Maybe he wants us to meet some more people rather than sit with the same old guys day after day," Red suggested. "It gets boring after some time passes."

"Yeah," everyone else at the table agreed.

At the table where the members of Team Sega were eating, Sonic was stuffing himself with chili dogs.

He had no idea that he was in for a huge surprise.

"Hiya, Sonic!"

Sonic turned around and saw that it was his buddy Tails, carrying a tray of food. Behind the fox were Shadow and Silver.

"Hey, Tails!" the blue hedgehog greeted as Tails sat to his right and set his tray on the table. "How's it going?"

Shadow sat down on Sonic's left, and Silver found himself a seat on Tails' right.

"Sonic," said Shadow, "you've got no idea who you might be facing in your brawl next week."

Sonic popped the second-to-last chili dog into his mouth before answering. "Oh, yeah? What's that supposed to mean, Shads?"

Shadow smirked before looking at Silver. "Hey, Silver. What's your Final Smash?"

Sonic froze.

"Oh, I dunno, but I don't really want to say it," the white hedgehog replied casually. "How about you?"

"Why would I tell you? It's bound to be quite…explosive and…painful. I'm definitely not giving away the Ultimate Life Form's ultimate move!"

"Okay," said Tails, joining the hedgehogs' conversation. "Mine's gotta be really fun! Just watch me zoom by and KO you all! _Boom, boom, BOOM!_"

"Wait, I thought it was going to be Super Tails or something?" asked Silver.

"No, it's something _way_ cooler than that!" Tails told him.

"Hmm, it seems like you and I had the same idea," said Shadow, reaching past the still frozen Sonic to give the two-tailed fox a light pat on the back. "Mine isn't Super Shadow."

"And mine isn't Super Silver," Silver piped up.

"So Sonic is the only one of the Sega Smashers whose Final Smash is a Super Transformation—Super Sonic," Shadow finished.

Sonic finally unfroze himself. "Wait, wait, _wait_ just a nanosecond! All this talk about Final Smashes…" His eyes widened. "Are you telling me…that…?"

He didn't need to finish it. The two hedgehogs and fox nodded together.

"So you'll be having your auditions on…Monday?"

Another unison nod.

"So…I'll be facing you eventually?"

A third unison nod.

"HOLY MOBIAN EGG CARRIERS AND PORCUPINES AND ROBODOOMS THAT REALLY DON'T EXIST IN MOBIUS!" the blue hedgehog randomly exploded, causing many people in the cafeteria to turn and stare at him. "YOU THREE ARE _SMASHERS_? AH, COME _ON_!"

He jumped out of his seat and ran out of the cafeteria, screaming something about needing to go to the bathroom.

Silver eyed the remaining chili dog on Sonic's tray. "May I…?"

"Go ahead," Shadow said to him. "He's too panicked to be angry at you anyway."

-ooo-

"Apparently, Master Hand constructed some more rooms for the newcomers in the middle of the night," said Lucario as he led Davis, Rika, Renamon, and Flamedramon up to the mansion's third floor. "Just a little farther… Ah."

He stopped at a door with a symbol that looked very much like a Triforce, except the upside-down triangle in the center was slightly larger than the three right-side up triangles surrounding it. "What kind of symbol is _that_?"

Renamon quickly recognized it. "It's the Zero Unit, which is also Calumon's signature symbol."

"I see. But why this symbol of all symbols of the Digimon world?"

"Calumon is a unique Digimon," Flamedramon replied. "He doesn't Digivolve, and he can't be Digi-Modified. But that symbol, the Zero Unit—he uses it to allow other Digimon to Digivolve, which makes him extra-special."

"Who exactly _is_ Calumon, though?" Lucario questioned.

Davis, Flamedramon's Tamer, grinned. "Oh, he's a cutie. He sort of looks like the Pokémon that evolves into the famous Pikachu…"

"Pichu," Lucario answered for him. "Rika, I think Master Hand gave you the keys to this room…?"

"Right." Rika pulled out the keys and stuck them into the door, unlocking it. Everyone entered the room, and Davis and Rika set down their luggage.

"I have to say, this is a really nice room!" Renamon exclaimed, flopping onto a large bean-bag cushion.

Davis looked around. "Cool, it's got an AC."

"Well, _duh_, it's got an AC!" Rika said. "Why would 'this really nice room' have no air conditioning?"

Flamedramon looked around the room. "Hmm… There's a window here." He opened the curtains. "Hey, nice view! I see a museum, a bunch of people and other creatures just strolling around… Peaceful place this is."

"That museum is the Smashville Museum of History," explained Lucario. "It holds many precious treasures from many different worlds. They have fossils, famous paintings, fish and insects, an observatory, and much more! And let's not forget The Roost, the small but very comfortable coffee shop located inside the museum. The Roost is managed by Brewster, the best coffee brewer around."

"Cool," said Davis.

"And those people you see are from all over the place," Lucario went on. "The animals are from Animal Crossing, the Pokémon are from…well, that's obvious. And there are those animals who don't really look like animals… You know that blue hedgehog we passed by on the way up here?"

The two Tamers and two Digimon nodded.

"That was Sonic. Those animals who don't look like animals are from his world, Mobius. There are also some turtle-like creatures called Koopas, brown walking mushroom-like things called Goombas, little white-faced guys who wear clothing from head to toe called Shy Guys, and a lot more. They're all from the Mushroom Kingdom, where Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Bowser come from."

"Isn't Peach that princess in pink who introduced us to Master Hand?" asked Renamon.

Lucario nodded. "But the majority of the people here in Smashville are humans who come from all over the universe. After all, most worlds have humans."

"Well, you got that right," Rika agreed.

"And now that you are here, I expect to see more Tamers and Digimon roaming around Smashville soon." Lucario turned and walked out the door. "Well, I'll leave the rest to you. See you later. Remember, dinner is at seven. I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay," Davis said. "Thanks for all the help!"

-ooo-

Dinnertime quickly came, and all the Smashers and the newcomers were soon in the cafeteria. The Smashers who were in charge of guiding the newcomers, like Lucario was to the Digimon group, were showing the newbies around the cafeteria.

"Just get all you want," Pit said to Lloyd. "All your favorite foods are in the buffet tables. Don't ask me how Master Hand knew about your faves."

"Good, isn't it?" Samus asked Amaterasu and Chibiterasu. Amaterasu nodded eagerly while Chibiterasu just continued to munch away.

Toon Link was very happy to see another cartoon Smasher here at the Smash Mansion. He led Tetra to a table where all the Hyrulian Smashers were.

"So, Tetra, how's life?" Toon Link asked the pirate.

Tetra shrugged. "Nothing much. I sure am glad to see some other people from my world. Whoa, it's Zelda, my ancestor!"

Zelda smiled. "Hello, Tetra."

Then Tetra turned to Ganondorf and scowled. Ganondorf's eyebrows raised questioningly. "What?" he asked.

"He won't do anything fishy, will he?" Tetra asked.

"Don't worry," Link reassured her. "He's now on the good old bright side and is a great Smasher. Trust me!"

"Okay," said Tetra, but she still looked a bit suspicious.

At another table, Sora and Cloud were sitting together, chatting away.

"After all this time, I finally see you again, huh?" Sora said.

Cloud grinned. "It sure has been a long time since I last went to your place. I'm glad to see you again, Sora."

"And you'll be seeing me every day now, I guess, since we're both Smashers to-be."

"Yeah…"

Then Sora noticed someone very familiar in the crowd of Smashers and Assist Trophies. "Oh, wow! Don't tell me that's _the_ Neku Sakuraba!"

It really was Neku, who was scanning for a place to sit in this rowdy cafeteria.

"Neku! NEKU!"

Neku turned his head and, to his amazement, saw his old friend Sora waving at him from a table. He carefully made his way to that table and sat down next to the Keyblade wielder.

"So!" Sora flung his arms around Neku and Cloud. "Three former friends, together again! And we're all Smashers!"

"What…?" Cloud looked at Neku. "I don't think I know you… Who're you? I'm Cloud Strife, by the way."

"Neku Sakuraba," replied Neku shyly.

"Hey, Neku," said Cloud, "nice meeting you!"

"So, Sora." Neku turned to the said Smasher. "What was that about 'three friends'?"

"You see, I met you guys during one of my crazy adventures back in my world," Sora explained. "But you two never got to meet each other, which was kind of sad. I met Cloud a few years ago while he was searching for Sephiroth… Then I met Neku not too long ago while I was looking for Riku in Traverse Town."

"We left each other only about two months ago," Neku added. "Then we both received that letter…" He thought about what had happened before he jumped into the portal that brought him into Smashville.

_"You should _totally_ enter, Neku! It'll be a great experience for you to make new friends and get stronger!"_

_Neku reread the letter in his hands two more times before looking back up to his friends—the fashionable and upbeat Shiki Misaki; the intelligent but slightly arrogant Joshua Kiryu; the aggressive but bighearted Beat __Bito; and the calm and caring Rhyme Bito, Beat's younger sister. All were fifteen except for thirteen-year-old Rhyme. Despite her age, Shiki was holding onto a stuffed black cat named Mr. Mew. Everyone knew how important Mr. Mew was to her._

_The five teens were sitting under a tree when a letter had fallen out of the sky and landed at Neku's feet. After reading it, they discovered that he had been invited to join a group called the Super Smash Brothers._

_The outburst came from Shiki, who was quite excitable._

_"C'mon, Neku! Won't you do it?"_

_Neku hesitated. "I… I don't know…"_

_Shiki pouted. "If you don't join, I won't cheer for you…"_

_"Neku, you should go," Beat said. "It's gonna be great, I promise."_

_"But…I'm so shy… How can I ever make friends with some people who don't even come from my world?"_

_Joshua shook his head. "You're hopeless, Neku! Stop being so secluded! Just go, and trust me—you will be perfectly fine. And then, what do you know—you may meet some guy you know…like that kid called Sora."_

_Neku remembered the Keyblade wielder who came from the Destiny Islands very well. He had been walking around through Traverse Town and was found by Sora while the latter was searching for a boy called Riku._

_"Well…that is a possibility…but—"_

_Rhyme beat him to it._

_"Exactly!" she cut in eagerly. "That's why you should go!"_

_Neku didn't say anything._

"Well?"_ his friends asked together._

_Neku sighed and stood up, clutching the letter. "Okay. I'll go."_

_Shiki was astonished. "You…actually…are…?"_

_To answer her question, a portal opened before Neku._

_"Wow! So you are going! Good luck, Neku!"_

_"Wait!" Joshua put his hand on Neku's shoulder. "Allow me to activate your Pins." A moment later, Neku's Pins were activated. "There, I'm done. Great going, Neku."_

_"Go for it!" Rhyme cheered. Beat just patted Neku on the back a little too hard. After several good-byes, Neku Sakuraba leaped into the portal and disappeared from his world._

It felt strange, traveling through that portal. It was almost like flying…

Then he found himself dumped out on a path that led straight to the Smash Mansion. And by "straight," it meant _straight_.

Talk about easy directions.

* * *

><p><em><strong>There you are, Chapter 15! I hope you liked it.<strong>_

_**Oho!**__** So the new Smashers are Tails, Shadow, Silver, Cloud Strife, Neku Sakuraba, Sora, Tetra, Lloyd Irving, Amaterasu, Renamon, and Flamedramon! And the new Assist Trophy is Chibiterasu! And the new people are Davis Motomiya and Rika Nonaka!**__** Yay!  
><strong>_

**Snake:** Aren't you going to tell them the newbies' moves or not? We Smashers were even nice enough to let you skip the usual conclusion scenes, much to the disappointment of our readers!

**Lucas:** How do you know they were disappointed?

**Snake:** I trust my gut! And my gut is telling me that they are disappointed!

**Lucas:** _*uncertainly*_ …Ohhhh-kay…?

_**Sure, sure, of course I will tell! Here you are! The giant list of moves of our new Smashers!**__** (Jeez, I sound so hyper! I wonder why!)  
><strong>_

****Tails****

****Standard Special (B):**** Adrenaline Rush**  
><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Tail Spin**  
><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Tail Copter**  
><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Bomb Drop  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> X-Tornado

****Shadow****

****Standard Special** (B):** Homing Attack  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Chaos Spear  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Chaos Control  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Chaos Blast  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Eclipse Cannon

****Silver****

****Standard Special (B): ****Telekinesis  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Psychic Knife  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Levitate  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Psycho Shock  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Psychic Overload

**Cloud Strife**

****Standard Special** (B):** Double Cut  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Climhazzard  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Aerial Fang  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Blade Beam  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Omnislash

****Neku Sakuraba****

****Standard Special** (B):** Mitama  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Lightning Rook  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Teleport Warning  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Splish Splash Barrier  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Final Fusion

****Sora****

****Standard Special** (B):** Magic Spell  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Strike Raid  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Finishing Leap  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Retaliating Slash  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Final Form

****Tetra****

****Standard Special** (B):** Bomb Arrow  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Bombchu  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Grappling Hook  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Bomb Flower  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Pirate Ship

****Lloyd Irving****

****Standard Special** (B):** Demon Fang  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Sonic Thrust  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Tempest Strike  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Sword Rain  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Falcon's Crest

****Amaterasu****

****Standard Special** (B):** Glaive Slash  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Devout Beads  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Galestorm  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Reflector  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Divine Instruments

****Renamon****

****Standard Special** (B):** Diamond Storm  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Flash Attack  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Power Paw  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Mirage Switch  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Digivolution – Kyubimon (90% chance) OR Digivolution – Sakuyamon (10% chance)

****Flamedramon****

****Standard Special** (B):** Flaming Fist  
><strong><strong>Side Special (B + <strong>**←****/****→****):**** Blade Drive  
><strong><strong>Up Special (B + <strong>**↑****):**** Flame Shot  
><strong><strong>Down Special (B + <strong>**↓****):**** Flame Shield  
><strong>Final Smash:<strong> Digivolution – Raidramon (90% chance) OR Digivolution – Magnamon X (10% chance)

**_Two of Renamon's moves were renamed by me because they don't have English names. Flash Attack is _Kosengenki_ (literally "Fox Flash Attack"), and Mirage Switch is _Kohenkyo_ (literally "Fox Change Void"). Since they're both a bit of a mouthful to say, I renamed them! I hope that's okay with you._**

**NOTE:** The moves may change over time. I'm still not too sure about the moves, since I don't know much about any of these Smashers except Tails, Shadow, and Silver.

**_Oh, wait! We can't ever forget this_**_**…**_

**Crazy Hand:** What the heck is "this"?

**Master Hand:** THIS is "this"! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**Credits go to MANY sites and people this time!**_

**Websites:**_** the Sonic wiki, the Final Fantasy wiki, The World Ends With You wiki, the Kingdom Hearts wiki, The Legend of Zelda wiki, the Tales of Symphonia wiki, the Okami wiki, and the Digimon wiki. Whew, all done!**_

**People:**_** FanFiction user ZXCVBNMEM! Thank you very much, Emi!**_

_**See you next time in Chapter 16 of **_**Life at the Mansion_! Remember to review!_**

_**ALSO! If you happen to be a huge fan/nerd of one or more of these Smashers, in a review please write down some techniques they have! Thank you!**_

_**Once again, remember to keep those reviews coming!**_


	16. Corrupted Virtuality

**_Hm, it seems like Chapter 15 didn't get many readers… I think I know the reason. Instead of updating a new chapter, I _replaced_ the original contents of Chapter 15 (you know, the April Fool's stuff) with the _real_ Chapter 15! So now you've got __two chapters to read, people! Have fun!_  
><strong>

**_And speaking of two chapters, here's Chapter 16! It's rather long, but I think it's worth it. Enjoy!  
><em>**

**_But_**_**…ATTENTION!**_**_ Remember to read Chapter 15 before this one, or else you'll have no idea who the newcomers are! Thank you!  
><em>**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Super Smash Brothers. Yay—NOT.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16: Corrupted Virtuality<strong>

* * *

><p><em>CRASH!<em>

Marth sat up in his bed. "What the heck does Crazy Hand think he's doing, smashing through walls at six in the morning?!"

Suddenly, there was a storm of roaring and stomping feet coming from downstairs.

Ike turned over in his bed, still asleep. "Ugh… Pokémon stampede…" He began to snore.

Pit made no movement at all on his magical cloud bed.

The newcomer, Lloyd, didn't seem to be bothered by the sound.

Marth stared at Pit's bed. _…I find myself still wondering… How does Pit not sink through that cloud?_

-ooo-

It was now seven thirty, which was the Smash Mansion's residents' call time. The Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters all did their daily morning routines and went down to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"I wonder what the newbies are doing," Toon Link said to R.O.B. "And I wonder what caused Crazy Hand to smash a hole in a wall."

The robot shrugged. "The newcomers just arrived, and they aren't sure what to do. Crazy Hand is probably high on the sugar again. Do you think we should show some of the newcomers the Brawl Room?"

Toon Link was confused. "What for? Training?"

"Yep," said R.O.B. "They have their auditions coming up, and I wouldn't want any of them to fail."

Just then, they saw a wolf cub toddling out the door.

"That's Chibiterasu!" Toon Link exclaimed. "Amaterasu's going to get worried if her kid gets missing."

The two Smashers left the cafeteria and went to the doors to chase after Chibiterasu. However, before they could open them, Lucario swept in.

"Oh…hi, Lucario," said Toon Link, startled at the Aura Pokémon's sudden appearance. But he was more surprised to see Chibiterasu on his head.

"Good morning, Toon Link," Lucario said. "I found this fellow sitting outside, and he decided to hitch a ride back to the Smash Mansion on my head. Did I miss anything?"

"Sure," said R.O.B. "Breakfast."

Lucario sighed. "Good. Nothing important." He gently set down Chibiterasu, who dashed off to some other place. "I'd better get going now to…" His voice trailed away as he swiftly walked away.

As the Pokémon led the group up the stairs, Toon Link and R.O.B. watched him go.

"…Is he saying that breakfast isn't important?" R.O.B. finally said.

"Sure," said Toon Link. "To you, it definitely isn't."

-ooo-

Lucas, Snake, Samus, Pit, Zelda, Olimar and six Pikmin, Darkrai, and Shadow were walking together in a big group as they exited the cafeteria, having finished their breakfasts.

The eight friends all went into the Brawl Room. Seeing the large hole in the wall, Olimar said, "Crazy Hand seriously needs to calm down."

_"Squeak,"_ his red Pikmin agreed.

They settled down in front of the large television screen. Snake looked around and said, "Since several guys are occupying the movie theater right now, we'll have to play with the Brawl System."

"It works, right?" asked Lucas.

"Sure. The System serves as all known game consoles. Insert any game disc and it'll work. So what's the choice today?"

"_The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword_," Zelda said instantly.

"Umm…_Metroid Prime 3: Corruptions_," Samus said after a moment of thought.

"_PokéPark 2_," said Darkrai. "_Wonders Beyond_."

Snake stared at him. Feeling a bit awkward, the Pokémon asked, "What?"

"…That game sounds like it's for little kids."

"Well, it's not. Not really, that is."

"Mmm-hmm. Got that. I call _Sons of Liberty_."

_"SQUEEAAAK!"_ went all six Pikmin. One of them fainted.

_"Ewww!"_ Lucas shrieked. "That thing is rated _M_!"

"So?" asked the mercenary. "I'm mature. Since you're not, you'd better get out of here."

"We are _not_ playing that!" Shadow exclaimed. "It's much too gory, anyway. How about _Sonic Unleashed_?"

"Didn't you wanted to play _Sonic Generations_?" asked Olimar.

"True," said the black hedgehog, nodding. "But this time I have no choice because Sonic stole it."

"Ugh… The _Kid Icarus_ series doesn't have any Wii games as of now," Pit groaned.

"Whatever," said Snake. "I just chose one at random, and it turned out to be Samus' choice. I'll go insert the disc right now, so wait here." He left the room and the other seven.

"What exactly _is_ your game about?" Pit asked Samus.

The bounty hunter winked. "Oh, I'm not telling you. It's a rather long story."

"It sounds kinda scary," Lucas commented.

"Not your type of game, huh?" Darkrai teased him.

"I won't mind it," Shadow said. "I'm quite used to violence. I was created with violence sitting right next to me."

"Whatever _that's_ supposed to mean," Olimar muttered.

Then came Snake's voice.

"Uh… Guys, come here. Now."

The seven friends looked at each other, feeling very confused. What was making Snake sound so worried and serious? Without another word, they all ran into the little room where the Brawl System was in. The Pikmin that had fainted earlier woke up and hurried to catch up with its master.

When they found the mercenary, he was staring at the System. The disc that was _Metroid Prime 3: Corruptions_ lay on the ground, forgotten.

"What?" asked Shadow.

Snake pointed at the System.

It was glowing with an eerie purple light. Black particles surrounded by a purple aura writhed on the System's metallic surface. When the fighters went closer to the System, they felt a strong presence of evil, and they immediately backed away.

"This is bad!" Lucas squealed.

"Indeed it is," Olimar agreed.

"So, what do we do?" asked Snake. "Should we inform Master Hand of this?"

"Duh," said Samus. "Let's go right now!"

The group turned around and started running out the door. But before they could, the Brawl System pulsated strongly and opened up a black portal.

Then the portal started sucking them in!

"What's this?" Darkrai yelped with shock.

"It's drawing us in!" Snake shouted. "Quick, we gotta run!"

Everyone grasped tightly onto the doorway as the portal tried to suck them into an unknown dimension.

"Hey, Shadow, try Chaos Controlling us out of here!" yelled Pit.

Shadow did as he was told, but then the portal's power strengthened, causing the hedgehog to lose his grip on the emerald, which tumbled away and out of reach. "No can do! I just dropped it!"

Zelda thought quickly. "Everyone, gather around me! I'll try using my Farore's Wind!"

The other seven people struggled against the portal's strong pull to surround Zelda. One of them was not so lucky.

"AHHHHH!" screamed Pit as he went hurtling into the portal and out of sight.

"NO! PIT!" Lucas hollered. Then his hands slipped, and he went in as well. "AHHHHHH!"

"Crap!" Snake swore. "We lost two people already!"

"But what can we do?" Olimar cried desperately. He and his six Pikmin were holding onto the doorway as strongly as they could.

"Well, what other choice do we have, other than to follow them through the portal?"

This completely caught the others by surprise.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Darkrai said loudly.

"But we can't do anything else!" Snake protested. "After all, those two are our comrades, and fellow comrades like us always stay with their friends to the very end! Come on, people!"

Nobody spoke. This infuriated Snake.

"If you're not going, then I'm going!" he shouted. "_Hasta la vista_, people—" With that, he released his hold on the doorway and allowed himself to get sucked into the portal.

"SNAAAAKE!" Olimar screeched. "Wait for me!" And he and his reluctant Pikmin followed the mercenary through the portal. One Pikmin, the white one, was left behind and got gusted out of the room_._

The remaining people—Zelda, Samus, Shadow, and Darkrai—looked at each other.

"I guess we have no choice," Darkrai admitted.

"Right," Shadow said. "We must follow them."

"In order to be safe, we _have_ to follow!" Samus declared.

"On my count!" stated Zelda. "One…two…_three_!"

And the three Smashers and one Pokémon disappeared through the portal, which vanished into nonbeing the moment they entered.

-ooo-

Lucario was walking towards the EarthBound trophy room, feeling the urge to get to work on the secret game.

_I wonder if the others are there already. I haven't seen Snake and Lucas all morning, so I suppose they're waiting for me._

Amaterasu and Chibiterasu came along.

"Oh, Amaterasu!" Lucario exclaimed, a little startled. "Good morning."

Amaterasu nodded. "I saw you bringing my son back inside the mansion. Thank you for watching out for him; he tends to go wherever he wants."

"Oh, that's no problem."

The white wolf nodded, then turned to Chibiterasu. "You heard me, Chibiterasu. Don't go running off alone."

"Sorry," the wolf pup said quietly.

Just then, Link and Ganondorf passed by. Chibiterasu had never seen either of them before, and it took one look for him to start screaming.

"AHHHH! He has such a big nose! He has to be a demon! Run, run, _run_! _AHHHHH!_"

As they walked by, Lucario gave Ganondorf an apologetic look. Fortunately, the dark king simply looked a little baffled by the small wolf's outburst.

"…Since when did having a big nose make me a demon?" Turning to Link, Ganondorf asked, "Link, do I have a big nose?"

Link carefully looked him up and down before answering, "Well, your nose _is_ a little out of proportion compared to your body—"

_SMACK!_

"Ow! Jeez, I was just kidding!"

"I hope you aren't lying, Link!"

Lucario, Amaterasu, and Chibiterasu (who was hiding behind his mother) left the Hyruleans and went on. Soon, Chibiterasu wanted to do something with Pikachu, the Ice Climbers, Klonoa, and Genis, so he and his mother left Lucario alone, much to the Pokémon's relief.

All of a sudden, Lucario felt an aura of darkness. Then the feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come.

_What was _that_? It's gone now, but what I felt was big…and very bad._

He looked towards the Brawl Room, which was about fifty feet away from where he stood. Did it come from there? And weren't Lucas, Snake, Samus, Pit, Zelda, Olimar and six Pikmin, Darkrai, and Shadow supposed to be in there, playing a game using the Brawl System in lieu of the movie theater's gaming systems?

_Speaking of them, I can't sense their Auras anywhere in the Smash Mansion…_

-ooo-

At that moment, Klonoa was alone with Genis, since Pikachu had gone off to downtown Smashville with the Ice Climbers to visit Brewster, the manager of The Roost.

Lately, Klonoa had been noticing that Meta Knight was rarely to be seen out in the open nowadays. When he saw the knight going down to the basement every day after dinner, his suspicions were aroused.

"Let's follow Meta Knight and check it out, shall we?" the Dream Traveler said to the boy.

"Yes, let's," the latter agreed. "Look, here he comes now!"

Meta Knight passed the two Smashers, went to the stairs, and walked downwards. After waiting for a few seconds, Klonoa and Genis quietly trailed after him.

They arrived just in time to see the knight enter an elevator. When the doors closed and the elevator descended, Klonoa and Genis jumped on top of it and rode it down.

"How long is this ride going to be?" asked Genis after a while.

Klonoa shrugged. "No idea. Let's keep it down."

They remained quiet until the elevator stopped about ten seconds later. The doors opened and Meta Knight swept out. Klonoa and Genis sneaked after him.

_What is this place?_ thought Klonoa. _It's huge, and it's really dark. What could require such a big place like this?_

Through the darkness, Genis could discern a gigantic, horizontal something not too far away.

_What in the world could _that_ be?_ he wondered. _I'd like to use my Fire Ball spell to light this place up, but I don't want to be seen by Meta Knight._

Just then, a bunch of lights snapped on, blinding Klonoa and Genis. They squinted through the brightness and saw the Dream Land knight looking straight at them, one hand on a panel of switches.

"So I was being followed, after all," he said, sounding unsurprised.

-ooo-

_…I feel so…so…disoriented…_

Samus lay face down and motionless on the ground. Her eyes were closed and her mind was feeling fuzzy.

_The last thing I remember is getting sucked in by that portal… What a great day this has turned out to be._

She struggled to get up and, with much difficulty, managed to do so. But her eyes remained shut.

_This place… It's so quiet. Funny, it reminds me of a place I'd been to before…_

The silence around her droned on.

_…Subspace…_

She slipped out of consciousness, and she collapsed as all went black again.

-ooo-

"This giant battleship of yours was once used for _evil_?"

"Twice," Meta Knight corrected an amazed Genis. "The first time… Well, it seemed like I was the villain…"

"What do you mean?" asked Klonoa. "You've always been a good guy!"

Meta Knight looked down—physically and emotionally. "It was several years ago. I was a mere knight of Dream Land; Kirby was King Dedede's little pest. And Dedede was Dream Land's tyrannical king. Sword Knight, Blade Knight, and I had finished the construction of the new Battleship Halberd."

"New?" Amaterasu cut in.

"I had another Halberd some years ago… It was destroyed in just a few hours. But that's another story.

"So we three knights had finished our project. The moment I set my eyes upon it, I vowed that I would never use it for any evil purposes. However…"

"Let me guess," said Klonoa. "You did."

"Not me exactly," the knight said. "It was Tabuu."

Klonoa and Genis looked at each other, confused. "Who's Tabuu?" they both asked.

Meta Knight's eyes flashed red with anger. "Perhaps the most foul and twisted villain in the entire universe. He has always wanted to engulf the worlds of the universe in Subspace—a dimension of darkness. He specializes in taking control of other strong people and using them. I myself was one of his victims.

"He saw Dream Land as a good place to take over. He took over my mind and body and, using me as his puppet, made me use the Halberd to try take over Dream Land."

"How horrible!" Klonoa and Genis gasped.

"Fortunately, Kirby and his friends saw the impending danger. Kirby fought past my guards in the Halberd and eventually reached me. We dueled fiercely and he defeated me, breaking me free of Tabuu's grasp. The villain discarded the idea of conquering Dream Land at the time being, and he left. Who knew he was going to make a comeback last year…"

Meta Knight paused, then looked at the Halberd. Though it didn't look like it, its interior was still a wreck. "Kirby stopped me from taking over Dream Land… Unknowingly, he stopped Tabuu at the same time. I am still grateful for his rescuing of me."

"Does he know about this?" asked Klonoa.

"No," Meta Knight replied. "I believe it would be better if he didn't."

Then two knights about Meta Knight's size appeared. Klonoa and Genis assumed they were Meta Knight's assistants, Sword and Blade.

"Hello, Smashers," said Sword. He looked at the boy with white hair. "You must be a newcomer. I'm Sword Knight, but just call me Sword."

"I'm Genis Sage, nice to meet you."

"And I'm Blade Knight. Call me Blade." Blade Knight glanced up at the Halberd and sighed. "Ugh… What a bother. Fixing this brute will take some time."

"You said it was used for evil twice," Klonoa said to Meta Knight. "What happened the second time?"

The little knight's yellow eyes turned blood-red. "As one would expect, it was Tabuu again. But this time, he had his Subspace Army actually take the Halberd away from me. If it hadn't been for Dedede's _interference_"—Meta Knight spat out the word—"I would've prevented my battleship from being taken."

"Oh, so it's Dedede's fault now, huh," Genis commented.

"Yes. Yes, you could say that. All right, I suppose it's time for me to get to work."

"Work? What work?" Klonoa questioned.

Meta Knight unfurled his large cape, which transformed into a pair of wings, startling Klonoa; he had never seen the knight's wings before. The knight flew onto the Halberd before answering the Dream Traveler.

"What work? Well, just come up and witness the state of the Halberd."

Klonoa and Genis raced up, jumping from platform to platform, and saw the Halberd's interior.

And Klonoa yelled.

"HOLY PHANTOMILIAN MOOS AND ZIPPOES AND MAIL ZIPPOES! I'M _SO_ GONNA HELP YOU GET RID OF THIS MESS!"

-ooo-

Sonic was practically running ten marathons inside the Smash Mansion, speeding up every floor from the first and back down. He did this over and over again.

"Maybe it'll get more interesting if I had my ol' pal Shadow with me," the blue hedgehog said to himself. "He should be playing some game in the Brawl Room."

He quickly ran over to the Brawl Room, but strangely enough no one was in there.

"Then I guess he went to the theater…"

But Sonic didn't find his rival there, either.

Sonic went back to the Brawl Room and entered. Scratching his head, he asked himself, "Where the heck could ol' Shads have gone off to? I know he never goes down to Smashville, but it's worth checking out."

In exactly ten seconds, Sonic went through every street of the town. No such luck.

"Okay, so he practically disappeared from this whole place," he said, shutting the entrance doors upon his return. He ran up to the Brawl Room again. "Where could he be?"

Then he saw a strange purple light coming out of a small room. He knew that this room was where the Brawl System was stored. But what was with the light? And why was there the sound of crying coming from the room?

This was definitely worth checking out.

On the way to the room, he almost tripped over a small object. He picked it up.

It was a green Chaos Emerald—the one Shadow was seen holding earlier.

_What the heck happened? He _never_ leaves his Chaos Emeralds behind._

He peeked into the room.

And there, he saw a lone white Pikmin, sadly and forlornly sitting in the purple light.

"Hey, little guy," Sonic said, bending down to pick up the Pikmin. "Shouldn't you be with Olimar?"

At the mentioning of its master, the Pikmin broke down and cried harder than ever.

"Hey, Whitey," Sonic said, leveling his gaze with the Pikmin's. "Where's Olimar? And Shadow, Snake, Darkrai, Samus, Zelda, Pit, and Lucas?"

The Pikmin shakily pointed at the glowing Brawl System. Then it jumped and fell from Sonic's hand, flailing its short arms and spinning around as it fell and comically landed on its flowery head. But Sonic didn't laugh.

It was a near perfect imitation of a "Team Rocket's blasting off again" scene.

And all at once, Sonic the Hedgehog knew what had happened to Shadow and the others.

"…Well, I'll be darned."

-ooo-

They were listening to _Unwell_ by Matchbox 20 when the voice blew up their computer. Literally.

"But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell  
>I know, right now you can't tell<br>But stay a while and maybe then you'll see  
>A different side of me…"<p>

Popo and Nana were singing along. Too bad they had no idea they were both terribly out of tune.

"I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired  
>I know, right now you don't care<br>But soon enough you're gonna think of me  
>And how I used to be…me.<p>

"I'm talkin' to myself in public, dodging glances on the train," sang Popo.

"And I know, I know they've all been talkin' 'bout me," Nana added.

"I can hear them whisper, and it makes me think  
>There must be somethin' wrong with me<br>Out of all the hours thinkin', somehow I've lost my m—"

_"ATTENTION, ALL SMASHERS OF THE SMASH MANSION!"_

"AHHHH!" screamed the Ice Climbers, getting tossed out of their seats and into their respective beds. At the same time, their computer sparked, crackled, and exploded.

_BOOOOOM!_

"Aw, man!" Popo whined. "There goes our computer with the best possible antivirus protection ever!"

_"ATTENTION, ALL SMASHERS OF THE SMASH MANSION!"_ announced Master Hand's voice again over the intercom. _"MAY ALL OF YOU PLEASE REPORT TO THE BRAWL SYSTEM'S STORAGE ROOM AT ONCE. THANK YOU!"_

The siblings looked at each other. They knew that Master Hand did such announcements only when something serious was happening. What was going on?

-ooo-

_…Ugh. This really sucks like hell._

Solid Snake carefully sat up so as to not hurt himself more. He rubbed his eyes and opened them, finding that he was the only one there.

_I guess we all get separated… Oh, crud! Am I back in Subspace or something?_

He was sitting in the middle of a vast purple and black field that was seemingly made of glass. Swirling around him and in the pitch-black sky were purple and gray clouds, plus hundreds of the same two numbers: 0 and 1.

_Zeroes and ones, huh? That means I'm in some sort of Subspatial cyberspace. Or is it the other way around? Meh, no time to think about that._

He stood up and dusted himself off. "Maybe Otacon knows something about this," he muttered as he withdrew a codec from one of his pockets. He pressed a few buttons and made a video call.

_Ring, ring!_

On the screen appeared the image of Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich. Unfortunately, at that moment he was snoozing away at his desk.

"Damn it," Snake growled as he watched Otacon snore his mind out. "Why must he be sleeping now of all times? Otacon! Wake up!"

Otacon twitched and mumbled something about mustard, then fell back into a deep sleep.

"God damn it, Otacon! Wake up! It's Snake—Solid Snake!"

_"Meh… Ketchup tastes bad on shrimp…"_

"Ketchup? Tch, ketchup, my ass! _Wake—up!_"

_"Be quiet… Sleep…"_

_Damn it. I guess I have no choice but to resort to this._ Taking a huge breath, Snake screamed straight into the codec's mouthpiece.

_"OTACON_!_ GET YOUR FREAKIN' BUTT OFF THE CHAIR AND _WAKE THE DAMN UP_!"_

With a start, Otacon awoke and crashed off of his chair.

_"Ouch!"_ Snake heard him say.

"Hey, Otacon. You up now?"

The video screen showed Snake's comrade climbing back into his chair. _"Yep. Actually, I went down. Okay, I guess that doesn't really answer it. __Yes__, I'm up now. Why can't I take a nap every now and then?"_

"Because, Hal Emmerich," Snake replied very humorlessly, "I'm stuck in a place I don't know."

This caught Otacon's attention. _"What? Show me, quick!"_

Snake did as he was told and showed his surroundings to the codec. Otacon became very interested.

_"Whoa!"_ he said with wonder. _"I wonder what sort of place this is?"_

"That's what _I'm_ supposed to be asking _you_," Snake said, feeling annoyed.

_"Oh. Hmm… Well, I've got no idea where you are right now, but it _does_ look very much like a corrupted world of virtuality!"_

"Jeez, Otacon…that's because it _is_ a corrupted world of virtuality," Snake told his comrade wearily.

_"Oh, really? Why didn't you say so earlier, then?"_ Otacon's expression then turned serious. _"How'd you get here in the first place?"_

"Well, it all began when I and some other guys wanted to play some games." Snake paused and looked around at the dark sky. "Apparently, the Brawl System had other thoughts. A portal opened up in front of it and sucked us all in. I think we've been transported _inside_ the system by that portal."

_"Seems like it. And what's your problem?"_

"It's obvious. How do we get out?"

Otacon rubbed his chin. _"Well, portals and wormholes have never been my strength… I'm guessing that this portal of yours could be timed."_

"…Timed…?"

_"Yep, you heard me. That means the portal opens at a certain time and closes at a certain time."_

"Well, the portal that got us certainly didn't seem like it was timed. I think it opened for a reason."

Otacon looked at Snake through the screen. _"…You're thinking of that old enemy of the Smashers, aren't you?"_

Snake grunted in reply.

_"I'll take that as a 'yes.' So what are you doing now?"_

Snake started walking in a random direction. "What else? I'm gonna look for my friends. Maybe I'll find the portal along the way."

_"Okay. Good luck, Snake. I think you'll be needing it."_

Snake nodded and shut off his codec, put it away, and began his search.

-ooo-

Even as he lay unmoving on the ground, Darkrai was vaguely aware of something—or somebody—standing directly above him.

And it was about to bring down something onto his body.

At the last possible moment, he rolled aside just as a glowing sword struck the place where he was just a split second ago. Quickly, he jumped up, now fully awake.

His attacker was a small being about four feet tall, clad in green and wearing brown gloves and boots. It also had on a flattish cylindrical green hat with a red feather on top. In its hands was a sword that looked identical to a beam sword, but it was green. On its back was a cloud of small black and purple particles.

Even though Darkrai had never been inside Subspace before, he immediately knew what his assaulter was.

_A Primid! Well, to be more exact, a Sword Primid._

The Sword Primid stabbed at Darkrai with its sword. He easily sidestepped and retaliated with two Shadow Balls. They hit the Primid simultaneously, and it was blown away.

Darkrai folded his arms and watched the Primid explode into a shower of Shadow Bugs that dissipated in a few seconds.

"That was annoying. How could those weaklings ever think about defeating _me_? Good riddance."

Hundreds of thousands of Shadow Bugs landed all around him.

And an army of all kinds of Primids—Boom, Sword, Scope, Fire, Metal, Big, and regular unarmed ones—formed from the Shadow Bugs and surrounded him. They all raised whatever weapon they had in their hands and aimed at their target.

Now Darkrai regretted what he had said earlier.

"…Okay, this is NOT good!"

-ooo-

While Darkrai was about to face off approximately forty Primids, a certain hedgehog was already getting chased by two enemies.

Shadow dodged a bazooka shot. He stole a glance at his pursuers and finally realized that there were not just two foes but four. There were two Scope Primids, each one riding a Roader—a one-wheeled red motorcycle-like creature with a spiked motocross helmet.

"When those Roaders are mad, they're _mad_!" Sonic had told Shadow sometime ago. "And when they're mad, they charge at you at very high speeds…thankfully, not as fast as me or you. But if they _do_ charge, you'd better watch out, 'cause they're try ram into you with their ol' spiked heads."

And just as luck would have it, the Roaders—plus two Primids—were charging at the black hedgehog.

Shadow continued to run. _Hopefully, I could exhaust them by running a long time… I wonder how large a Roader's stamina is._

He was so concentrated with his task that he didn't notice one Primid carefully aim at him with its bazooka.

It fired a supercharged shot.

_BAM!_

"AAGH! DAMN YOU ALL!"

Shadow pitched forward. The blast threw him very far, since he was running when it hit him. He landed on the ground thirty feet from where he was.

The Roaders slowed down for their passengers to charge up their bazookas.

Shadow growled contemptuously as he got back up. "Well, I'm not letting you." Faster than the speed of sound, he ran off to the right and seemingly disappeared.

The two Primids lowered their bazookas and looked around, confused. They jumped off the Roaders, who searched for the hedgehog.

"You've all got nuts for brains, huh?"

One Primid whirled around—and received a Chaos Spear in the face. It instantly exploded into thousands of Shadow Bugs that vaporized on the spot.

One of the Roaders roared with fury and charged at Shadow, who calmly looked on. When the Roader was two feet away, he evaded it by stepping to his right. The Roader turned around and hurtled back towards him, this time flanked by the other Roader and Primid. Shadow smirked and started circling them at seven hundred miles an hour, trapping them in a fierce black and red whirlwind.

_"CHAOS LANCE!"_

All at once, the three enemies dropped, a lance of Chaos energy going right through them. They all blew up and disappeared.

Shadow stopped running and looked at the smoking pile of Subspatial enemies he had just defeated.

"Okay," he said to himself as he left the scene, "it's time to search for the others. I'm out of here."

-ooo-

_Oh, no! Shellpods!_

Lucas was peeking out from behind a wall of purplish glass with zeroes and ones embedded in it, watching two Shellpods stomp around on the other side, blocking his escape path. Shellpods looked like monstrous stag beetles with a hard brown shell and a soft, green-colored inside. To defeat a Shellpod, you must first break its armor, then proceed to beat up its true body—the green part.

But there were _two_ Shellpods, which made things a lot trickier. Lucas knew that, if he ran out into the open to fight them, they would enclose him and prevent him from attacking. And he knew from experience how painful a Shellpod's sharp horn could be.

_How do I attack them, then? The moment they see me, they'll surround me…_

Then Lucas got an idea. Snapping his fingers, he formed a ball of lightning—a PK Thunder.

_I'll make them think they're getting attacked from behind._

With his finger, the psychic boy guided the ball high into the air, over the Shellpods, and into one's rear end.

_Zap!_

The Shellpod that was struck turned around and rumbled. Its companion just looked puzzled.

_It worked. I'll do it again!_

This time, he did two PK Thunders and lead them into each Shellpod. Since they were quite dumb, Lucas broke their shells in no time, revealing their true forms.

_Now I'll run out!_

He steeled himself and bravely left the wall. Just as he thought, the weakened Shellpods rushed at him.

_"PK Freeze!"_ he shouted, throwing out a PSI-based snowflake at the Shellpods. They both froze into unusually gigantic ice cubes on contact.

_"PK Fire!"_

The ice melted, but the flames stayed, burning the Shellpods until they were blasted into smithereens. Lucas wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"I did it! Ness will be so proud of me. I must be growing out of my cowardly self!"

Something rustled.

"EEEK!" shrieked Lucas in a very cowardly way. "Who's there? Who's there?"

Two figure stepped out from behind the same wall he had been at. One was Olimar with five Pikmin trailing after him; the white one was not to be seen. The other was Sheik, Zelda's second form. Sheik had fewer magic-based attacks but was much faster and jumped a great deal higher, which was probably needed in this strange realm of Subspatial cyberspace.

"I heard some fighting and decided to see what was going on," Sheik explained. "I didn't know it was you! Good job!"

Lucas grinned sheepishly. "Um, thanks. Boy, am I glad to see you! We must've gotten separated while flying through the portal. Where's little Whitey?"

Olimar nodded. "I hope the others are all right. As for White, I think he was left in the real world."

The yellow one sniffed. Olimar looked at it. "You miss your best friend White, eh?"

"It's not a very good time to stand around and chat," Sheik said. "If we idle, we may get in big trouble. C'mon, let's go look for Shadow, Darkrai, Samus, Pit, and Snake! They must still be out there all alone!"

-ooo-

Unbeknownst to Sheik, Pit had already found a fellow Smasher—Samus.

He had come upon her after fighting off several Floows—ghosts patched with strips of darkness with a half-sad, half-mad scream that could severely damage someone. She was unconscious, so Pit had stayed with her until she came to a few minutes later.

"Samus, do you think we're back in Subspace somehow?" asked Pit as they walked down a steep hill.

Samus looked up at the sky. "Yes…and no. I think we're in some kind of corrupted cyberspace…like a virtual Subspace. See, there are thousands of zeroes and ones flying around in the sky."

Since Pit wasn't from the modern era and had little knowledge of computers, he asked, "What does that mean?"

"Zero and one are the numbers of cyberspace, which is the virtual world—in other words, the computer world," Samus told him. "We were sucked into a portal that the Brawl System had opened. Since the System is sort of like a computer, I'm sure that we've been transported into a virtual Subspace."

"Well, now that you think of it, I think this really _is_ Subspace!" said Pit. "Look, a Boom Primid."

The Boom Primid tossed its boomerang at the two Smashers. Pit got in front of Samus and took out his Mirror Shield, reflecting the boomerang back at the Primid. The Primid was thrown back by its own weapon, and Samus finished the job with a shot of her Paralyzer that scattered the Primid into a pile of Shadow Bugs. Pit then drew his bow and let out a Light Arrow, which caused the Shadow Bugs themselves to disperse and disappear.

"Just great," Samus groaned. "If we're back in Subspace, does that mean that…_he_…is nearby?"

-ooo-

"Who just yelled?" Flamedramon asked.

"Who just asked that stupid question?" Mr. Game & Watch asked.

"What happened?" Sora asked.

"What's goin' on?" Wario asked.

"What's with the big uproar?" Bowser asked.

"Why are my ears still ringing?" Donkey Kong asked.

"Why is the Brawl System purple?" Yoshi asked.

"Why is Yoshi green?" Captain Falcon asked.

"Where's Snake?" Tails asked.

"Where's Zelda?" Link asked.

"Where's Darkrai?" Jigglypuff asked.

"Why can't I do some training?" Amaterasu asked.

"Why are we all asking pointless questions?" Lloyd asked.

"Why don't we all just shut up and listen to Master Hand?" Cloud asked.

The Smashers followed Cloud's reasonable advice and all turned to Master Hand.

_"Thank you,"_ he said. _"This is big news indeed. Sonic, may you present to the rest of us your information?"_

"'Kay." Sonic cleared his throat. "So I was running marathons around the mansion when I decided to look for Shadow. But after searching throughout the entire mansion and the whole town of Smashville, I couldn't find him. Then Whitey here"—he showed everyone the white Pikmin—"told me some bad news: some of us are missing!"

Everyone gasped except for Master Hand, for he knew the story already.

"And by 'missing', I mean, like, missing from this _world_!"

The gasp got louder.

"Maybe we should let our only witness do the rest of the talking. R.O.B., your translator, please?"

The robot took off his translator and gave it to Sonic, who put it on the Pikmin.

"Hello, hello," it said timidly. "Does this thing even work? Am I speaking En—I am? Oh, I am. Okay, let's get to the point now. As you can see, some guys aren't here with us—Lucas, Snake, Samus, Pit, Zelda, Darkrai, Shadow the Hedgehog, and my master Olimar, along with my five Pikmin buddies." The white Pikmin sniffed before continuing: "They've all been sucked into a portal that the corrupted Brawl System had made!"

The sharp intake of breath this time was the loudest.

"In other words, they've been taken to a whole other _dimension_?" asked Silver.

The Pikmin nodded.

"But how will they get back into the Smash World?" asked Lloyd for everyone.

"I've got no idea," said the Pikmin. "Somehow, we've got to reopen the _squeak_."

"Excuse me?" said Chipple. "'Reopen the squeak'?"

The Pikmin poked at the translator. _"Squeak. Squeak… Squeak?"_

Master Hand came over. _"It appears that Solid Snake's translator has worn out. Mr. Game & Watch?"_

_"Beep… Beep-beep-beep? Beep."_

"Yeah, I guess yours broke, too," said Dave.

_"Instead of wearing translators all day, how about being able to speak our language?"_ asked Master Hand. R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch both nodded, and the hand snapped his fingers.

_SNAP!_

"…Hello, my name is R.O.B., which stands for 'Robot Operating Buddy'…" R.O.B. stopped. "Whoa, I'm speaking English—without a translator!"

"Same here!" Mr. Game & Watch added. "Hooray!"

_"That is enough,"_ said Master Hand. _"We first must figure out how to rescue the lost ones…"_

-ooo-

"Aren't those guys Pit and Samus? Hey!" Snake waved at the angel and the bounty hunter.

Pit squinted. "Is that Snake?"

"It is!" Samus exclaimed. "Snake!"

The three Smashers joined each other.

"Finally, I've found another two Smashers!" Snake said. "Any idea about what's going on?"

"Dunno," Pit replied.

Samus looked carefully at Snake. "I _think_ you're Snake, but then again, you could just be a Subspatial clone of Snake. Okay, mister, answer my questions! How did Snake come into reality, his real name, what languages does he speak, and who is he in love with?"

"Solid Snake was a product of the Les Enfants Terribles project and 'son' of the legendary soldier Big Boss, along with his 'brothers' Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake. He lived by the name of David in his early years. He is fluent in six languages—English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, and Japanese. As for his love…erm…" Snake started blushing furiously as he looked into Samus' eyes. "I don't even think a Subspatial clone of Solid Snake would want to answer that, Samus…which I'm not, of course."

Samus sighed with relief. "It really is you. It's good to see that Pit and I've joined with another Smasher. Anyways, I'm suspecting that this place is a Subspatial cyberspace."

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," Snake said to her and Pit. "It has to be. Even Otacon thinks so."

"How did you find us, though?" Pit asked.

Snake held up his codec; its video screen was displaying a computerized graphic map with several dots on it. Three of them were green and huddled together. "That's us. And this codec has a heat-sensing program."

Samus was surprised. "Since when did your codec become a heat detector? And what are those red dots?"

Snake swept his eyes over the black and purple field of nothingness. "I installed several more programs into the codec a while ago. As for the dots, they're enemies." He looked closer at the screen. "Hey, two green dots… That means there are two allies close by. Get ready, 'cause we're going on a little run now!"

Snake ran off in the direction of the two dots. Samus followed suit, and Pit flew behind them.

-ooo-

Darkrai certainly was not ready for the object that rammed right into him as he was finding his friends.

_I can't believe this is happening to us. All we wanted to do was play some games, and instead the Brawl System insisted on popping open a random dark hole that sucked us all into this mess. Just great._

While he was thinking this, he was running as fast as he could. Even in human form, he was way faster than a regular person—faster than even Samus, who was already speedier than regular people.

But he definitely wasn't any faster than the thing that crashed right into him a few seconds later.

"What's _that_? A black and red blur… That could only be—"

_WHAM!_

"—Shadow!"

_CRASH!_

"Hey, watch it!" the hedgehog snapped. Then he realized who it was. "Darkrai?"

Darkrai sat up. "It really _is_ you, Shadow!"

Shadow got back on his feet. "What a relief! I'd been running around in circles for who knows how long! It's good to see that I'm not alone now."

"What, were you in search of a _friend_?" Darkrai teased him.

"Shut up," Shadow growled. "Where's everyone else?"

"We were all separated," Darkrai explained. "At least we two found each other."

Then a familiar voice sounded.

"So those two green dots turned out to be _Darkrai_ and _Shadow_! Hey!"

"That sounds like Snake!" Shadow said. Grabbing Darkrai's hand, he dragged the Pokémon up a hill and came to a stop at the said mercenary's feet. "Hello, Snake. Glad to see that you're well."

As Darkrai was pulling himself from Shadow's tight grasp, Samus and Pit caught up with Snake.

"Good!" said Pit. "Five of us are together again. This is terrific!"

"But Zelda, Lucas, and Olimar and the Pikmin are still out there somewhere," Samus reminded the angel, whose wings drooped.

"The good news is, five friends are back together," Darkrai said happily.

The other four stared at him.

"…What?"

"Darkrai, it's not such a great time to be so happy," Pit said.

"Bah. Be happy anyway!"

But his happiness didn't last for long.

_SLAM!_

"WAAHHH!" everyone yelled, getting swept off their feet.

"Crud!" Snake shouted. "What's this?" He switched his codec from a heat sensor to an energy sensor. What showed up on the screen shocked him.

"_Holy crap!_ The energy levels are off the charts!"

The unseen waves of power slowly died down, leaving everyone flat on the ground. But the next thing they saw scared—and angered—them to a level that could not be described with words.

Hovering above them was a humanoid being with a semitransparent, cyan-colored body. Within its chest was a reddish orb-shaped object. Its arms were crossed, and its right foot was slightly raised.

It was the signature pose of that vile villain everyone in the Smash Mansion knew.

The Super Smash Brothers had even fought him with much difficulty.

The master of evil, deception, manipulation, and pure evil.

The leader of the Subspace Army.

"Well, this is really convenient," Shadow muttered.

The enemy smiled mirthlessly.

_"It has been quite a while, Smash Brothers,"_ said Tabuu.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And seven thousand words and approximately fourteen cussescuss phrases later (no kidding)…**_

_**DUN DUN DUUUNNNNN! The ol' baddie is back! Oh, noes!**_

**Falco:** Uh-oh! What's a bird to do?

**Fox:** Hey, you're a member of Team Star Fox. And members of Team Star Fox are BRAVE!

_*A Wolfen passes by and drops ten million Smart Bombs*_

**Fox and Falco:** _*running away in a very un-brave way*_ EEEEK!

**Wolf:** Hey, wait a minute! A Wolfen can't hold ten million Smart Bombs!

_**But remember, this is **_**my_ story, so I control the events!_**

**Lucas:** No fair…

_**HEY! Where the heck did **_**you_ come from?_**

**Lucas: **Oh, and I thought you said _you_ controlled the events?

_**…Well, I guess not… Anyway! What are the stranded people going to do?  
><strong>_

**Snake:** WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT NOW! TABUU'S RIGHT IN OUR FACES!

**_Oh, yeah! Okay, going on. How will the Smashers back at the mansion get them out?_**

**Meta Knight:** WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT NOW! THE CORRUPTED BRAWL SYSTEM IS PREVENTING US FROM APPROACHING IT!

_**Good point there, little knight!**_

**Meta Knight:**_ AND I'M NOT LITTLE!**  
><strong>_

_**But you're labeled as "little knight" several times in this story! Just reread this chapter for proof!**  
><em>

**Lucario:** _SHUT UP AND GET ON WITH IT, AUTHOR!**  
><strong>_

_**Right! Calm down, everyone! Okay, so now eight people are stranded, Tabuu is back, and the Smashers back home can't open up the portal! What can they do now?**  
><em>

**Crazy Hand:** Let's make Master Hand do everything! Hahaha!_**  
><strong>_

**Master Hand: **I would rather not!_ *drags Crazy Hand away***  
><strong>_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!_**  
><strong>_

_**…So, even at a time like this, Master Hand insists on dragging away Crazy Hand as always, huh**__**… I guess he wants to keep up with this tradition that was started at the end of Chapter 1 of this story.  
><strong>_

_**Credits to the Kirby wiki for information about the little game called **_**Meta Knight's Revenge_!_ **

_**I hope you remembered to read Chapter 15 before this!  
><strong>_

_**And remember to review!**_


	17. The Great Escape

**_Sorry for the late update! Here is Chapter 17! (Honestly, I believe it's a bit in the boring side.)_  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything here, which makes me very sad.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: The Great Escape<strong>

* * *

><p>Lucario gave a sudden start. Rika came over and put her hand on the Pokémon's shoulder. "What?"<p>

"The levels of dark energy increased! Something bad is happening to our friends!" he exclaimed, arousing the attention of everyone around.

"Is this force really that strong?" asked Tetra, astonished.

Lucario nodded. "If only we could get rid of the Shadow Bugs around the System somehow…"

"Then why don't we just blow up the System and get it over with?" Gantz questioned impatiently, taking out a handgun.

King Dedede knocked it out of the wolf's hands. "No! Have you forgotten about our pals in there?"

"…Oh, right…"

Ness tried to walk up to the Brawl System, but the Shadow Bugs started swarming in front of him, so he backed off. He was beginning to feel very worried for his best friend Lucas' safety.

"How can we save our buddies?"

-ooo-

"Tabuu," Pit breathed with fearful awe.

The foe regarded the fighters with a look of detestation. _"You never would have suspected that I was still alive after our little skirmish last year, did you?"_

"Damn it all, Tabuu!" Snake shouted angrily. "So you've been keeping yourself hidden within the virtual world? How the hell did you end up in our Brawl System? And why did that portal open up and suck us all into this dump?"

_"So many questions, Solid Snake. Do you think I would answer them all for you?"_

Snake growled furiously.

Keen-eyed Samus noticed something. There was a long, half-healed scar going across Tabuu's chest. She realized that this wound was given by Ike, when the Smashers fought Tabuu for the very first time…

_The last and most powerful Off Wave was rushing towards the fighters, who braced themselves for the onslaught._

_The Off Wave came closer with every second…_

_"Samus…" muttered Pikachu._

_Samus looked down at her friend. "Yes?"_

_"…If we don't survive this…will you stay with me?"_

_Samus put Pikachu on her shoulder. "Of course, Pikachu. Of course."_

_But right before the wave of negative power could hit them…_

_…a large white figure blocked the fighters' way._

KABOOM!

_"AAAARRGHH!"_

_It was too familiar._

_"Dang it!" Captain Falcon cried. "It's Master Hand!"_

_Master Hand's fingers curled up with pain as he took all the damage from Tabuu's Off Waves for himself._

_The wave finally subsided, leaving the fighters safe but Master Hand close to death._

"Eek!"_ Crazy Hand rushed his counterpart's side. _"You okay?"

_Master Hand struggled to keep himself afloat, but he collapsed a moment later and fell unconscious._

"Uh-oh!"_ Crazy Hand said. _"He's out!"

_The remaining fighters were dreading this. "Now what?" Red said with desperation._

_Tabuu took this chance to attack, and he caused a chain of explosions at the fighters' feet. They were all thrown into the air, and they lay still on the ground. They were severely weakened…and just one more attack would end the battle._

_The Subspace embodiment floated down with a look of triumph._

"Your attacks are all useless,"_ he said to the downed fighters. _"I am the ruler of Subspace. I _am_ Subspace. I shall soon dominate all the worlds!"

_Snake began, "Oh, shut up, you wretched, you foul—"_

_He was struck silent by Tabuu's Light Chain, turning into a trophy._

"Good riddance."_ Tabuu looked at each fighter, and when he saw Master Hand, his red eyes glinted wickedly._

"Master Hand… The master of the World of Trophies, now lying on the ground like a pathetic weakling. What a shame."

_Falco really wanted to wipe that grin off the foe's face, but he couldn't move without crying out with pain. He had no choice but to stay still and suffer._

"It is time to end this."_ Tabuu spread his wings; the tear given by Sonic was apparent. If he was angered by it, he didn't show it. And he began to charge up his power._

_Meta Knight had been dreading this moment. _The time has come… This certainly will lower my status of an honorable knight…but now is not the time to be worrying about such things as that.

_Tabuu prepared to release the Off Waves. _"Now…die."

_"I won't let that happen!"_

_Surprised, Tabuu turned—and saw a golden two-handed sword fly up to greet him, its blade flashing. Soon afterward, a swordsman followed it._

_"It's your turn to die!" Ike declared. He was greatly weakened and his body was screaming with pain, but he knew someone had to end this once and for all. He gripped Ragnell…_

_"GREAT AETHER!" _

_…and brought it down onto Tabuu's chest with all the remaining strength he had._

_Tabuu's eyes widened with shock as he felt Ragnell's deep cut. It nearly reaching the precious red orb within him._

_Ike landed on the ground and fell, Ragnell clattering loudly beside him. He and his friends looked up to see Tabuu's body contorting with a vast amount of pain._

_There was a massive explosion, sweeping over the fighters on the ground. Tabuu screamed one more time before exploding. Then the entire dimension of Subspace started collapsing within itself! If the fighters wanted to escape safely, they had to get out right at that moment._

_Within a few minutes, all the fighters, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand were onboard the airships and flying out of the collapsing Subspace. And then Meta Knight insisted on searching for parts of his wrecked Battleship Halberd…_

-ooo-

While Samus was having her flashback, Snake was still interrogating Tabuu.

"I ain't going anywhere until you tell me how you survived!" the mercenary declared. "Tell us now or you'll regret it!"

_Wow, Snake's on a roll,_ thought Shadow.

Tabuu smiled. _"You may have thought that you had destroyed me… However, I had escaped at the last possible second."_

"You…what?" said Pit.

_"When Ike struck the so-called 'final blow' on me, it harmed me greatly. But I did not die. I was hurt but not dead. I made an illusion of myself being destroyed while the real Tabuu had safely teleported elsewhere."_

"But there's still something I don't get," Darkrai said. "According to the Smashers, you can't leave Subspace. But they said that the Subspatial realm they were in collapsed within itself. So how in Arceus' name did you escape?"

_"A majority of Subspace was destroyed by the Smash Brothers…but there was a small bit left. A permanent Subspace."_

"…You mean…the _Isle of Ancients_?" the Legendary Pokémon gasped.

"That X-shaped light!" Pit exclaimed.

"It's also the place where the Subspace Bomb Factory is," said Samus. "Ganondorf ordered all Subspace Bombs in the factory to be detonated to make a big enough portal for the Subspace Gunship to go through. When we…seemingly…defeated Tabuu, the Isle was the only place that couldn't be restored. Since there was such a high level of Subspatial energy, it was to remain as a Subspatial dimension forever."

Tabuu nodded. _"Exactly. And that was where I went."_

"But why were you hiding in our Brawl System?" Snake demanded.

_"I knew that your Brawl System constantly had one or more Smashers nearby. I only needed one… Instead, I get six…and two non-Smashers. The more, the better."_

"Jeez, what in Skyworld do you _need_ us for?" Pit asked.

_"Would I ever tell you the answer to that question?"_

Unknown to the foe, Shadow was quietly sneaking behind him.

_That's right… Keep him talking._

Darkrai saw Shadow preparing some Chaos attack. _Don't you miss…_

Shadow almost released his move when Tabuu asked:

"_Would you like to join me?"_

Samus ogled at him. "Would we like to _what_?"

Ignoring her, the leader of Subspace said, _"You should know very well by now that I am undefeatable. In spite of all your effort, you cannot destroy me or Subspace."_

"Yeah, like that's the truth!" Snake snorted.

"_It is best for you all to join me. Together, we will rule all the worlds!"_

Shadow was listening intently as he hid behind Tabuu.

_"I promise you…great power. You could be the new lords of the universe if you join the superior forces of Subspace. Join me, and your dreams of power will come true."_

Everyone looked at each other quietly, thousands of thoughts running through their minds.

_This is what he said to Ganondorf, Bowser, and Wario._

_We can't trust him; he's just gonna use us as puppets!_

_Great power, huh… I'd like that. But this is Tabuu we're talking about._

_Ol' blue has another trick up his sleeve…wherever his sleeve is… No wonder he's also known as the master of deception._

Finally, Samus answered for them all.

"Tabuu…our answer is—"

"NEVER!"

Shadow launched himself upwards until he was level with Tabuu, then unleashed the Chaos Spear he was charging up. Five arrows of Chaos energy flew out of his right hand and sped towards the enemy. All five struck Tabuu's chest—the place where the scar was.

Tabuu grimaced and turned to the black hedgehog. _"Shadow the Hedgehog…? I thought you desired for more power…?"_

Shadow smiled. "That's old," he said simply.

He rammed into Tabuu with a Homing Attack, almost knocking the latter out of the air. But Tabuu soon regained his balance and slashed the hedgehog with a blade of negative energy. Shadow fell and lay motionless on the ground, a long mark on his right shoulder.

"Oh, no, Shadow!" Pit cried out, rushing over to him.

The blade disappeared from Tabuu's hand. _"So…that is your answer? If it is…"_

A pair of butterfly-like wings extended from his back. They were multicolored and had microchip-like lines on them.

_No!_ Darkrai thought. _He's about to do the Off Waves!_

But then he realized that the wings were still in bad shape. The damage from Sonic's attack must have not healed up yet.

Tabuu gathered up negative power.

_…Do those wings look even _weaker_ than the last time we met?_ Snake thought, confused. _Huh, I'll bet my money that the Off Waves won't KO us!_

_"Time for your end!"_ he said.

_BAM!_

Samus expected to feel the pounding waves of energy…

But the explosion she heard wasn't inflicted on her and her friends.

A ball of red fire had zoomed out of nowhere and struck Tabuu, stopping him from using his Off Waves. His wings disappeared, and everyone—including him—turned towards the direction of the fire.

Standing at the top of a hill was Zelda, flanked on either side by Lucas and Olimar. Five Pikmin stood at Olimar's side. Zelda's right hand was up, indicating that it was she who threw out the attack, which was a magical spell called Din's Fire.

Tabuu's eyes narrowed. _"So…you have come at last."_

"Yes, we have," Zelda replied defiantly. She teleported over to joined Samus, Snake, Pit, Darkrai, and the unconscious Shadow. Lucas and Olimar ran down the hill and followed her. "I won't let you harm my friends behind my back."

Lucas glared at the villain. "Tabuu, I don't know why you wanted us, but I do know one thing." He clenched his fists.

"You're going _down_!" Olimar finished for him.

-ooo-

Amaterasu stepped forward. "I can try to lift the evil on the Brawl System with my Celestial Brush powers. But don't think it's guaranteed to fix everything."

"Well, gotta give it a try!" Toon Link said hopefully.

Amaterasu slowly walked towards the corrupted Brawl System and stopped when she could easily feel the evil presence. She raised her tail, which now had black ink on the tip. She arched her tail forward, preparing to draw something with her ink.

And then a dark blade of energy snapped out of the cloud of shadow bugs and slashed at the wolf!

Amaterasu gasped and quickly jumped back to avoid getting her tail cut off. The swiftness of the blade had wiped out all the ink on her tail.

"Wh-what just happened?" stuttered Klonoa.

-ooo-

Tabuu's energy blade vanished. _"It appears that somebody is trying to rid your Brawl System of its corruption."_

_What did he say?_ thought Lucas. _Someone is trying to get the System back to normal? I wonder who.  
><em>

_"Instead of destroying you all at once with my Off Waves,"_ Tabuu continued, _"I will just let my servants have fun with you."_

The ground beneath Tabuu suddenly became alive with hundreds of thousands of Shadow Bugs. The Bugs clumped together and formed every single type of Primid.

"Damn it!" Snake said heatedly. "Stop playing dirty, Tabuu!"

"HEY!" Lucas yelled. "I—HATE—THESE—STUPID—_PRIMIDS_!" He jumped high into the air, held aloft by his PSI powers, and stomped on ten Primids, destroying them all.

And this triggered the start of the fight.

The Primids proceeded to tear up the Smashers. Tabuu decided to hang back and avoid trouble.

Samus began to run. _If only I had my Power Suit on, I could wipe out everyone… At least I'm a lot faster without it, which will help._ She cut through eight Fire Primids with her Paralyzer's Plasma Whip.

Snake threw out ten C4s in a row. When a line of Sword Primids came charging in, he detonated the C4s and blew up all the Primids at once.

Pit shot two Light Arrows at two Metal Primids; the Metal Primids' reflective bodies repelled the arrows and sent them back to Pit, who put up his Mirror Shield in time and let them fly off into the sky. _I almost forgot… Projectiles don't work on Metal Primids…_ So he pulled apart his bow into two swords and had a swords-versus-fists fight with the Primids.

Zelda was using Nayru's Love over and over again, causing flurries of sharp crystals to fly out and cut all the Primids. Several of the prickly projectiles nearly struck Samus as the latter ran around, flogging all the Boom Primids as if they were naughty horses.

Lucas was behind her and using all the PSI moves he could muster. When a Fire Primid unleashed its fiery breath, he let out a PK Freeze. The Fire Primid's fire melted the ice into water—its main weakness. Stumbling into the cold puddle of water, the Fire Primid's body started steaming, and it exploded into a pile of Shadow Bugs.

Olimar was going bonkers, using his chain of Pikmin as a weapon. The red Pikmin at the end of the chain was feeling quite dizzy indeed as it was used to whack at the Scope Primids.

Meanwhile, Darkrai had dragged Shadow off to the side and was fending off all the enemies that came close. He was starting to get tired, but fortunately Shadow was slowly coming to.

"…Darkrai…? What the…?"

Darkrai slashed through a Boom Primid with his Shadow Claw. "Good, you're awake. Tabuu just summoned a bit of his Subspace Army's Primids."

Shadow sat up and groggily rubbed his eyes. "The last thing I remember was getting hit by—_aagh!_" he groaned.

Darkrai looked at him and saw a long gash on his shoulder. "Shadow, don't move! You'll hurt your arm more if you try to use it."

Shadow ignored him and got on his feet. "Remember that I am the Ultimate Life-Form. And I am not to be stopped by some puny army of _Subspace_!"

With that, he rushed through a mass of Primids, blowing them all away by his amazing speed. Darkrai stared at him for a second, shrugged, and followed.

_Arceus, what a stubborn guy he is._

-ooo-

"Excuse me, Master Hand," Lloyd Irving said.

Master Hand and the rest of the Smashers turned towards the swordsman. _"What is it, Lloyd?"_

"I believe there's a way to reopen the portal that sucked in our friends," he said. "There is a sword called the Eternal Sword."

Everyone waited for him to continue.

"It has control over time and space."

The amazement on everybody's faces was plain to see.

"What?" said Klonoa. "Really?"

Lloyd nodded and brought out his two swords—one red, one blue. "All I have to do is combine my Material Blades together, and there you go. But please give me some time to do so, thank you very much!"

Meanwhile, Link was looking at Lucario, feeling concerned. "Lucario? What are you doing?"

Lucario was crouching on the floor, paws on the sides of his head, concentrating hard on the corrupted Brawl System. "…I thought I could…connect…"

Without any warning, the Aura Pokémon gasped. He leaped up (almost running Link through with his right paw's steel spike) and ran off. "Of course! I could have… Why didn't I…"

Toon Link watched him go and asked his older counterpart, "What was that all about?"

Link shrugged. "Don't look at me. Maybe he sensed something and was so surprised that he had to go to the bathroom?"

But the truth was that Lucario was searching for Mewtwo.

_His telepathic powers far exceed mine… He should be able to help me with this!_

With his powers of Aura, he found Mewtwo in his human form sitting on the balcony, reading a book titled _Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace_.

_Has he decided to live as his human form most of the time now, like Darkrai?_ Lucario quickly ran up to him.

"Mewtwo!"

Mewtwo continued reading. "Lucario, I'm sorry, but I'm about to finish this novel."

"But now's not a good time to read. I need your help!"

"Can't it wait?"

Lucario growled and extended his right paw's spike into three claws. This was a Steel-type move called Metal Claw, and Lucario used this attack to toss the book away from Mewtwo and over the balcony's railing.

"What was that for?" Mewtwo demanded.

Lucario's claws shrank back into a steel spike. "Mewtwo, this is serious. Six Smashers and two others have been sucked into the Brawl System through a portal. I can't believe you didn't know!"

Mewtwo said nothing.

"One of them was Darkrai."

_"What?"_

"And that's why I need your help," said Lucario. "Everyone knows that your powers of telepathy are very high."

Mewtwo's lavender eyes narrowed into a glare. "Yes, so…?"

Lucario clenched his fists. "Right here, right now."

"…Yes?"

"In ten minutes, I need you to teach me how to telepathically connect with a certain person who's stuck in another world."

-ooo-

The battalion of Primids was slowly dwindling, thanks to the power and tricks of the kidnapped fighters.

Samus was lashing out at foe after foe with her Paralyzer, sometimes catching a Primid with her Plasma Whip and using it to clear a whole line of its own Subspatial friends.

Snake's supply of explosives never seemed to run out as he planted rows of C3s and C4s to blow up chains of his main objectives—Big Primids. To make the battle fun, he kept track of how many enemies he downed. He was now at seventy-one and counting.

Pit was knocking out Boom and Scope Primids from the air, usually hitting the ones who were going to land a sneak attack on his friends. Since there was no such thing as a flying Primid, he easily hit his targets without much resistance. All he had to do was avoid the bazooka shots from the Scope Primids.

Lucas and Zelda were furiously using all the spells and psychic moves they knew. Lucas occasionally took out a hard stick to knock the senses out of the adversaries. If he missed one and it came near, Zelda just slapped it on the face. It didn't sound like much, but nevertheless it helped.

A few minutes into the battle, Olimar had noticed that the red Pikmin at the end of the Pikmin chain had several large bumps on its head. So, he simply replaced it with the tough and big purple Pikmin at the end. Now the Primids, after seeing some of their friends quickly falling prey to Olimar, started thinking that he had somehow gotten a wrecking ball. _Good,_ Olimar thought happily. _Leave it that way._

Darkrai and Shadow were two black blurs of mass destruction. Shadow plowed through lines of foes and disarmed those with weapons with his Chaos Spear. As the enemies lay stunned and vulnerable on the ground, Darkrai finished them off, one by one, with his Shadow Claw. This proved to be very efficient indeed, as the two had taken out the most enemies so far. Shadow's injury had opened up again, but he was clearly ignoring it.

"Golly!" Snake said to himself as he blew up his seventy-ninth Primid. "Those two are so coordinated!"

He noticed that they seemed to be targeting mainly the Metal Primids.

_Because a Metal Primid is the hardiest type of Primid, plus the most annoying, I guess…_

The Metal Primids really did live up to their reputation of annoyingness; one sneaked up behind Snake and kicked his back. He whirled around and quickly blew it up with his RPG-7.

_Who the hell thought of the idea of making different Primids, anyway! …Oh, duh, Mr. Bystander over there! Right, that was…eighty enemies. Whoa, I'm doing good…_

True to his thoughts, Tabuu was hanging off to the side and behind a bystander.

Pit swooped down and kicked two Fire Primids away from Lucas before they could envelop the boy in an inferno. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw Tabuu just standing there—actually, just _floating_ there.

_What's up with him? I thought he'd join the battle. What a weirdo!_

Just then, Tabuu issued a single command.

_"Stop."_

All the Primids paused.

_"Retreat…and…"_ Tabuu smiled. _"…Reform."_

_Reform?_ Samus wondered. _What does that mean?_

She and her friends soon discovered Tabuu's intent.

The Primids dissolved into piles of Shadow Bugs. Then they clustered again, this time to form eight familiar figures:

A galactic bounty hunter…

A mercenary from the United States…

An angel from Skyworld…

A psychic boy…

A Hyrulian princess…

A little astronaut and six alien plant-like creatures…

A human-formed Legendary Pokémon…

A supersonic hedgehog…

Shadow spoke out everybody's thoughts.

"This…is _very_ bad."

The Shadow Bugs had reconstructed themselves into Subspatial clones of the Smash Mansion fighters.

-ooo-

Neku had some questions for a certain two-dimensional Smasher.

"Um… Mr. Game & Watch, is it just me, or are those…things…attracted to you?" He pointed at the Shadow Bugs.

Mr. Game & Watch looked down and around himself. The Shadow Bugs really _were_ a little attached to him. "Well… It's a bit of a long story, but I think you newbies should know."

Cloud looked a little miffed at being called a newbie, but he said, "Sure, we're listening."

"Okay," said Mr. Game & Watch. He looked at the Brawl System. "It's obvious that I'm different from the other Smashers. I'm two-dimensional, and I could even be described as virtual."

The newcomers looked surprised. "Virtual…?"

"Tabuu found me when he was pondering over the source of his Subspace Army. He wondered how could he form a huge army within a matter of days? He later discovered that within my body…was the best treasure he could ever find: Shadow Bugs. An infinite source of them.

"He told me to use these Shadow Bugs to create his Subspace Army. He promised me great power if I helped him. And…I obeyed."

"So, what you're basically saying is that _you_ were the starter of Subspace?" asked Amaterasu, suddenly looking doubtful of the two-dimensional Smasher.

"What made you agree with him?" Sora demanded. "You should've known he was completely bad!"

"Wait, there's more! I was made without feelings. I couldn't differentiate between good and bad, so I agreed to help Tabuu without knowing what his true intentions were! I may not have known what he was up to, but I just like helping!"

"He's very right about that," R.O.B. supplied. "He's a helpful buddy."

"Oh, look, Lloyd's going to open the portal," Pikachu said, trying to change the subject.

Lloyd had finished merging his Material Blades, forming the Eternal Sword. It was large and had a triangular purple blade with a lavender-colored edge. The cross-guard was gold and had a red jewel embedded in the center. The grip was white.

_This sword gives out such strong power…!_ Sora thought with awe. _And I thought my Keyblade was good enough…_

"All right," said Lloyd. "Here goes nothing…"

He cautiously approached the Shadow Bug-infested Brawl System, holding out his sword in case something suddenly attacked him. He stopped when the demonic power was beginning to overwhelm him.

He raised the Eternal Sword, and its purple blade began to pulsate waves of temporal and spatial energy.

"Okay, Brawl System," he said to it. "It's about time you reopened that portal. Eat this! HAAAHHH!"

He swung the sword down for a mighty blow. For a fleeting moment, it seemed like he was going to succeed…

Then a black sword of powerful negative energy burst out from the Brawl System's mass of Shadow Bugs and intercepted Lloyd's Eternal Sword!

"What's this?" Silver exclaimed, bewildered.

Lloyd pushed the black blade out of the way, but it just came back and forced him to do a parrying move with his Eternal Sword. "What in Sylvarant…?"

"Someone in the other world's stopping Lloyd from reopening the portal!" Tails reasoned, feeling quite worried.

-ooo-

While these Smashers were tinkering with the portal, Mewtwo was busy teaching Lucario how to do telepathic connections.

"I know he has a mind with strong defenses," Mewtwo said to Lucario. "If you want to connect with him when he's in a whole other world, it's going to be extremely difficult. Now, try make a connection with me. I'll teleport into another town or something for now."

He closed his lavender eyes and used Teleport, disappearing in a flash of white light. A few seconds later, Lucario heard the Legend speak in his mind.

_"…Oops…I went too far."_

_"What do you mean?"_ Lucario asked through Mewtwo's telepathic connection.

_"Well, I was planning to teleport into Animal Crossing… I ended up in Pallet Town."_

_"Pallet Town… Wait. You mean…_the_ Pallet Town…the one in…?"_

_"Yep. The one in the Pokémon world."_

_"Now how in the world did you teleport yourself to a whole different _world_ without intending to?"_ Lucario said in disbelief.

_"That's the bad side to having strong psychic powers. Speaking of that, I'm going to disconnect this telepathic link. Then you have to start a new one."_

_"…So now _I_ have to call you with the mental telephone instead of you."_

_"Exactly. Remember, Lucario, don't push yourself too hard."_ And with that, the connection faded.

Lucario left the balcony, went down a flight of stairs, and ended up on the fourth floor, which was taken up mostly by the colossal observatory. Entering the observatory, he looked around at the large virtual map of the worlds and quickly located the Pokémon world. He tapped the planet, zooming in on the Kanto Region. He continued to zoom in until he could see the blip that was labeled "Pallet Town"—the famous Ash Ketchum's home before he left on his legendary journey to become a Pokémon Master.

"Mewtwo said he ended up in this town," the Aura Pokémon said. "If I concentrate on this image of Pallet Town, maybe I'll reach him."

He extended his Aura and focused on the dot that was Pallet Town, the four black appendages on the back of his head tingling and slowly rising.

_Mewtwo is in Pallet Town. I must concentrate hard to connect with him! Urgh… This is going to be difficult, but I'm not going back downstairs until I am able to master this skill! Our lost friends need me…_

-ooo-

The first thing Mewtwo did when he appeared in Pallet Town was jump into a tree.

Hey, think about it. If some random purple-haired guy with the ears and tail of a Mewtwo just popped up out of nowhere, what would your reaction be?

Yeah, panic.

Or, if you were a Pokémon Trainer, you'd take out a Master Ball and try catch him.

The likeliness of both are very high.

As Mewtwo sat in the tree, he peered through the leaves to see two Trainers—both boys—and their Pokémon walking by. They seemed to be talking about their latest achievements.

"…beat Cynthia!" said the one with the Quilava.

"Oh, yeah? I defeated Alder!" bragged the one with the Dewott.

"Cynthia's harder! She's got her monster Garchomp!"

"Well, Alder has his crazy Bouffalant!"

_"Dewott!"_

_"Qui?"_

_"Dew."_

_"Quilava!"_

When the Trainers left, Mewtwo went back to listening for Lucario.

He didn't have to wait for long.

_"…M…"_

_Hm! What was that?_

A few seconds later, he heard it again.

_"…Mewtwo… It's…Lu…"_

_It's fading in and out, but that's surely Lucario!_

_"…Connection…faint, but…connected to… Mewtwo…hear me?"_

Mewtwo decided to relay back a message.

_Since the connection is fuzzy, it'll be hard for Lucario to hear me… "I hear you, but it's unclear. Despite that, you've made _huge_ progress. I'm quite impressed!"_

_"…Eh…"_

There was no sound for about a minute. Then, out of the blue:

_"Mewtwo, I don't think the connection's as faint now. Can you hear me?"_

Mewtwo was astounded. _"You're as clear as a screaming Exploud, Lucario! Good job!"_

_"Hey, thanks,"_ Lucario replied quite proudly. _"Um… Can you come back now?"_

_"Oh. Right. I'm coming, see you in five seconds."_

He then teleported out of Pallet Town.

When he reappeared, he looked around and expected to see a mansion and a bunch of Waddle Dee guards.

Instead, what he saw was a bunch of trees in a jungle.

_…This is going to be a long day…_

-ooo-

"Okay, okay. I have one command."

"Since when were _you_ in command?"

"Never mind that. Here's the command: RUN!"

And the eight fighters ran like cowards.

"W-W-WAAAIIIIT!" yelped poor Lucas. "I'm not ready to be a coward agaaaaaain!"

The Subspatial clones of the team of eight pursued them on Tabuu's word.

_I must remain here,_ the leader of Subspace thought. _Somebody is still trying to reopen the portal that connects the virtual world to the Smash World. If that were to happen, my opportunities of weakening the Smash Brother forces would be lost…_

Meanwhile, with the fighters…

_I'll try hold the clones back for a bit,_ thought Snake. He threw five C4s over his shoulder and detonated them.

"Um, Snake, you'd better work on your aim," Pit said nervously as he flew over everyone.

"Jeez! I wasn't looking!"

Shadow, of course, was in the lead. "My, my… Aren't you people a bunch of slowpokes. Grab on." He offered his hand to Darkrai, who took it and passed on the message to the others. When the team was in a line, Shadow started running at the speed of sound.

"Shadow, you're going to blow off my spacesuit's helmet!" Olimar said with fright. His five Pikmin were all blanked out for reasons unknown. "Please slow down just a teensy bit…like, by fifty miles per hour?"

"Sorry, no can do. The clones are copying my moves. They really live up to their terms."

It was true. The clone of Shadow was dragging the rest of the Subspatial team and chasing after the real team.

"Stop!" shouted Zelda. "Shadow, stop! STOP!"

The black hedgehog screeched to a halt. He had been so absorbed into his fantastical running that he had nearly run off of a cliff. Samus was thrown off the edge, and she would have fallen to her doom if it hadn't been for her great reflexes and the handy plasma wire of her trusty Paralyzer. Using this, she clambered back onto solid ground and rejoined her friends.

Darkrai turned around. "Here they come!"

The clones came along and came to a stop when the caught sight of their objectives.

"I guess this is when we start battling!" Pit commented. "I'm up first, guys! Bring it on!"

The Pit clone left its teammates and faced the real Pit. It drew its bow, an arrow of darkness being pulled back. Pit knew better than to copy its moves.

The clone released the black arrow. Quickly, Pit took out his Mirror Shield and set it in front of him.

The arrow struck the shield and bounced back. The Subspatial Pit set down its bow and reflected its own arrow back at Pit with its own Mirror Shield.

Back and forth the arrow went. The eyes of the real and Subspatial fighters trailed after it.

"We're going to get hypnotized pretty soon," Snake said. But nobody listened, of course.

When Pit sent the arrow back at its owner, he put his shield away, split his bow in two, and charged. Instinctively, the Pit clone picked up its bow—and was hit by its arrow. Right after that, Pit came tearing in and enveloped his clone in a fury of sword slashes, soon leaving nothing but a pile of Shadow Bugs that he dispersed with a stomp of his foot.

Pit struck a pose. "Ha, you're not ready yet! Who's next?"

Zelda stepped forward. "I am!"

Her clone came as a Subspatial Sheik instead of a Subspatial Zelda. Zelda smiled, a plan forming in her head.

The Sheik clone came at her, dashing at a furious pace. Zelda patiently waited for it to come, then spun on one foot and disappeared.

The Subspatial Sheik stopped and looked around. Lucas was very sure that he could see an expression of confusion on the clone's usually expressionless face.

Suddenly, a Din's Fire exploded at "Sheik's" back! Zelda had used Farore's Wind to teleport above her alter ego's clone. While the fake Sheik was reeling back from the surprise attack, Zelda came down and used Nayru's Love, causing sharp crystals to form and fly at her clone. Then she let out a larger and stronger Din's Fire, finishing off her adversary.

Zelda daintily stepped out of the dusty cloud, and she bowed to the smattering of applause she received from her friends. "Thank you, thank you. Who's going next?"

Lucas was trembling from head to toe, but he tried to hide his terror. "Uh, uh, uh, me!"

Since Subspatial clones didn't have feelings, the psychic boy's clone came out and immediately pointed at him with a glowing finger.

Lucas went first, letting out a fast PK Fire attack. The clone's pants caught on fire, and it started running around in circles. Lucas decided to cool it off a bit by giving it a nice, cold PK Freeze, which completely froze the clone. When it unfroze after about five seconds, it spotted Lucas doing the chicken dance. Of course, it decided to go after him.

Lucas stopped dancing and fled…in the direction of the cliff edge. The clone didn't see it, so it continued to run.

It wasn't until it had run fifty feet past the cliff when it realized what it had just done.

_Whoosh…!_

Darkrai peered over the edge and into the deep abyss below. "…And I thought psychic boys could fly."

Lucas took out his stick and raised it triumphantly. "Hey! What a great trick I made! I defeated my clone—alone! And I must be getting over my cowardliness. Boy, Ness will be so proud of me!"

Someone tapped his shoulder, and he looked up to see the Subspatial clone of Darkrai. The real human-form Darkrai was already scary enough, but this shadowy form was just too much.

"AAAAGHHH! HEEELLLP!"

Snake stared after him. "…That was a rather short-lived look of bravery. And it looks like you're up next, Darkrai."

"I know, I know."

Before his clone had time to react, the Legendary Pokémon had struck out with two powerful Shadow Claws. He finished the job with a Dark Pulse, scattering the clone into a bunch of Shadow Bugs.

Darkrai crossed his arms. "All done. And next up is…?"

Shadow came out. "Me. Come on, Shadow-X… Let's have a speed duel."

Snake looked at him. "Shadow…X?"

"It's just a letter added to the names of clones. I wonder why we love X's so much."

"…So we just finished off Pit-X, Sheik-X, Lucas-X, and Darkrai-X, and we have Shadow-X, Olimar-X, Samus-X, and Snake-X left."

"Yeah."

"Don't reopen your wound!" Pit yelled.

The two black hedgehogs suddenly disappeared.

"Hey!" said Olimar, surprised. "Where'd they go?"

"They're still here," said Samus, "but they're just moving too fast for us to follow."

Within a matter of seconds, Shadow defeated his clone. He kicked the pile of Shadow Bugs apart to prevent them from reforming into Shadow-X.

"In your face, faker!" he spat at the last Shadow Bug.

"Wait…aren't _you_ the faker?" asked Lucas, which he probably shouldn't have.

"I'm the one and only Shadow the Hedgehog, boy! Sonic may call me a faker, but I'm no faker!"

Lucas cringed. "Sorry…"

Two astronauts—Olimar and his clone—greeted each other.

"Okay, clone boy," Olimar told his opponent. "We're fighting one-on-one. No Pikmin whacking, okay—ACK!" he shouted, for Olimar-X just swung its chain of Pikmin-X into Olimar's face.

Olimar flew back three feet and shook a fist at his clone. "Hey! I said _no_ Pikmin whacking! Oh, fine, I'll just use my Pikmin, too! We'll just have to settle this the hard way, I guess!"

He flung his two purple Pikmin into his clone's stomach, hurling it high into the air. Before it could land, Olimar tossed up his yellow and red Pikmin, which attached to the clone and zapped and burned it. The blue Pikmin joined the fray, head-butting into a blue Pikmin-X. A great deal of smoke stirred up (probably because of Olimar's red Pikmin incinerating Olimar-X's clothes), and when it cleared up the enemy was gone.

Suddenly, a purplish shot of electricity flew out, nearly catching Samus off guard. She looked at her clone, which had its Paralyzer up. "You cheater! That's against the code of the Smashers!" She ran out and flogged her clone with her Plasma Whip twice. Then she did some complicated tricks with her whip, and Samus-X somehow ended up being tangled within the tough line of plasma wire.

"Way to go, Samus!" Lucas cheered.

Samus tossed her clone away. It exploded into Shadow Bugs while flying off into the distance. "Easy as pie. Is Tabuu playing with us?"

Snake looked at his clone, Snake-X. "Well, I guess I'm left. Judging from the previous battles, though, I'm not too worried."

"Just don't get overconfident with yourself!" Samus called out to him.

Snake-X went first, taking out two C4s and throwing them at Snake's feet. It quickly pressed the button on the detonator, but by then Snake was already out of harm's way. He knew his styles of fighting, and his clone just so happened to be fighting with his familiar tactics. While avoiding the C4s' blasts, he took out his missile launcher, the Nikita. He fired a missile while running around his clone, managing to guide the missile into Snake-X's butt. The clone hurtled twenty feet up in the air, but Snake gave it a chance to land safely, though painfully.

"But why?" asked Pit.

"I'm not about to be a cheating mercenary. That'll ruin my reputation."

Pit just sighed and shook his head. "Oh, brother…"

Snake-X shakily got back onto its feet. It then pulled out a third grenade, took out the pin…and threw the pin. Olimar picked it up and looked questioningly at Snake, who had a "what the blithering hell?" kind of look on his face. The grenade exploded with a sharp _bang_, and all that was left of Snake-X was a smoking spot on the ground.

"…Ohhh-kay," said Darkrai.

"That went fast," Zelda remarked.

"Okay, I am _so_ filing a complaint to the Subspace Army and Tabuu regarding my clone's amazing stupidity," Snake grumbled ill-temperedly as he put away his Nikita.

"I highly disapprove of that," Shadow told him.

-ooo-

Lloyd finally gave up on trying to push past the negative energy blade, and he lay against the wall for a short break. Now Lucario came pounding in, a look of excitement on his face.

"I did it!" he exclaimed.

Red was confused. "Did…what?"

"I'm now able to telepathically connect with a mind that's in another world," the Aura Pokémon explained breathlessly. "It's all thanks to Mewtwo…who…" He frowned. "…Well, I guess you could call it a teleportation accident. I'm sure he'll be able to find his way back here, though. Anyway!" He walked up to the Brawl System. "I'm going to try connect with someone in there."

"Who?" asked Pikachu.

Lucario knelt down. "Snake."

_Heh, figures,_ Flamedramon thought. _After all, that human is his best friend. That's what he told me and Renamon._

Lucario let his Aura flow out from him and into the Brawl System. It was quite awhile before he detected several familiar Auras. One belonged to Snake; others to Samus, Lucas, Zelda, Olimar and his Pikmin, Pit, and Shadow. And there was one incredibly evil Aura there as well…

_That must be Tabuu's._

He let his Aura reach into Snake's mind.

_I hope he doesn't try to block me…the way he did several months ago when they started Project SSBB… "Snake!"_ he called as loud as he could.

-ooo-

While the team of eight was walking in some random direction, Snake suddenly felt a little twinge in his head. He decided to ignore it, but a few seconds later it came again.

"What the hell…?" he muttered.

When the small twang came back, it brought along a very recognizable voice.

_"Snake! Snake! Can you hear me?"_

Snake was dumbstruck. He didn't even realize that he had just stopped walking, causing Samus to look back at him. "Snake…? Something wrong…?"

"Hold on," he said to her. Using Lucario's telepathic connection, he mentally replied, _"Damn, Lucario! How'd you suddenly become able to do long-distance mental calls?"_

"_Mewtwo helped. Anyways, what's going on?"_

Snake looked around and gave Samus a _shhh_-ing gesture. _"Well, we're stuck in a virtual Subspace—"_

_"What's it like in there?"_ Lucario asked interestedly.

_"Bah, you won't like it. Anyway, we met with Tabuu and just defeated the Subspatial clones of ourselves, and right now we're just walking in the middle of nowhere. And you?"_

_"Oh…"_ Lucario said. _"We're still trying to get you guys out, actually. But when Lloyd tried to reopen the portal with his Eternal Sword…something…stopped it. We suspect it's Tabuu."_

_"You got that right,"_ Snake said sourly. _"For now, we'll just go on and—"_

An echoing roar interrupted him.

_"GRRAAAAHHHH!"_

Lucas jumped with fright and hid behind Zelda. "Wh-what was _that_?"

A monstrous figure flew out of the dark skies of the virtual Subspace and into view. It looked like a blue-scaled dragon with a very bony structure. It had a triangular spike on the tip of its tail, extremely sharp claws and talons, two rows of jagged teeth, and terrifying red eyes.

"Oh, no," Samus groaned. "It's _Ridley_!"

-ooo-

Lucario reopened his eyes. "…And Ridley came along."

"Huh?" said Sonic. "Ridley?"

To make sure, Lucario sent a telepathic message: _"Are you sure it's the _real_ Ridley? Not a Shadow Ridley?"_

Snake was silent for a while. Then:

_"He's very real, but I think something's wrong with him."_

Lucario asked him why.

_"There's something on his forehead… Aha! A mind-control device!"_

Lucario felt alarmed. _"Does that mean Ridley is under Tabuu's control?"_

_"That…must be it."_

-ooo-

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here, Ridley," Shadow said in his usual calm demeanor. "Go back and tell Tabuu that his Subspatial clones were being stupider than pie today."

Ridley's red eyes glinted. "You will pay for that," he hissed.

"What'd you come here for, anyway?" Snake inquired.

"Ah, now we're getting to the point. We will not let you go out of this virtual region of Subspace. You will make some…interesting test subjects for Tabuu."

"Hey, since when was _I_ a guinea pig?" Samus snapped.

Suddenly, Ridley began to have a convulsion. He fell from the air and onto the ground, clawing at the thing on his head while thrashing about with pain.

"Nooooo," he moaned. "I won't…let you…use me…T—AAGH!"

For a split second, Ridley's eyes turned yellow. But when Samus looked again, they were back to red.

_Did he break free of Tabuu's control just now?_

"Tabuu has orders," Ridley growled. "And they are…to bring you to him _by force_!"

He flapped his wings and was airborne again, then charged at the person everyone expected him to charge at—Samus. The galactic bounty hunter waited for the right moment, and she flipped over Ridley as he flew by and kicked the mind-control device on his head.

"We gotta knock off the device," she shouted to the others. "Oh, c'mon and help, will you?"

-ooo-

_"The fight started,"_ Snake said hurriedly to Lucario. _"Gotta go, bye—"_

The telepathic connection disappeared. Lucario looked back at the other Smashers.

"So," he said. "Any ideas on how we can help?"

They were all too busy to realize that two Team Star Fox members and two Mobians had disappeared…

-ooo-

Fox, Falco, Sonic, and Tails ignored the elevator and jumped down the shaft, freefalling into the hangar. In Sonic's hand was Shadow's green Chaos Emerald. They landed lightly and ran past Blade Knight and Sword Knight, who were mending the Halberd as usual.

"What's going on?" Sword asked.

"Sorry, no time," Falco told him. "There!"

The four Smashers rushed towards their respective airships.

Fox climbed into his Arwing's cockpit. "I hope the fuel isn't running low…"

Sonic and Tails boarded the X-Tornado. "I hope the Chaos Emeralds are here already…"

Falco hopped into his Arwing. "And I hope the guys upstairs know how to break down a wall…"

-ooo-

"Lloyd!" yelled Cloud. "Try using your Eternal Sword again!"

The swordsman held up the purple blade, feeling tired. All his attempts before were futile. "But…it probably won't work…?"

"Just do it!" the swordsman insisted.

Lloyd did so after a moment. "It had better work this time…"

"Don't worry." Cloud smiled. "I've got a plan. Now, go!"

Lloyd swung his sword. As expected, the dark energy blade reappeared and countered it.

"Keep it up, Lloyd!" Cloud then brought forward his Fusion Sword.

"What's he gonna do?" Wario asked Captain Falcon, who just shrugged.

"Seriously, I'm getting sick of you." He took a few steps back and put his sword before him.

_He's going to use Climhazzard!_ Neku realized.

"And it's about time you let us through! _Climhazzard!_"

He charged forward and jumped up right before his sword could touch the Brawl System. Then he came down and stabbed the dark energy blade.

_KABLAM!_

-ooo-

The eight fighters had formed a line again, Shadow at the lead and dragging everyone away from Ridley. Soon the dragon was out of their sight, much to their relief.

"Hey," Shadow said. "It's Tabuu!"

They ran towards the villain and prepared to attack. But before they could…

_KA-RACK!_

The tip of a large sword, glowing with bluish energy, landed a strong hit on Tabuu. At the same time, another sword cleaved open a hole between time and space.

_Great Palutena, that's Cloud Strife's Fusion Sword doing a Climhazzard attack!_ thought Pit, awed.

_Finally, somebody got a spatial hole open,_ Snake thought with satisfaction. _Excellent!_

The look on Tabuu's face was priceless, much to everybody's delight.

_"Who… _Who was that?_"_ the foe raged.

-ooo-

"I THINK IT'S OPENING!" Chipple screamed hysterically.

It was true. The Climhazzard had blasted the negative energy blade away, finally allowing Lloyd to cut open a lavender-colored portal with the Eternal Sword. This one didn't have any pull, unlike the one that took the eight lost fighters.

_"ATTENTION, ATTENTION, ALL FELLOW SMASHERS!"_

"That sounds like Falco," Rika noted.

_"WOULD YOU ALL PLEASE BE SO KIND AS TO CLEAR OUT A BIG PORTION OF THE WALL—"_

_"LIKE, _VERY_ BIG!"_

"Fox and Sonic," said David. "But why break the wall?"

_"And, uh, Master Hand… I hope you won't mind having a hole in the wall with a twenty-foot radius,"_ Tails' voice added sheepishly.

_"Wait…_WHAT_?"_

Without any hesitation, Cloud sent out another Climhazzard at the wall behind the Smashers and made a rather large hole.

_CRASH!_

In came an airship, smashing right through the hole and chipping off some more bits. It was blue and gray and had a slender body and two pointed wings. It was so fast that it had already gone through the portal when Gantz blinked.

A second one barged in, following the first.

"Arwings?" Mario asked.

A white and red plane with several wings and two engines entered the room and zoomed through the portal.

"The X-Tornado?" Silver questioned.

"They've gone to rescue our friends," Amaterasu realized.

-ooo-

"Holy shiskabobs!" Lucas shrieked. "Is it just me, or am I seeing two Arwings and the X-Tornado in the air?"

"Arceus!" Lucario said. "You're right! And…by the Alpha! Up there…coming out of the portal!"

The X-Tornado flew above the eight fighters, and something green fell from it. Shadow caught it. "A…Chaos Emerald…?"

"Sonic or Tails must've dropped it so you could perform Chaos Control," Olimar said.

Shadow smiled. "Good. I'll have some fun with Tabuu. And shut up about my injury," he added, causing Darkrai to close his mouth.

He used Chaos Control and teleported directly in front of Tabuu.

"Surprise, surprise! Looks like they opened the portal again!"

Tabuu tried to slash Shadow with an energy blade, but with the Chaos Emerald's power the hedgehog was just too fast.

"I'm over here!"

_Slash!_

"Idiot! I meant _here_!"

_Boom!_

"Gee…your accuracy is _terrible_!"

Meanwhile, the Arwings landed. Fox and Falco clambered out of the cockpits.

"About time you came!" Lucas said. "Thanks!"

"Let's go now," said Samus. "Ridley is still after us."

_"GRAHHH!"_

"Speak of the devil. Hurry!"

The fighters piled into the Arwings, bumping around in the small space provided (an Arwing was made to seat only one person, the pilot). The Arwings lifted off and sped through the air.

"Fight time!" Falco announced.

He let out two lasers, striking the oncoming Ridley. The dragon staggered in midflight, then was after the fighters again. Fox's Arwing dropped a Smart Bomb, stopping Ridley for a moment. Not wasting a second, he shot two lasers into the bomb's blast. Ridley's bellow meant that the lasers had hit home.

As he flew the X-Tornado, Tails dropped off Sonic with six Chaos Emeralds. This significantly decreased the X-Tornado's power, since it used the Chaos Emeralds as its power source, but Tails was sure that the X-Tornado was going to be okay.

Sonic landed next to Shadow and dropped the six Chaos Emeralds. Shadow knew what Sonic was planning, so he let his Chaos Emerald join the pile.

The seven jewels glowed and circled around the two hedgehogs. When the light faded, the hedgehogs were radiating with gold light.

They had become Super Sonic and Super Shadow!

"Get going!" Shadow motioned to Tails, Fox, and Falco to go through the portal. "We'll deal with this guy."

"The portal won't last for long," Sonic warned him. "Let's do this."

-ooo-

Tails reluctantly left Sonic and Shadow on their own, after much persuasion from Fox and Falco. He flew the X-Tornado away from the scene and followed the Arwings towards the portal.

"But what about Ridley?" he radioed to the Team Star Fox Smashers.

"Don't worry," Fox said confidently. "He's out for the count—"

"GRAAAHHH!"

"…not," Falco finished.

-ooo-

Lloyd managed to keep the portal open even as the three airships returned…along with an enraged dragon.

"ZOMG!" said Popo. "It's Ridley!"

"We all knew that for ten minutes already, you idiot!" Nana shouted.

Captain Falcon leaped onto Ridley's back, quickly ducking down when the dragon smashed right through all the walls of the Smash Mansion and ended up outside, high in the air. The F-Zero pilot held up his fist.

"FALCON—OWWW!" he squawked, for Ridley suddenly bucked and threw him off.

"Falcon Ow?" Toon Link questioned, watching Captain Falcon crash into a bush that a cat called Mitzi was tending to; Mitzi looked very surprised indeed to see a Smasher within her azaleas. "Hahaha!"

Ganondorf punched the cartoon Smasher. "That's no laughing matter."

The two Arwings and X-Tornado opened up their cockpits, dropping off seven of the eight kidnapped fighters, who all made great landings (except for Olimar, who fell flat on his face) on the ground. Instantly, they were surrounded by their friends.

"You're back!" Marth said enthusiastically.

"And all in one piece," Snake added smugly.

"You aren't gonna cry, are you?" Ness asked Lucas.

"Duh, no," Lucas replied. "And you?"

"Of course not."

The two boys looked at each other some more. Then…

"WAHHH! I MISSED YOU SOOOO MUCH!"

"ME, TOO! WAAHHH!"

All the Smashers gawked at the immature boys.

"…Okay," said Kirby.

Just then, Sonic and Shadow flew through Lloyd's portal. The seven Chaos Emeralds clattered onto the ground, and the hedgehogs returned to their normal forms.

"Tabuu decided to run off again, so here we are," Sonic said.

"He just teleported out of the Brawl System's virtual Subspace," Shadow explained, "and Subspace is collapsing right now."

Even as he was speaking, several Smashers noticed the shadow bugs on the System bunching up and flying away as a dark black cloud. Overhead, Ridley roared once and flew off into the distance.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Sora yelled, following the shadow bugs and drawing his Keyblade, the Kingdom Key.

"Wait up, Sora, I'm coming, too!" Neku chased after the retreating form of Ridley.

Zelda looked at Link. "Now is a very bad time for a load of trouble like this…"

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you go. That's that. Hahaha, did you see what I did with Mewtw<strong>__**o's book? Look carefully at the **_**title**_**!**_

_**Tabuu has fled again! What will the Smashers do?**_

**Pikachu:** Let's play Chase!

**Darkrai:** _*facepalm*_ Oh, for crying out loud! No PokéPark references!

**Amaterasu:** We must follow this vile villain to the Isle of Ancients. Make haste!

**Diddy Kong:** I am NOT going back to that place for all the peanuts I care!

**Donkey Kong:** What about bananas?

**Diddy Kong:** Sorry, uncle, but NO!

_**Thank you for your sensible suggestions. And what will the Smashers do about Ridley in his mind-controlled state? And what was that about "interesting test subjects"?**_

**Samus:** First, we must find Ridley.

**Snake:** I know.

**Samus:** Then we'll have to fight him and conk off that mind-control device.

**Snake:** I know.

**Samus:** After that, we'll have to restrain him from attacking us again as we interrogate him.

**Snake:** I KNOW.

**Samus:** And then we'll have to—

**Snake:** _*finally exploding*_ GODDAMMIT, SAMUS, I FREAKIN' _KNOW_!

_**Thank you for your helpful information. Now shut up, Snake.  
><strong>_

**Snake:** _*raging*_ Excuse me?

**Darkrai:** You're ex—

**Snake:** DON'T YOU START! _*tackles Darkrai*_

**Darkrai:** _*gets bowled over by Snake*_ Eeeek!

_**Oh, boy. Master Hand, what will you do?**_

**Master Hand:** Well, I _could _kick them out of the Smash Mansion forever…

**Snake and Darkrai:** _*sudden silence*_

**Master Hand:** …but I am far too nice to do that.

**Crazy Hand:** Or IS he!

**Master Hand:** Oh, do go away! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand: **WAAAH!

_****_**_See you next time in Chapter 18 of _**_****_******Life at the Mansion******_****__**!**__****_

_**And remember to review as always!**_


	18. Ruse and Reunion

**_Here is Chapter 18! I'm happy to see that I didn't post this chapter late! Anyways, please enjoy._  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I own nothing here! And that's a fact!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18: Ruse and Reunion<strong>

* * *

><p>A little while later, Sora and Neku returned to the Smash Mansion with looks of disappointment.<p>

"They got away," Neku said simply.

"The shadow bugs and Ridley went through a portal, and when we followed them they disappeared along with the portal," Sora explained.

The Smashers felt dejected after hearing the news. This meant that the Subspace Army was once again on the rise—and on the loose.

"Well, then we'll just have to be real careful 'round the mansion from now on," Wario said.

About an hour later, everyone was back to their daily routines. Master Hand, with a little help from Palkia, did a thorough examination of the Brawl System in case some remnants of Subspace were still lingering around.

_"It is safe,"_ the hand reported.

"For the time being, I suppose," Palkia added.

After hearing this, the new Smashers decided that it was now a good time to do their auditions. To be efficient with time, Dialga offered to make all the auditions go at the same time.

"It will also save a lot of Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu's energy," he said. "I mean, look—they'll be doing only one audition when they're actually doing fourteen."

"Stuff about time and space are always so confusing!" Popo whined to Nana, who giggled.

"If you need any help, just ask Albert Einstein."

"But…but…but he's, like, you know…!" The brother wildly waved around his hands like he was drunk, making his sister laugh harder.

Thanks to the Temporal Pokémon, auditions were over within about two hours. All the fourteen newcomers passed and became new members of the Super Smash Brothers.

After watching Shadow's battle against the four veteran Smashers, Sonic now knew what the black hedgehog had meant when he mentioned that his Final Smash was going to be very different from Sonic's.

"So, instead of transforming into Super Shadow, you go Chaos Controlling off to the Space Colony ARK, then activate the Eclipse Cannon by inserting all seven Chaos Emeralds. And then you fire the laser at the Smashers," the Blue Blur said. "Shadow, you're so cold-hearted! If it was strong enough to blow up half the moon, imagine what the veterans were—"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Cloud interrupted. "A cannon blew up the moon? What the hell?"

Shadow sighed. "It's a rather long story… Just watch episode thirty-six of Sonic X, 'Shadow World.'" _Thinking about that episode reminds me of…Maria…_

Tails saw that Shadow had a wistful look on his face. He sighed with exasperation.

Just great. He's thinking about her again!

The new Assist Trophies to-be were next, showing their skills to Master Hand. They passed as well and were told what to do when they were summoned into a brawl.

Even after all this time, Mewtwo was still nowhere to be seen.

Lucario, Snake, and Darkrai were at the balcony of the Smash Mansion, leaning against the railing as they watched the rapidly setting sun.

"It's almost time for dinner and Mewtwo's still not back," Lucario said worriedly. "What could've happened to him?"

"Then he must have teleported…'a little too far,'" Darkrai joked, using the phrase Mewtwo had said to Lucario when he meant to teleport to Animal Crossing. "He always does that every once in a while."

Snake grinned, despite the fact that Mewtwo had been absent for more than five hours. Then the grin faded. "If he did this before…what was the longest period of time he was gone?"

"Let's see. Two weeks."

"Two weeks!" Lucario and Snake almost shouted.

Darkrai shrugged. "He was aiming for Castelia City in the Unova Region… He found himself sitting on Giratina's head in the Reverse World… Please don't ask me how…"

Snake had another question in mind. "Okay, let's change the subject. You know how Lucario contacted me via telepathy while I was stuck in the virtual Subspace?"

"Mm-hm."

"Okay, so I just noticed that whenever I'm near Lucario—like now—my brain seems to be filled with a lot of activity. Like now. And when I get away from him, it fades. What does that mean?"

The Pitch-Black Pokémon looked at the two Smasher friends closely. "I'm not very knowledgeable about telepathic connections and the lot, so… Oh, Cresselia!" he called.

The Lunar Pokémon appeared in a flash of light. She was in her human form, and Snake noted how…cute she looked. Almost like a certain female galactic bounty hunter.

"Yes? I hope it's nothing bad."

"Nothing of the sort. Cresselia, I think there's something funny with Lucario and Snake…" Darkrai whispered his suspicions to his counterpart.

Cresselia nodded when Darkrai finished. "Yes, that must be." Turning to the confused Smashers, she said, "I suspect that your minds now have a permanent telepathic link."

Snake arched a brow. "…Permanent…link…?"

"This means that your minds are now permanently connected to each other, allowing telepathic conversations anytime, anywhere," Darkrai explained. "Even if you're miles away, you two are probably still able to connect."

Lucario suddenly looked wary. "Does that mean Snake will be able to know the most secretive of my secrets if I don't keep my mind contained?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"AAGH!" Lucario shrieked. "Hey, wait! I know that voice."

The two Legendary Pokémon and two Smashers turned around to see Mewtwo sitting on the balcony's railing.

"Mewtwo!" Darkrai cried with relief. "What kept you?"

"Er… Let's just say I accidentally teleported from Pallet Town to Donkey Kong's hometown—or should I say, home jungle—"

"Wait, what?" said Snake.

"—and then I paid Fox's friend Peppy Hare a little visit—"

"But does he live in Corneria?" Lucario questioned.

"—and then I met several Waddle Dees patrolling a town of Cappies—"

"Cappy Town," said Cresselia. "Kirby's world?"

"—and then I was in the middle of a crowd of pointy-eared people—"

"Hyrule, I think," Lucario said.

"—and then—well, you get the point. I went a little too far."

Darkrai forced back a laugh.

"Now let's get to the point," said Mewtwo. "Lucario, connecting with a person in another world requires lots of telepathic power. Thanks to the strength of your Aura, you accomplished this difficult task. However, since it required so much telepathic power and Aura, you gave Snake a bit of this power as you tried to connect with him. So now, Snake, you're slightly telepathic, thanks to Lucario, and you can telepathically contact only Lucario whenever you want. The same goes to you, Lucario; you can contact him the most easily out of all your, uh, contacts."

"Cool," Lucario and Snake said simultaneously.

"…Well, everything's cool except for the thing about _privacy_," Snake added.

-ooo-

"Hey, Cloud! Lloyd!"

The two new Smashers saw Marth waving at them from the courtyard at the back of the Smash Mansion. They went outside and saw Ike, Pit, and Link with the Altean prince.

"Hi, Marth." Cloud looked around. "What's this place?"

"Oh, this?" Link gestured to their surroundings. "This is the courtyard, the Smash Mansion's big backyard. It's where the swordsmen Smashers meet every evening before dinner, excluding Sundays."

"Here we have short duels where we try not to kill each other," said Pit. "And since you three wield swords as well, we're asking you if you'd like to join our little group."

"Yes, despite the fact that your swords could do all sorts of absolutely crazy things," said Ike, "like throw out missiles, let loose waves of energy, et cetera, et cetera."

"I want to join," Lloyd readily said. "This sounds like fun."

"Me, too," Cloud agreed.

Marth held up a finger. "But remember, you can't use any special moves!"

"Aww…"

-ooo-

It was finally time for dinner and all the Smashers gathered in the cafeteria. No one was killed during the dueling (though one nearly was), so the seven swordsmen went to get some food from the buffet tables before all their favorites were taken. As usual, Kirby had plates and plates and plates and (what a surprise!) more plates of food.

"He should be given his own table," Neku whispered to Sora, who snorted.

"He was. But he sort of gave himself his own table." Sora pointed at Meta Knight and King Dedede. They had been sitting at Kirby's "own table" until Kirby came along with his plates and plates and plates and (what a surprise!) more plates of food. The moment the two Dream Landers saw all the food Kirby had stacked up, they immediately moved to Amaterasu's table, where the white wolf, her son Chibiterasu, Klonoa, Gantz, and Chipple were.

Everyone was happily eating and chatting to one another when something started ringing loudly in Fox's pocket, catching the attention of all those on Fox's table—Fox, Falco, Wolf, and Ganondorf. (Ganondorf had wisely made the choice to sit at these Smashers' table because he didn't want to risk his life sitting near Link, who happened to be in a pretty bad mood after Lloyd "accidentally" blasted him with a Demon Fang attack during their dueling session.)

"Heh… That ringtone suits you well," said Ganondorf, correctly identifying the ringtone as Star Fox theme song.

"Hey, thanks." Fox took out his iPhone 4S and looked at the screen. It was Slippy Toad who was calling.

_Ah, it's ol' Toad._

He answered the phone. "Hello…"

Falco saw his best friend immediately jerk away from the phone. An extremely loud voice could be heard.

"FOX!" shouted Slippy Toad. "BIG STUFF GOING ON HERE ON CORNERIA!"

_Kaboom!_

_Why does Slippy sound kinda…hm, hoarse today?_ Falco wondered.

"Big stuff? What sort of big stuff?" Fox asked urgently.

"Thankfully, it's not the Aparoids or the Venomian Army, but these guys are just—oh, sorry—"

Slippy left the phone, and for the next few seconds all Fox and Falco could hear was the sound of many explosions.

"I'm back," Slippy said breathlessly. "Where was I? Oh, yes. These guys are just plain annoying!"

Wolf, who had been listening to the conversation, inquired, "What do they look like?"

"Well, the majority of them look like little dudes with green hats and green clothing. They've also got boots and gloves, and some are armed with bazookas and boomerangs. They're the annoying ones."

"That," Falco drawled, "sounds like trouble."

A loud crash sounded through the phone, followed by the _pew-pew-pew_ of guns.

"Sounds like Primids to me," Fox said. "The Subspace Army has struck again!"

Wolf snatched the iPhone from Fox's hands. "Yo, Slippy! Where are you right now?"

"Ah, Wolf O'Donnell! What a…pleasant…surprise." _Kablam!_ "Sorry, I had to throw out some Smart Bombs. Anyhoo, I'm in Corneria City with General Pepper, Peppy Hare, Krystal, ROB 64, and the Cornerian Defense Force. This army's coming at us, mass after mass!" _Boom!_

"Hey, hold on a minute! How'd you leave the Smash Mansion without letting us know?" Slippy Toad, General Pepper, Peppy Hare, Krystal, and ROB 64 lived in the mansion with the Smashers and everyone else.

"We received a distress call from Corneria. What could we do other that hop in and help? Oh—" _Boom!_ "Sorry about that. We need your help, pronto! Okay, see ya."

The call ended.

"Can't we at least finish our dinner first?" Falco complained.

Fox pocketed his iPhone. "There's no time. Just throw some snacks into your Arwing and eat them on the way to Corneria."

"Oh, jeez!"

Fox, Falco, and Wolf left their table and quickly dashed out of the cafeteria. Several Smashers watched them go, looks of puzzlement on their faces. Kirby, of course, just ignored them and continued to finish up his seventeenth apple pie.

Unbeknownst to the pink puffball, Peach was peeking out of the kitchen with a little smirk on her lips.

_Heeheehee… Of course he won't be expecting those thirty_ _Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Peppers in his twentieth pie… Heehee!_

The three pilots raced over to the elevator and jumped down the shaft. They landed in the hangar and went right past Blade Knight and Sword Knight, who were working on the Battleship Halberd as usual.

"All right, what now?" Sword demanded. "Another attack from the Subspace Army?"

"Yep," Falco answered.

As the three Smashers left the two knights, they could hear Sword proclaiming to Blade, "See? That proves that I'm psychic!"

"Oh, shut up! It was easy to expect!"

"Oh, yeah? Well…"

Fox and Falco boarded their respective Arwings, while Wolf climbed into his Wolfen.

"I hope Master Hand doesn't mind us making another hole in the same wall on the same day," said Wolf to his buddies.

-ooo-

After dinner, Lloyd went outside to go stargazing before Master Hand came along to blast him back into his room.

He lay down on the soft grass and looked up. There were many constellations he didn't know about, but there were also a fee that were strikingly similar to those he saw back in his world, Sylvarant.

_Maybe they really _are_ the same…_

He began to think about the friends he had left when he went to the Smash World. He felt a pang of guilt after mulling over the events he had gone through so far.

_I'm having so much fun here. And the stuff that had happened today… Well, it was pretty hectic, but I proved to be useful when we were rescuing our friends from that corrupted realm of Subspace._

_I wonder if they'll come visit me. I really miss them…especially Colette._ He smiled. _Ah, Colette…_

The bushes nearby rustled. Lloyd gave a start and sat up.

There was another rustle, but it was much louder.

Lloyd stood up and took out his swords. He cursed when he turned up with his regular twin blades instead of his Material Blades. But he knew he just had to deal with it as he pointed his swords at the bushes.

"All right, you, come on out peacefully and I won't do anything to you!"

The bushes shook once again, and out popped four people.

Lloyd's mouth fell open.

One was a young woman with white hair who carried a staff. Next to her was a boy a few years younger than Lloyd; he also had white hair and he wore a T-shirt-like piece of clothing and shorts. The third person was a formidable-looking man with a cloak and a large sword in a sheath on his side.

But the person who really caught Lloyd's eye was the fourth.

She was a young girl, probably sixteen years old. She was dressed in white from top to bottom. Her hair was blonde, and her blue eyes were startlingly pretty.

"Holy Sylvarant… Is that really you? Raine and Genis Sage, Kratos Aurion, and…Colette Brunel!"

-ooo-

Master Hand calmly typed away in his computer, recording the moves of the new Smashers and their Final Smashers. Being the master of the Smash Mansion, he had to do this kind of stuff almost every day.

_TAILS_  
><em>Adrenaline Rush<em>  
><em>Taser Gun<em>  
><em>Tail Spin<em>  
><em>Ground Pound<em>  
><em>FINAL SMASH: X-Tornado<em>

_SHADOW_  
><em>Homing Attack<em>  
><em>Chaos Spear<em>  
><em>Chaos Control<em>  
><em>Chaos Blast<em>  
><em>FINAL SMASH: Eclipse Cannon<em>

_SILVER_  
><em>Telekinesis<em>  
><em>Psychic Knife<em>  
><em>Levitate<em>  
><em>Psycho Shock<em>  
><em>FINAL SMASH: Psychic Overload<em>

_Mobians…done. Now, for Sora…_ the hand thought to himself.

_SORA_  
><em>Magic Spell<em>  
><em>Strike Raid<em>  
><em>Fin—<em>

_BANG!_

_"ELLOS, MASTAH!"_

_"GAHH!"_ Master Hand shouted out when a large white figure barged into his office. _"Crazy Hand, please knock the door next time _before_ scaring me to death! What has happened this time?"_

_"Oh, nothing much,"_ the left hand said nonchalantly, _"other than the hole you fixed earlier is back and Fox and Falco and Wolf disappeared with their planes—"_

Master Hand froze. _"What? They are gone?"_

Crazy Hand gave his counterpart a thumbs-up.

_"How strange…"_ Master Hand mused. _"Where could those three be going to at this late time?"_

The office's door opened again, and in came a lavender cat wearing red high-heels. It was Blaze.

"If I'm bothering you, I'm sorry," she said hurriedly. "But I have an important request."

Master Hand waved her on.

"Since the Subspace Army has returned, everyone is in great danger once again. Tabuu is still recovering from his wounds from last year's fight, but he'll soon return to his former strength, and do will his army. You saw Ridley being mind-controlled; who knows who Tabuu will victimize next. It could even be one of us.

"As you can see, we are probably in need of more Smashers. And I'd like to be one."

Master Hand said nothing.

"That's the reason why there was the appearance of all those newcomers, right?" Blaze burst out suddenly, causing Crazy Hand to yelp and quickly erase the very inappropriate message he had typed on Master Hand's computer. Then, with loud sigh, she said softly:

"But the other reason why I want to be a Smasher…is to be with Silver."

Master Hand remained silent as he considered this. _Hmm…_

The door banged once more. In came Lloyd, followed by four strangers.

"Master Hand! Sorry to disturb you!" Lloyd said breathlessly. "But my four friends just came along and apparently you had invited Colette and Kratos to the Smashers and asked Raine and Genis to become Assist Trophies sometime earlier and—"

_"Slow down, slow down! What did you just say?"_

"So that's the master of the Smash Mansion?" Genis Sage whispered to Lloyd. "A disembodied hand that talks in your head?"

His older sister, Raine, slapped him on the back. "Genis! Be polite!"

"Okay, okay!"

-ooo-

"You know, we could've just asked Lloyd to make a portal for us, or ask Shadow to Chaos Control us to Corneria," Wolf said irately as he flew his Wolfen after Fox and Falco's Arwings.

"Don't worry; my radar's showing that we're getting close," Fox told his rival through the radio. _Strange, how did we get to Corneria so fast?_

Sure enough, the Smashers soon saw the beautiful planet of Corneria—which wasn't looking so beautiful now. It was covered with some pretty familiar figures.

"Primids!" Falco exclaimed, sweeping over the surface of the planet. "Regular, Scope, Sword, Boom, Fire, Metal, and Big Primids."

"They've also got Cymuls, Jyks, Auroros, Feyesh, Spaaks, and Armights this time," Wolf warned, pointing out to the said enemies. "It looks like the Cymuls and Jyks are being used as obstacles for us."

Fox swerved around four Cymuls and destroyed them with a Smart Bomb. "Remember not to use lasers on these guys; they've still got their reflective properties."

"Hey, aren't Slippy, Peppy, and the rest of our pals supposed to be here?" Falco asked, blowing up ten Auroros with a laser from his laser cannon.

"Not _here_," Fox said, shooting a laser at two Big Primids. "We're nowhere near Corneria City; in fact, we're on the opposite side of where that city is. But yeah, something's a little weird; if there are enemies here, shouldn't Slippy and the others be somewhere around this place, too?"

Wolf zoomed past a row of Spaaks and destroyed them with shots from his dual laser cannons. "You're right, McCloud! Something seems kind of fishy here!"

A Feyesh came along and eyed him. Wolf snarled at it before bringing it down with a laser.

"I don't mean _you_, you idiot!"

-ooo-

Back at the Smash Mansion, standing at the balcony on the roof…

"So, you're a Smasher now, too?" Lloyd said to Colette Brunel, who smiled shyly.

"I'm glad I am," she replied, looking up at the hundreds of stars; the sky tonight was beautiful. "That way I can always be with you." Lloyd flushed deeply at this.

"Hey… Where's Kratos?"

"Probably in the courtyard, talking to Raine."

"Mm. How about Genis?"

"In our room with that boy called Klonoa. Did you know that those two are almost the same age? Twelve and thirteen."

"I see…"

The two gazed at the sky some more.

"Colette, you know your auditions are on Monday, right?"

"Yes, I know. Tomorrow I'll go train a bit to prepare myself."

Lloyd put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry too much about the first one; the enemies are incredibly easy. The second one, though… It's much harder. You're fighting the same kind of enemies, but their strength and agility are enhanced. And the last audition… Well, good luck with that."

Colette frowned. "Stop making me nervous, Lloyd! It's only my first day!"

Lloyd laughed. "All right, I'm sorry."

Just then, Master Hand gave the call: _"It is ten o' clock. Half an hour to your rooms!"_

Colette smiled and gave Lloyd a quick peck on the cheek, making him stumble with surprise. "I'll see you tomorrow, then, Lloyd."

Lloyd regained his balance and nodded. His cheeks were still burning. "Uh, yeah. Um, I'll be at the stairs. 'Kay?"

"Sure. Good night."

"G'night."

-ooo-

Just as Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Tails, and Knuckles were climbing into their beds after Tails switched off the lights…

_Knock-knock!_

Knuckles sat up. "And who could _that_ be?" He got up and opened the door—and almost hollered.

"Blaze! Don't you know the meaning of '_boys'_ room'?"

Blaze grinned. "Sorry, but I have good news! I'm a Smasher!"

Sonic fell of his bed. "Whaaaaat!"

Shadow just stared.

Silver applauded. "Congratulations, Blaze! So you managed to persuade Master Hand into letting you join the Smashers, eh?"

"Speaking of Master Hand," Tails spoke up, "he'll be really angry if he sees you out of your room, Blaze."

"I know, I know. Well, I'm off to bed now, boys. Later, Silver!"

Silver waved at her as Knuckles closed the door. "G'night, Blaze!"

-ooo-

Meanwhile, on Corneria…

An Auroros dropped off its Fire Primid passenger, and the latter hitched a ride on the right wing of Falco's Arwing. It prepared to breathe out some flames, but then the window of the Arwing opened and Falco shot at his foe with his Blaster. The Fire Primid lost its balance and plummeted towards the Cornerian earth several miles below.

_Whew…_ Falco thought, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. He closed the window and made a radio connection with Fox and Wolf. "This is Falco. How're you two doing?"

Wolf didn't answer; he was probably still unleashing his wrath upon all the fishy Feyesh he saw. Fox responded to the call and yelled, "I'm getting tumbled around by the Jyks. Let's just avoid them and take care of the really annoying guys, like Cymuls and Spaaks and—"

There was the sound of breaking glass and Fox cursing, then the gurgling cries of several falling—

"—PRIMIDS!"

"Fox!" Falco shouted frantically into the radio. "Fox? You okay?"

"Perfectly fine! But now there's a hole in the windshield of my Arwing! I am SO enraged!"

"Um… Okay?"

"Tch… Good thing I've got a backup windshield at the back of my Arwing!"

"Wait… Of all spare things you could have, why the heck is it a _windshield_?"

"Oh, y'know…for emergency purposes. Like now, for example. Holed-up windshields are nothing to be proud of."

"…I see."

An Armight came along, brandishing its two rapiers. Falco knew that if he opened his window to shoot at it with his Blaster, there was the high chance of getting hit squarely in the face by one of the sharp swords. So he instead opened fire on the Armight with a laser from his Arwing.

The Armight did a series of complicated sword patterns—and deflected the laser!

_Huh!_ thought Falco. _These guys must be getting smarter._

He dodged his own reflected laser, then countered with a Smart Bomb. When the blast of the bomb was cleared out, the Armight was nowhere to be seen.

_Whew… Another close call…_ He prepared to attack some Spaaks and Boom Primids next.

All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, all the members of Subspace turned around and ran or flew away. Soon, Falco was all alone, flying his Arwing through the empty sky.

_…What in the… What the heck?_

-ooo-

Fox's radio crackled, and he picked it up. "This is Fox…"

"Falco here," came the said Smasher's voice. "Something weird just happened. All the Subspace guys just… Well, it's kinda hard to believe, but they just _left_ me!"

"Eh? Left?" Fox looked outside. Falco was right; the Subspace Army was quickly leaving them. "But why? I'd better tell Wolf about this."

"No need to," replied Wolf's gruff voice. "I already know. Now, let's figure out where to meet up."

"I know," Fox said. "You know that big military base in the middle of Corneria City? Most of the Cornerian Defense Force is kept there. I forgot what it was called…"

"The Cornerian Military Base," said Falco matter-of-factly. "How could you forget that? Corneria City, Cornerian Military Base. So you want to meet there?"

"Yes. Let's go. I'll see you around."

-ooo-

Diddy Kong lay in his warm bed, staring up at the ceiling of his dark room with his hands behind his head. On the ground next to him was a bunch of bananas, but he ignored them. On the other side of the room, his uncle Donkey Kong trumpeted away, having a nightmare…something about rotten bananas. Obviously, Darkrai was right outside the door and hard at work.

But the snoring wasn't the reason why Diddy Kong was kept awake.

He couldn't sleep because he was worried about the whereabouts of Fox McCloud.

_I can't help but have the creepy feeling that something bad happened to him and Falco and Wolf…_

Diddy Kong had first met Fox when Tabuu had first appeared. After being punched out of harm's way, Diddy Kong had no choice but to watch Donkey Kong get turned into a trophy by Bowser as he flew away from the scene. Soon afterward, the monkey made his way to a lake—and it just so happened to be Rayquaza's lake. When Rayquaza captured Diddy Kong, a figure sprang out of the burning Arwing on the shore of the lake.

And that was how Diddy Kong first met Fox.

The two were together most of the time, which strengthened their friendship. They saved each other from different dangers, but most of the time it was Fox who was the rescuer. Even as they and the rest of the Smashers were fighting Tabuu, it was Fox who saved Diddy Kong's life by blocking him from Tabuu's Off Waves. He was turned into a trophy in the process.

And now Diddy Kong felt like he should do something in return.

_He's been gone for so long. It's already midnight, and he and the others aren't back! Something bad must've happened to them. I want to tell Master Hand about what I think, but I don't even have any idea of where they could've gone…_

He turned to face the wall.

_Who else was sitting at their table? …I don't remember…_

He looked up at the window between his and Donkey Kong's beds. No light was shining through, indicating that it was a new moon.

_I want to see where they went. Something's wrong…_

After a few more minutes of restlessness, Diddy Kong finally fell asleep.

-ooo-

By the time the three Cornerian Smashers met each other at the Cornerian Military Base in Corneria City, it was two hours later.

"Really, we could've gotten to this place in just a few minutes, since Arwings and Wolfens have a maximum speed of Mach 4.2," Wolf said, "but I guess we all decided to save on gas, eh?"

They found that it was late night in Corneria City.

"I had no idea," Falco admitted. "While we were fighting those Subspace goons, it was bright daylight! But, you know, we were on the other side of the world."

They flew to a large clearing in the middle of the base—this was the landing pad for aircrafts—and landed. Fox replaced his shattered windshield with the spare one. Then they stepped out of their spacecrafts and into the open.

"Dang, how long has it been since we left the Smash World?" asked Falco.

"I don't want to know," Fox groaned. "All I want to do is get some fresh air and some sleep."

Falco looked around. "Hmm… If this is a military base, shouldn't there be some soldiers patrolling the area?"

"Maybe it's an abandoned base," Wolf suggested. "Corneria's full of 'em. But isn't the Cornerian Military Base a pretty important one? Then again, there are lots of major bases."

"So," Fox began, "let's go to bed."

Falco glanced at their surroundings and asked nervously, "Uh… Out in the open?"

Fox sighed. "Fine… In the base."

The three Smashers locked up their Arwings and Wolfen and marched into the base. It was completely empty.

"Then I guess it really is an abandoned base," Falco said as they went back into a hallway near the entrance. "Heh… Rather neat for an abandoned base, I must say."

Fox settled down against the wall. "Tomorrow, we'll call Slippy and the others and see where they are. Hopefully, we'll find them and get rid of all the Subspace guys on Corneria." He yawned. "Yep… G'night…"

-ooo-

_It's already Sunday morning, and they still aren't back._

This thought continued to repeat itself in Ganondorf's mind as he walked to the cafeteria with his roommates for breakfast.

_I should tell Master Hand._

He left Link and Toon Link and went the other way. He went up to the second floor, turned through a few hallways, and found Master Hand's office. He knocked the door.

_"Come in…"_

Ganondorf entered the office. "Sorry to bother you, Master Hand, but I've got something that's really bothering me."

_"I presume it is about our Star Fox and Star Wolf friends."_

"Exactly," Ganondorf said. "Since I was the only other guy at their table at dinner last night, I'm the one who has the most information. From what I've heard, Fox, Falco, and Wolf left the Smash World for a place called Corneria to lend a helping hand to Slippy Toad, General Pepper, Peppy Hare, Krystal, and ROB 64. According to Slippy, Corneria was being attacked by the Subspace Army. But why would Slippy and the others be at another world so late at night? Something doesn't seem right here."

_"I agree with you perfectly,"_ Master Hand said.

"So, um… Do you think Fox and the other two were captured or something?"

_"I doubt that, Ganondorf. They are expert pilots and excellent Smashers."_

"But it's a possibility!" Ganondorf protested. "Remember yesterday? Those eight guys are also good fighters…and then they got captured. It took us a few hours to get them back out!"

A huge explosion sounded downstairs, immediately followed by the angry yelling of Peach and several Koopa Troopas and Waddle Dees.

_"Crazy Hand must have made a mess in the kitchen again,"_ Master Hand said, leaving his desk. _"Ganondorf, you should get some breakfast."_ The hand exited the room and went out of sight, and the door to the office closed, leaving Ganondorf all alone.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Ganondorf strode over and opened it.

In came a blue vixen. She was wearing a blue skintight suit and a metallic headband. In her right hand was a long staff with a gold head, which had a blue energy gem embedded in the center.

It was none other than Krystal, the beautiful member of Team Star Fox.

"Good morning," said the vixen. "I was wondering where Fox was. Have you seen him?"

Ganondorf was shocked. Krystal was supposed to be on Corneria, fighting the forces of Subspace. Yet here she was, standing in Master Hand's office and talking to him. What was going on?

Then the truth hit him like a terrible blow.

_Damn! That could only mean that Fox, Falco, and Wolf were… Damn it! They're in for a _huge_ bunch of trouble!_

-ooo-

Wolf was having a very bad dream.

In his nightmare, he and his partners were found by the enemy. Everything looked hazy so he couldn't tell who his captors were. The enemies had the three Smashers tied up, and they led them through a pitch-black corridor. When they emerged, Wolf saw a menacing figure standing before him. The figure was also fuzzy, but Wolf could tell that it was mostly green and was wearing some kind of helmet on its head.

"Nxuk aj kxaj? Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, udt Wolf O'Donnell! Nxuk u fcoujudk jihfhajo," said a voice.

_Saurian,_ he realized. _The dinosaur language._

Suddenly, the haziness was lifted from Wolf's eyes. He blinked once and looked at the speaker. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was—

The dream ended abruptly, and Wolf snapped awake. He glanced at Fox and Falco, who were sleeping side by side next to him. His eyes widened when he saw ropes bound around the two Star Fox pilots.

And his heart nearly stopped when he looked down at himself and discovered that he was tied up as well.

He tried to shrug off the ropes, but they were tied so tightly around him that they didn't move a millimeter. He then attempted to saw them off with his claws, but his hands were lashed up as well. No matter what he did, the ropes remained.

"Fox!" he shouted. "Falco!"

The two Star Fox pilots woke up. Fox stared at Wolf. "Holy crud! You're all tied up!" He looked at himself and Falco. "Dang! We are, too!"

Infuriated, Falco struggled within his bonds. "Damn it! I'll skin alive the person who did this! No one messes with the bird!"

"It's no use," Wolf told the enraged falcon. "I already tried freeing myself."

Then the three Smashers heard footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor.

"Hello? Anyone here?" called a familiar voice.

Fox's ears twitched. "That sounds like…Peppy Hare!"

"Hey, Peppy!" Falco hollered back. "Over here! It's me and Fox and Wolf! Help us!"

Five people emerged from the corridor.

"Slippy, Pepper, Peppy, Krystal, and ROB 64!" Wolf cried out. "Where were you? But first things first. Can you untie…" His voice trailed off when he saw six Primids appear. "Look out! Behind you!"

But the five Star Fox members did nothing.

They _smiled_.

"Excellent," said General Pepper, grinning evilly. "The Primids caught them."

_"Targets acquired,"_ said ROB 64 monotonously. _"Mission accomplished."_

The group of five cackled loudly as the six Primids marched forward. The three Smashers then each had two Primids gripping their arms firmly.

"Wait, wait!" Fox shouted, trying to kick away the two Primids that were holding onto him. "What the hell is going on? We're your friends! Don't tell me you've joined the Subspace Army, you traitors! Help us!"

Then Slippy Toad, General Pepper, Peppy Hare, Krystal, and ROB 64 dissolved into five large piles of purple and black particles, which reformed into ten Primids. One of them was holding a sword, indicating that it was a Sword Primid.

"Shadow Bugs? F-Fox!" Falco stammered, staring at this new group of Primids. Wolf just growled at them.

Fox nodded. "I know. We've fallen into a trap of the Subspace Army!"

The Sword Primid rapped its sword against the ground and said something in its strange language. The rest of the Primids looked at it. The Sword Primid turned and held up its sword, then started marching away. The rest of the Primids followed it. Fox, Falco, and Wolf's Primid captors continued to hold onto them very tightly.

Wolf quickly glanced behind them, to where the exit was. He was stunned to see that the ground was completely black with bits of gray, and the sky was a poisonous green. The Arwings and Wolfen were nowhere to be found. Then a door sealed the exit shut, preventing all attempts of escape.

"Fox, Falco!" he whispered.

Falco turned his head around. "What?"

"We aren't even on Corneria," Wolf hissed. "This is _Venom_!"

Fox whirled around, nearly tripping his Primid captors. "That can't be!"

"It's the truth," Wolf said to him. "Somehow, they addled up our radar into thinking that we landed on Corneria. Instead, they led us to Venom! All that Cornerian scenery was just an illusion. Also, our jets aren't outside."

"Then where could they be?" Falco asked.

"They must have them," Fox murmured. "They've gotta be in this base…somewhere!"

The lead Primid reprimanded the three Smashers with a sharp sound, stopping their conversation.

They turned a corner and into another hall.

_What could be ahead?_ Fox wondered. _Ridley? Tabuu himself? No, that can't be. He has to remain in Subspace. He must be commanding somebody in this base from the Isle of Ancients._

At last, the Primids and the Smashers reached a tall door, which opened when the Sword Primid pressed a hidden button on the wall. The Smashers were led into a colossal room with bright lighting. It was circular and was very tall, so tall that the roof couldn't be seen. On the opposite side, there was another door, similar to the one the Smashers just went through.

On one side of the room were two Arwings and a Wolfen.

_Those are ours!_ thought Fox. _But how can we get to them?_

There was a grinding sound behind them. The three Smashers knew that the door was closing. They were now trapped in this huge room with a bunch of Primids and whatever else that was here with them.

The door on the opposite side rose, and a lone figure stepped through. Fox saw that he—that is, if it was a male—was mostly green in color. He wore black armor and red chain mail underneath. His shoulder pads were spiked. He also had kneepads and a helmet with lightning bolt-like horns. In his right hand was a golden saber. He had no left hand; instead there was a large, double-bladed hook. A belt was around his waist.

And he looked like a dinosaur.

"Oh, great," Fox groaned. "Long time, no see, Scales!"

And General Scales it was, the power-hungry ex-leader of the SharpClaw tribe. Several years ago, Fox traveled to Sauria, the planet of dinosaurs, located in the Lylat System. Sauria was slowly falling apart, courtesy of General Scales, who sought to rule the planet and possibly the entire Lylat System. Fox saved Sauria from further destruction, rescued Krystal (this was how he first met her), and defeated General Scales. But it turned out that General Scales had been possessed by the evil Andross, so the real enemy was the latter. After finally defeating Andross for good, along with Falco Lombardi, who had been absent for years, Fox returned to Sauria and found that the SharpClaw had liberated themselves from General Scales' tyrannical rule, and that the general himself had mysteriously disappeared. Slippy Toad assumed that he was now dead, so Team Star Fox left for home after Falco rejoined the team.

_And, same with Tabuu, we were wrong about our enemy's "death,"_ Falco thought.

_Oh, jeez!_ Wolf silently raged. _Is my dream coming true or what!_

General Scales crossed his arms. "Indeed. Long time, no see."

Fox gasped. "You're… You're speaking English! What happened to Saurian?"

The SharpClaw shrugged. "Is there anything wrong with English? But let's get to the point. What are you doing here?"

"I think we should be asking _you_ that, General," Falco spat. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

General Scales smiled, showing all his pointed teeth. "I wasn't killed after our little skirmish. I was exiled to this terrible planet, Venom. I was fortunate enough to be given a habitable place to live."

"Habitable?" Wolf asked. Then he remembered. "Right. When Andross was sent to Venom for his punishment, he did some experiments and converted some areas of the planet into livable places for himself and the Venomian Army."

General Scales nodded. To the Primids, he said, "Release them."

Each Smasher's two Primid guards stepped away from their prisoner. Then the Sword Primid approached Fox and, with one slash of its sword, cut his ropes. It did the same to Falco and Wolf. All three Smashers stretched a bit to ease up their arm before turning to General Scales.

"Okay, thanks," Wolf said. "Now what do you want?"

General Scales' red eyes narrowed into slits, and he held up three small devices.

"You three should make good subjects for this experiment. Now come to me and nothing bad will happen to you."

_Red eyes,_ thought Fox. _They're supposed to be orange. I wonder…_

He quickly whipped out his Blaster and shot at the SharpClaw's helmet. General Scales roared with anger when it fell from his head. Fox took a look at the dinosaur's head and yelped.

"What?" Falco asked.

"There's a mind-control device on his head! Tabuu's manipulating him! And those three things he's holding are _mind-control devices_!"

Wolf did a loud war howl and sprang into the group of Primids. The Primids, completely caught by surprise by Wolf's surprise attack, were swiftly reduced to nothing but a large pile of Shadow Bugs.

General Scales dived for his helmet and put it back on. Then he swung his sword and knocked Fox off his feet. Fox flew through the air and crashed into Falco, knocking him down.

Falco jumped back up. "No one messes with the bird!" he declared, taking out his Blaster and shooting twice at General Scales. The shots did nothing but enrage the SharpClaw even more. General Scales rushed at Falco and swiped at him with his double-bladed hook, then his saber. Falco avoided them by using Falco Phantasm, and then he turned around and used the same move on his adversary. He went so fast that he made the dinosaur drop his sword. Wolf came along and kicked away the sword before General Scales could retrieve it. General Scales lunged at Fox, who was still lying on the ground and seeing stars in his eyes. Quickly, Wolf rammed into the SharpClaw with Wolf Flash, fending off the latter right before he could stomp on Fox.

Fox slowly sat up, looking at Wolf with an expression of surprise. "Um…thanks, Wolf."

Wolf grinned. "No prob. Let's go kick some dino butt."

"Yeah," Fox agreed.

But before either of them could do anything, there was a crumbling sound coming from behind. Everyone stopped fighting to see the door behind them cracking.

Then, with a mighty _boom_, the entire door fell into pieces.

A battered-looking Arwing flew through the now-collapsed door and over everybody's heads. Fox used this distraction to his advantage and used Fire Fox on General Scales, enveloping himself in a fiery aura and slamming into the SharpClaw's chest. General Scales was thrown back several yards before skidding to a stop.

"Quick!" Wolf shouted. "Now's our only chance!"

The Smashers ran as fast as they could to the other side of the room, where their aircrafts were. Jumping into their respective jets, they boosted up the power and blasted into the air.

The battered Arwing turned around and flew straight upwards, towards the top of the tall room—if it even had a top.

"I'm sure this guy is helping us out," Falco said. "Follow that Arwing!"

As they all zoomed away from the ground, Fox heard General Scales scream in rage, "Tumd 0ei ke xocc, Fox McCloud!"

_Heh… Damn me to hell, eh? Thanks a lot, Scales…_

Suddenly, the Smashers' leading Arwing picked up speed and shot off.

"Oh, great!" Fox pulled a lever. "G-Diffusers to maximum thrust!"

The rockets of his Arwing suddenly flared with blue flames, and he went after the first Arwing. Falco and Wolf followed close behind.

"I see light!" Falco cried.

At last, the aircrafts exited the base and soared into the toxic Venomian atmosphere. The Smashers' leader's Arwing continued flying at top speed as it flew towards outer space.

"We can't lose him!" Fox yelled. "Hurry!"

For a fleeting moment, all Fox could see through the windshield of his Arwing was greenish haze and lots of fire.

_We must be going through Venom's atmosphere._

Then, just as quickly as the fire had come, it was gone. And then…

Blackness.

Stars.

Planets.

They were back in the Lylat System, free from Venom.

The leader did a barrel roll to catch the three Smashers' attention. It led them onward through the System, far away from Venom.

A few minutes later, they came upon a beautiful planet colored green and blue with white wisps.

"Welcome to the real Corneria," Falco sarcastically.

The three Arwings and one Wolfen went through Corneria's atmosphere and flew over continents with lush greenery. They went closer to the surface and eventually located Corneria City.

Fox, Falco, and Wolf went ahead of their savior's Arwing and went to a grassy hill near the city. The moment they landed, they burst out of their jets and stepped onto real, clean Cornerian soil.

Then the third Arwing came and landed near Fox's Arwing. The cockpit opened and a stranger stepped out.

The stranger was a fox. He was virtually identical to Fox McCloud in every way, but his fur was more of a rusty orange. He wore a green suit, a black belt around his waist, a white vest, a pair of black gloves, white boots, and an orange scarf. A headset similar to Fox's rested on top of his head. On his side was a Blaster. Over his eyes was a pair of black sunglasses.

He was badly scarred. His right ear was partially cut off, and his left ear had a tear. A jagged line went across his left eye. His arms were covered with numerous gashes and burns. Half of his tail was missing.

But to Fox, the fox standing before him was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"D… _Dad?_"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Some info for those who aren't familiar with the <em>Star Fox **_**series**__**…can be found in the next chapter. Sorry for being mean!**_

**Silver:** So you're admitting that you're mean?

_**N-no! Of course not! Anyway, let's get back to the Smash Mansion. Wow, more Smashers and Assist Trophies!**_

**Silver:** I know, right? Go, Blaze!

**Lloyd:** I'm so glad Colette is here! And the rest of my good friends! I wonder if some more familiar people would come sometime later.

_**I'm happy, too. But wait, doesn't that mean that the unveiling of **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ will have to wait?_**

**Snake:** That's true… With each new Smasher and Assist, the date of unveiling is pushed back. _*sigh*_

**Lucas:** But I'm sure it's gonna be worth the wait!

**Sora:** _*suddenly curious*_ _What's_ gonna be worth the wait?

**Snake and Lucas:** _*sweatdropping*_ Err, nothing!

_**That's great, I think. And since there's not much conclusion stuff to say, let's get to the credits. (Master Hand isn't present because he's down in the kitchen, spanking Crazy Hand for blowing up half the kitchen.)**_

_**Credits to Arwingpedia for**__**…uh**__**…everything in this chapter related to **_**Star Fox**_**! Also, credits to Aselia, the Tales of Symphonia wiki, for a bit of information about Lloyd's friends.**_

_**See you next time in Chapter 19 of **_**Life at the Mansion_!_**

_**And remember to review or I'll send Kirby at you! (Hey, that rhymed!)**_


	19. Time Together

**_Whew! Finally back from vacation. It was great! I hope you guys are having a great summer vacation, too. __Well, anyway, here's Chapter 19! Longest chapter yet, just telling you. Enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing here.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19: Time Together<strong>

* * *

><p>"This is not good, this is <em>not<em> good at all…"

Krystal paced around Master Hand's office, fretting over what Ganondorf had told her earlier.

"Your friend Fox is in huge trouble," he had said. "The Subspace Army laid out a clever trap. He and the others fell right into it."

The blue vixen continued to walk back and forth across the room. "I just tried to contact him, but his phone isn't working. Then I tried his radio, but he didn't answer that. And just a few minutes ago I tried to send a telepathic message to him, but he didn't respond. I don't even know if he noticed it. Now what? Oh… I should discuss this with Slippy, General, and Peppy."

She exited the office and went up to the third floor. She quickly found Fox, Falco, and Wolf's room, and she went in. Slippy Toad, General Pepper, and Peppy Hare were sitting on the floor, talking quietly.

"Oh, Krystal," Pepper greeted her when he saw her enter the room. "How did it go?"

Krystal went over to Fox's bed and sat down, looking upset. "I tried to get in touch with him in every way I could think of, but he didn't respond to any of them. I'm feeling very concerned for his safety."

"We tried calling Falco and Wolf, but they didn't answer, either," said Slippy. "What could've happened to those three?"

"Master Hand knows of this, right?" asked Peppy.

Krystal nodded. "Ganondorf told him about it right after he told me."

Pepper stood up. He suddenly looked quite active for his old age. "We should organize a rescue mission! My instincts are telling me that the Subspace Army led our three Smasher friends to somewhere other than Corneria. I'm sure it's a planet within the Lylat System."

"But there are so many planets within the Lylat System!" Slippy exclaimed. "We don't have time to search through them all!"

"Well, let's see…" Peppy said. "What's the likeliest planet for the Subspace Army to be hanging around at?"

"An evil planet," Krystal answered immediately.

Slippy caught on to what Krystal was thinking and began, "It's surrounded by green haze…"

"…and is pretty much uninhabitable," Pepper finished.

"And that madman Andross was sent there for his punishment," Peppy said.

"Venom!" Slippy concluded.

"It has to be Venom!" Krystal cried out. "Just ask yourselves, 'From where did most of those bad guys come from?' The answer is obvious. Andross was exiled to there, he created his army there, the Aparoids went there for a little bit, the Anglars live there. It's Venom, the foul planet of Lylat."

"But wait!" Pepper cut in. "Venom is a planet where almost nothing can survive. As far as we know, only the Anglars call Venom their home. Could Shadow Bugs live there, too?"

"Don't forget this—when Andross was exiled to Venom, he made some places livable," Slippy reminded the general. "I bet some bits of the Subspace Army were sent to those areas. They made a fake distress call to lure Fox, Falco, and Wolf right into their trap. I bet they messed around with the Smashers' radar somehow and tricked them into thinking that they were at Corneria when it was actually Venom. Then the Smashers went to an illusionary Corneria City, and then they went to bed, and then…and then…"

Everyone knew what the Team Star Fox mechanic was about to say: _And then they were captured._

"So…what should we do?" asked Peppy.

Krystal stood up from Fox's bed and went to the door. "Before we go out, let's see if Master Hand can do something about it…"

-ooo-

Fox, Falco, and Wolf gaped at the fox before them.

"…Dad?" whispered Fox with uncertainty. "Is… Is it really you…?"

_Could it really be James McCloud?_ thought Wolf, feeling awed. _But…I thought…I thought he was…_

The fox stepped closer to Fox until he was directly in front of him. "My son…it's been a long time." He put his hand on Fox's right shoulder. "You've come a long way."

Fox's green eyes glistened. He took a step forward, and he fell into the fox's welcoming arms.

He hugged him so hard, it was like there was no tomorrow.

And tears fell from his eyes.

Tears of happiness.

_"Dad!"_

James McCloud smiled gently as he patted his son's back. "Good to see you again, son. Wow, you've grown."

Falco and Wolf were still stunned out of their wits. Here was James McCloud, the legendary pilot and leader of the first Team Star Fox who had not been seen for years. After getting shot down in his Arwing by Andross, he was assumed dead by most people in the Lylat System. And yet here he was, with Fox in his arms.

Falco took a step forward. "Um…mister—"

James held up his hand. "Really? 'Mister'? Just call me James. Yeah?"

"Um… Well…" Falco paused to calm his nerves. "Uh… James, I thought you were…shot down by Andross…so many years ago…?"

James nodded. "Yep. He did shoot me down, and he _almost_ killed me. Ironically, it was Andross who saved my life."

"Excuse me?" asked Fox.

"You see, I happened to land in one of those areas of Venom that Andross had made habitable," explained James. "I got lots of injuries, but it's better to get hurt than to be exposed to Venom's toxic atmosphere."

Wolf eyed James' wounds. "…I could easily tell that your landing was not a very comfortable one…"

"Definitely not! I broke my left leg and arm, got half of my tail burned off, and had parts of my ears sliced off. I recovered after several months of hiding on Venom, but now my leg…well…" James walked around a bit, and Falco noticed how he limped with every other step. "See?"

_A permanent limp,_ Falco thought.

Fox left his father and went back to Falco and Wolf. "Dad, I'm not sure if you know my friends…"

"I don't know this fellow." James pointed at Falco. "But I know _this_ guy well," he stated, pointing at Wolf.

Wolf looked like he was about to say something, but then he let out a big sigh and shook his head. "Damn…"

Fox looked at him. "What?"

Wolf sat down on the soft grass of the hill they were on. "I'll never forgive myself for what I did," he said mournfully. "I was part of the conspiracy to kill James about fifteen years ago. You were only a teen at that time, Fox. I was told by Andross that if I eliminated James, he'd reward me with a huge sum of money. Of course, I couldn't resist. I gladly accepted my part of the plot."

"And Team Star Fox came…" said Falco.

"…and Andross captured James and Peppy Hare. Pigma Dengar betrayed them to Andross after the madman promised him a whole lot of riches. That damn pig… Of course he was willing to turn into a traitor. He was so greedy that I had to kick him out of Team Star Wolf…but that's another story.

"James and Peppy nearly escaped from Venom, but Andross caught them and sent the Venomian Army after them. Andross shot a plasma beam at James' Arwing, and it tore the Arwing clean in half. I remember flying my Wolfen next to Leon Polwalski's, smiling at the sight of James going down, his Arwing in flames. We all assumed that James was now dead, since he landed somewhere on Venom. Peppy escaped, but we didn't follow him because it looked like he was gonna die soon anyway. And Andross paid us a good deal of money…"

Wolf pulled out a blade of grass from the ground, and he looked at it. "…Dirty money." With a claw, he split the grass in two, and he tossed the two halves away. Bitterly, he said, "I hate my past."

Then something quite unbelievable happened.

Fox knelt down and sat next to his greatest rival.

_Danger zone!_ thought Falco, panicking; but when Wolf did nothing he relaxed a bit.

"Hey, Wolf," said Fox. "The past is the past. It's _over_. Memories of the past continue to come back and haunt you, but remember this: it's all over! You may have done really bad things so many years ago, but _it's all over_. You know why Master Hand chose you to be a Smasher? Because you've got a bunch of goodness. Haven't you noticed that all the Smashers are good people? Sure, some of them were bad guys, like Bowser and King Dedede, but they've done good things before. Just like you! Most people think that bad guys are just pure evil, but that's definitely not true. In fact, most bad guys have a bunch of goodness in their hearts. And because of that goodness, they became good guys. Just like you!"

Then, into Wolf's ear, he whispered, "Even _Andross_ did good things before he turned to the dark side, you know."

Wolf was startled. He actually _didn't_ know that.

Fox leaned away. "So come on, stop thinking about the stuff you did to me, my friends, and my dad. You've turned to the bright side. You're a good guy! You can ignore everything bad from your past."

Wolf remained silent for a few tense minutes. Finally, he got up from the grass and, holding out his hand, helped Fox up.

Falco gawked.

"You're right," said Wolf. "Thanks, McCloud."

And the two rivals shook hands.

Falco promptly fainted.

James nodded with approval. "Well said, son. You really _have_ grown. By the way, what's this thing about…_Smashers_?"

Fox suddenly glanced at his watch and yelped. "Aagh! We were so into our 'mission' that we spent a whole night and morning in the Lylat System! Oh, Master Hand is _so_ going to kill us! Eeek!"

"And who's Master Hand? A hand?"

"Um, yeah, sort of," Wolf answered awkwardly. "Yo, James. Your Arwing looks like it's going to fall apart any moment. Could it fly at Mach 4.2 and not blow up in midair?"

James looked at him strangely. "…If we were escaping from General Scales' base at Mach 4.2, what do you think?"

Wolf slapped himself, feeling dumb. "Riiiiight. Let's go now."

-ooo-

Word of Fox, Falco, and Wolf's sudden disappearance spread through the Smash Mansion within ten minutes. Krystal, Slippy, and General Pepper were waiting at the top of the stairs that went down to the elevator that went to the hangar. Peppy had gone off to look for Master Hand and inform him of their rescue mission.

Despite the Star Fox team's attempt to (sort of) make everyone in the mansion worried, Popo and Nana had gone back to their room right after breakfast and were already about to laugh their heads off as they sat on their respective beds.

"Hey, I just got a great idea!" Nana said suddenly.

"What?" asked Popo with interest.

"You know how it's so hard to think of a way to review the names of countries and states on that planet called Earth?" Nana said. At this, Popo nodded vigorously. "Well, I just thought of an awesome new way to remember them! And this is how it's done…"

Then Nana stood up and made a face that said something like "I'm the boss, you don't mess with me" to Popo. "Hey! Popo! Get me a Pepsi from the vending machine downstairs!" she commanded.

Popo stood up on his bed, looking offended. "Whoa! Since when did _you_ have authority over me?"

Nana pouted as she sat back down. "Well, if you don't get me a Pepsi, I'll kick you to Argentina!"

"Then I'll kick you to Afghanistan!" Popo retorted, grinning as he found out Nana's idea.

"I'll kick you to Hungary!" shouted Nana.

"I'll kick you to America!" yelled Popo.

"I'll kick you to Iraq!"

"I'll kick you to China!"

"I'll kick you to India!"

"I'll kick you to Luxembourg!"

"I'll kick you to Liechtenstein!"

"I'll kick you—wait, what's Liechtenstein?"

"It's a country in Europe that's even smaller than Luxembourg."

"Oh. Continuing. I'll kick you to Canada!"

"I'll kick you to Russia!"

Half an hour later…

"I'll kick you to Spain!"

"I'll kick you to Zimbabwe!"

"I'll kick you to Australia!"

"I'll kick—wait, isn't Australia a continent?"

"Yeah, but it's also a country."

"Oh, okay. I'll kick you to Panama!"

"I'll kick you to the Boot!"

"I'll kick—wait. What boot?"

"What's the country that is well known for its resemblance to a boot?"

"Um… Italy?"

"Exactly!"

"Thanks for the tip; I'll remember that. I'll kick you to Chile!"

"Chili? Oh, oh, gimme some chili right now!"

"Idiot! I mean that country in South America, the really narrow one that takes up most of South America's western coast!"

"Oh! Sorry! But…how dare you call me an idiot! For that, I'll kick you to Brazil!"

"I'll kick you to New Zealand!"

"I'll kick you to Czechoslovakia! Wow, I pronounced the name correctly!"

"Um… That's not a country anymore…"

"Oh, really? Then I'll just kick you to Turkmenistan!"

"Then I'll kick you to Turkey!"

"Are there turkeys in Turkey?"

"I dunno, but I hope there are. Instead of Turkey, I'll kick you to Chicken!"

"WHAT?"

"Joking, joking! But if there's Turkey, why isn't there Chicken? Anyway, I'll kick you to Azerbaijan!"

"I'll kick you to Be—"

Just then, two loud voices sounded from the balcony. They sounded like Yoshi and Sora. Yes, they were loud enough to be heard from the Ice Climbers' room. But then again, their window was open.

"They're back!" Yoshi's voice said.

"Who's back?" asked Sora's.

"Our ol' fox boy!"

"Who, Tails?"

"Dummy! The _Smasher_!"

"Look who's the dummy now; we've got _two_ fox Smashers!"

"Oh… The one who was a Smasher longer!"

"…Fox McCloud?"

"Gee, what do _you_ think?"

Popo and Nana sat up.

"Did you hear that?" Popo said to his sister. "Fox, Falco, and Wolf are back!"

"I know, right?" Nana said enthusiastically. "Finally!"

Then Sora spoke up again. "Funny, is it just my eyes or am I seeing _four_ airships?"

"There should be three."

"But I swear, there's four! Look, a third Arwing."

"…By golly, you're right, Sora! But who could be piloting it?"

"Um, a ghost?"

"EEEEKERS!"

"Ahhh! Cut that out!"

Popo and Nana looked at each other.

"Cool!" Nana said. "Another Arwing!"

"Right!" Popo said. "Let's check it out."

They left their beds and went out the room. When they got to the ground floor, Nana turned to Popo.

"By the way, you still have to get me a Pepsi."

"_What?_ But… Oh, I'll just kick you to France!"

"I'll kick you to Libya, then!"

Popo smirked. "Oh, yeah? I'll just keep things simple and kick you to…the _vending machine_!"

_Kick!_

"AHHHHH! POPO!"

_Crash._

-ooo-

Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Lucario, Snake, Ness, Lucas, Samus, Gantz, and Chipple all dashed to the front door and went outside. They were so hasty that they knocked down the right-side door, making it go _boom_ onto the ground. Of course, no one paid attention.

"But why a third Arwing?" asked Pikachu. "Only Fox and Falco fly Arwings."

"Somebody could've followed them in their own Arwing…" Lucario said slowly.

"…to stalk them?" Snake asked innocently.

Samus slapped the mercenary. "What in the world is wrong with you?"

"Nothing. Please don't mind me; I just had a few—"

Samus slapped him again before he could finish. Five times harder.

"Kidding, kidding!"

"SOLID SNAKE! You're not supposed to talk about that kind of stuff in front of small children like Ness and Lucas!"

"Hey!" Lucas cried indignantly. "I'm not _that_ small!"

"Shut up, everyone, and focus on the Arwings and Wolfen," Donkey Kong broke in, slapping the ground.

The four airships grew larger with every passing second. To keep himself busy, Pikachu decided to zap falling leaves at different voltages to see what would happen.

"…They're passing over us," said Diddy Kong, lying on his back for a better upwards view.

"Going to the hangar?" Ness suggested.

"No, they're just circling the mansion," Pikachu said after frying a maple leaf into a crisp.

Soon, the four ships started flying very close to the ground. Lucario started seeing the blue and red flames of their exhausts.

_I sense the Auras of Fox, Falco, and Wolf…and one I don't recognize. Its makeup is remarkably similar to Fox's, though. Could they be related?_

"They've landed!" yelled Pit from somewhere on the Smash Mansion's roof.

"Where?" Captain Falcon yelled back through his room's window.

"The clearing in the courtyard."

Hearing this, the Smashers at the mansion's doorstep piled back inside, knocking down the other door as they did.

Amaterasu and Chibiterasu came a few seconds later. Amaterasu glanced at the ground and saw the two broken doors.

"They are such clumsy people," she told her son. "The next thing you know, they'll be knocking down poor Master Hand."

_"Arooo,"_ said Chibiterasu.

Amaterasu nodded. "Yes. Stay away from them." _Someday, I need to teach him how to speak!_ English_!_

The Kongs, Pikachu, Lucario, Snake, Ness, Lucas, and Samus reached the courtyard, where all the other Smashers were, just the four airships were touching down. The rest of Team Star Fox came along, too. After an excruciatingly long wait of two minutes, the noisy engines of the airships fell to a low drone, then stopped altogether.

Two Arwings and the Wolfen's cockpits opened. Three familiar Smashers hopped out and were immediately swarmed by several extremely excited Smashers.

"FOX!" screeched Diddy Kong, clinging onto Fox's face. "You're back!"

Snake looked them up and down. "…Still in one piece, I see…"

"You sound disappointed," Lucario joked. "What, did you want them to be in four?"

_"EWWWWWW!"_ shrieked Ness and Lucas.

"Oh my Arceus, I'm sooooo happy I'm gonna short-circuit!" Pikachu squealed in a shrill voice.

"You've been gone for too long! Tell us where you went!" Mr. Game & Watch demanded.

But before any of the three Star Fox Smashers could speak, the cockpit of the third Arwing slowly opened.

All the Smashers turned their heads and gasped as a stranger emerged from the Arwing. What really caught their attention was how he looked nearly identical to Fox McCloud from head to tail…or half a tail.

"Who's he?" whispered Olimar. "Fox's seriously mauled, long-lost twin brother?"

Wolf smiled. "You're close…but I honestly have to say he's a far more important figure to Fox."

Fox clapped his hands to stop the Smashers' babbling. "I'll tell you who this guy is later. First, we should tell you what happened to us."

For the next ten minutes or so, he explained what he and his friend had seen. Falco and Wolf occasionally tossed in bits of information while Fox paused to rest. As the three Smashers talked, all the rest of the Smashers joined in the courtyard and listened to Fox, Falco, and Wolf.

At the end, everyone was quiet.

"…So," said Toon Link, "it looks like Tabuu's still relying on mind-control devices instead of his own power. That clearly shows he's still pretty weak."

"Okay, Fox," Sonic stated. .Now that you're done with your story, why not tell us who this dude here is?"

The stranger stepped forward. "Hi. I'm James McCloud."

Some Smashers' ears flicked upwards at the last name. _McCloud?_

"You'll probably know me better if I told you I was Fox's dad."

R.O.B. promptly short-circuited.

Pikachu shouted at him, "Hey, wait, _I_ was supposed to do that!"

Link almost stabbed Lloyd. (Was it an accident or was he getting revenge for nearly getting killed by the latter's Demon Fang yesterday, nobody would know.)

Shadow's eye twitched.

King Dedede dropped his hammer on top of Tetra.

Tetra got squashed.

"WHAAAAAT?" Flamedramon roared.

Dave almost got roasted by his own Digimon.

Chipple accidentally punched Gantz in the nose.

Gantz got a nosebleed.

Kirby continued to snore.

"But I read somewhere that Fox's dad was killed by Andross somewhere near that planet called Venom!" exclaimed Jigglypuff.

"Arwingpedia, I bet," correctly guessed Wolf.

"Well, we were wrong," Fox announced. "Turns out that he survived the attack, despite all those injuries he received. I'm so glad to see him again after fifteen long years."

"Heh, I'd _love_ to see Andross' expression if we showed James to him!" chuckled Bowser. "But…eh. He's dead. Bwah."

Cloud was confused. "Then how come we've got an Assist Trophy called Andross?"

James McCloud made a sharp movement and drew an outdated-looking Blaster out of his pocket. "_What?_ Where? Where?"

Falco laughed loudly as he clapped his hand onto Cloud's back. "Him, eh? That's actually just a _copy_ of the real Andross, who was killed by us members of Team Star Fox some years ago. You should be grateful, Strife boy."

"Don't call me that!"

Peach then decided to intervene. "Hey, people and Pokémon and swordsmen and Koopas and primates and anthropomorphic animals and…"

"Oh, no," Snake groaned. "Here we go again!"

Peach heard him and finished, "…and all…"

Snake let out an audible sigh of relief.

"…since Fox's dad just arrived here, how about giving him and Fox some, y'know, 'alone time'?"

-ooo-

A few minutes after the crowd of Smashers dispersed, Shadow and Lloyd immediately went to the Star Fox Smashers and started dragging them out of the courtyard.

"Hey, hey, hey!" shouted Wolf. "Don't get my boots dusty! They're custom made!"

"We have something to show you," Lloyd said, completely ignoring Wolf as he got the latter's boots all dust-covered.

"And what could that be?" Fox questioned.

"New Smashers and Assist Trophies."

Falco raised a brow as his feathers were getting all blown out of shape by Shadow. "There are…even…more…newbies…?"

"You got that right. They're called Colette Brunel, Kratos Aurion, Raine and Genis Sage, and Blaze the Cat."

"Wait, WHAT? Already another Sega dude?"

"_Dudette_, you mean."

"WHATEVER!"

Meanwhile, behind a nearby wall, there was the sound of someone slapping himself too hard.

"Oh, ARCEUS!" Lucario almost shouted angrily while Snake rubbed his forehead, wincing. "Will you ever stop face-palming yourself too hard, Snake?"

Ness was equally enraged, though for a different reason. "When will that darn Master Hand stop preventing us from finishing up the game!"

Lucas just quietly stood off to one side, playing with Ness' yo-yo.

_Best if I just stay out of the scene and pretend…nothing's…happening…_

-ooo-

"I'll kick you to California!"

"I'll kick you to Florida!"

"I'll kick you to Hawaii!"

"I'll kick you to New Jersey!"

"And, last but not least… I'll kick you to Mississippi!"

"Hooray!" cheered the Ice Climbers. "We went through all fifty of America's states without messing up!"

"Now let's do the capitals!" Nana said excitedly, covered in a layer of dust (remember when she was kicked into the vending machine?) and holding a bottle of Pepsi. "I'll kick you to Jackson!"

"I'll kick you to Little Rock!" cried Popo.

"I'll kick you to Carson City!"

"I'll kick you to Richmond!"

"I'll kick you to Sa—"

"Hi, guys!" greeted Klonoa, walking up to the twins with Genis Sage and Pikachu following him. "Uh, what's all that gibberish you were saying just now?"

"Oh, that," said Popo. "Me and Nana were just reviewing the capitals of the states of America."

"What's America?" questioned Genis, sounding interested.

"It's a country located in a world called Earth," Nana explained. "It's also known as the United States, or the United States of America."

"I get it," said Pikachu. "And what are those…'capitals'? And what was with all the 'I'll kick you to so-and-so'?"

"You could call them the 'main cities' of the fifty states," Popo told the Smashers. "Austin is Texas' capital, Phoenix is Arizona's, Baton Rouge is Louisiana's, et cetera. And all the countries also have a capital of their own. In the U.S.'s case, that's Washington, D.C. And the kicking part… Well, it's a long story."

"You sure know a lot about that world called Earth," Klonoa remarked politely.

Popo grinned and pointed at his head. "We study."

"And we kick each other," Nana added, bumping her foot onto her brother and earning a hot glare from him.

"Um…okay," said Klonoa nervously. "Instead of kicking each other to California and getting a load of new bruises, how about going out to the backyard to play a game? Or should we go down to Smashville and get some ice cream?"

"Ice cream," immediately agreed Nana.

"Ice cream?" asked Genis. He was one of the newest and youngest of the Smash Mansion's residents who also happened to be from the medieval era, so he knew little about modern-day technology and food. "What's that?"

"It's a really nice treat, perfect for hot summer days," Popo said. "They come with lots of flavors, so you can take your time to—"

Once again, he was interrupted, this time by the sudden appearance of Lloyd, Shadow, Fox,

Falco, Wolf, and James McCloud. The Star Fox members were apparently being dragged by the swordsman and the hedgehog.

"See the boy in the blue and white shirt?" Lloyd said to the Star Fox members, pointing at Genis.

"Who, the little boy in the winter coat?" asked James.

"No, no, that's just Popo," said Shadow. "Lloyd meant the one with white hair."

Popo was positively infuriated. "'Little boy'? 'Just Popo'? Am I actually that unimportant?"

"No, you're just not as important as Genis," Lloyd joked.

"Excuse me?"

Just then, Darkrai popped out of a wall. "Can I say it now?"

"NO!" everybody except James bellowed.

"But why?" Darkrai insisted.

"'Cause we're SMASHERS!" shouted Popo, giving Nana a great idea.

"Seriously! Give me a good reason!"

Nana simply took out her hammer and smashed him back into the wall.

"OW!"

There was silence for the next three minutes. Finally, James broke it.

"…Who was that? And who's the boy?"

"Just one of our rather crazy Legendary Pokémon," answered Shadow. "And the kid is Genis Sage, one of Lloyd's good friends and one of our new Assist Trophies, which we'll tell you about later. Genis, these guys are Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Wolf O'Donnell, and Fox's long-lost father James. You know what a Pokémon is?"

Genis and James shook their heads.

"It's easy to say that Red can do a better explanation, but I'll do the best I can. Pokémon are those creatures from another world…obviously. They have special powers and all have an elemental type or two. As of now, there are forty-five known Legendary Pokémon. Legends are those guys who are stronger than the regular guys, and it's their job to keep the Pokémon world safe. And so on and so on, go ask Red about the rest. Wait, Red went cantering off to Hoenn. Who should you ask, then?"

"Um… I'm right here…" Pikachu timidly raised his paw.

"Oh, good. Go ask him."

"Hey, guys, wanna go or not?" Klonoa said impatiently.

"Okay, okay, we're going!"

Klonoa, Pikachu, Genis, and the Ice Climbers went downstairs and out of sight.

"Great," said Lloyd. "And Genis was the last newbie to introduce, so…I guess you're on your own now."

"Oh, goodie," Fox said happily. He and his father had the same thing in mind…

-ooo-

An hour after the discussion in the courtyard, Toon Link and Tetra went to the side yard and began to set up targets on the wide lawn to practice their archery.

"I hope you have enough arrows, 'cause I didn't pack enough," Tetra said to her friend.

"That doesn't matter," the boy replied. "People at the Smash Mansion get unlimited stocks of projectiles. You can always go down to the basement for a new set of arrows."

Tetra was pleased. "Ah, that's good to hear."

The two cartoon Smashers finished with their setting up of targets and drew a line across the grass, twenty feet away from the targets.

Then they took out their bows.

"This is where we start," Toon Link said, and he took a step back. "Ladies first…?"

"Why, thank you," said Tetra. She took an arrow out of her quiver, put it in her bow, drew back, and released.

_Twang-thwack!_

"Oooh, so close," commented Toon Link. "It landed on the ring outside the center. My turn!"

He and the cartoon pirate switched places. Toon Link set an arrow in his bow and quickly fired at the same target.

_Twang-thwack!_

"Oh, gosh." Tetra clapped loudly. "It's right in the center!"

Toon Link smirked and bowed. "Thank you, thank you. It's your turn!"

For half an hour, the boy and pirate shot targets. Toon Link didn't miss any of the targets and hit all of them in their centers, while

Tetra hit about half in their centers.

"Gee whiz, Link, how do you do that?"

"Do what…hit all the targets in the center? Well, y'know…experience. I spent more time shooting arrows at Smashers while you were with your pirate gang, doing…pirate stuff, I guess."

"We were busy sailing the seven seas! And Niko fell overboard three times in one day!"

"…Epic fail."

"What? Even _you_ fell out of the boat once!"

"But that was, like, a few years ago! And I only fell _once_."

"Meh, whatever." Toon Link looked across the lawn. "Hmm, it looks like we still have a bunch of targets left. But we both ran out of arrows. Looks like we have to run down to the basement for some more arrows—"

Tetra waggled her finger and did her signature wink. "Ah-ah-ah! I almost forgot to tell you that I have some bomb arrows in my bomb bag."

Toon Link was shocked. "BOMB arrows?"

Tetra nodded. "Yep! Got a problem with that?"

"But… But we'll set the mansion on fire if we use them!"

Tetra stared levelly into Toon Link's eyes. "Hey, genius. We're both master archers. How could we burn down the house?"

Master_ archers?_ thought the boy. _Look who's talking—the one who missed half the targets. I mean no offense to you, Tetra, of course._ He threw up his hands in defeat. "All right, fine. Let's get out your bomb arrows and continue shooting targets. As long as we don't set anything on fire but the targets, I'll be happy."

"What if we accidentally burn up a bush or something?" asked Tetra innocently.

"Then I'll NOT be happy. Duh. But let's get the arrows before I get mad."

Tetra looked up. "My room is on the third floor, and I don't like running up stairs… Luckily, I have just the right thing to solve that." And she took out a grappling hook.

Toon Link's right brow arched upwards. "Really, Tetra?"

The pirate ignored him and tossed up the grappling hook. It grabbed onto the windowsill of a room on the third floor. Tetra jumped off the lawn and pulled herself up until she reached her room. Then she climbed through the open window and disappeared.

_As usual, she's the type of person who prefers to do things the hard way…_ Toon Link thought, sighing.

Within a minute, Tetra was back. "Here. Ten bomb arrows. Six for me, four for you."

Toon Link gaped at her. "Excuse me, but do you really call that half-and-half?"

_Darn it!_ thought Darkrai, feeling disappointed as he hid in the leaves a nearby bush. _If he didn't say the stuff after the "excuse me", I could've said my lines. Arceus, please stop being so cruel to me!_

Tetra shrugged. "Gee, I was just kidding! Here, five for you and five for me. Happy?"

"Yep. And since you went first last time, I'll start." Toon Link drew back his bow, which now had a bomb arrow in it. Then he released before the arrow could explode in his face and destroy his custom made bow.

_Twang-BOOM!_

"…An explosive shot," Tetra remarked. "Um, did that hit the center?"

"I have no idea," admitted Toon Link. "The arrow blew up before I could see where it hit. But…oh, well. You're up."

Tetra released a bomb arrow.

_Twang-BOOM!_

"…I think I hit the edge…"

"Good! If that arrow was just an inch off, you would've hit that peach tree there! And you do not want to see Peach when she's mad."

"Princess Peach, peach tree… I think I see the connection there…"

Soon, there was only one bomb arrow left in the bag. Tetra took this one out and set it in her bow.

"I'd better hit the center this time, or else I'm gonna hate my archery skills forever."

And she fired.

_Twang-KABOOM!_

"Dang it!" said Tetra. "I missed! It hit the wall instead!" Suddenly, she was quiet. "Wait… Did I just say it hit the wall?"

Silence… And then—

"AHHHH!" screamed the pirate. "Fire! The wall is on fire! AHHHH!"

She screamed some more until she noticed that Toon Link was looking at her with a strange expression.

"Told you so," he said triumphantly.

Tetra felt funny. "I stand corrected."

Toon Link drew his sword. "And now, like the Knights of the Round Table, we yell some more!"

"_AHHHHHH!_ FIRE! FIRE! FIREEEEEE!"

-ooo-

Neku sniffed the air. "…Do you smell something burning?"

Sora looked around. "I think it's the wall."

"Maybe you're right," Neku agreed. "I heard somebody using flammable arrows."

"So, uh… What should we do?" Sora asked.

Neku thought about this for a few seconds. "Let's just leave it burning and avoid trouble."

"Good idea."

-ooo-

Fox and James were standing at the balcony of the Smash Mansion, watching the skies of the Smash World.

"So, Fox…how's life at the mansion?"

Fox shrugged. "Nothing much, I guess. All the things that may seem strange to you are actually daily events to us Smashers."

James nodded in understanding. "Apparently." He eyed a bird that was about to land in a tree. "What's that?"

"A Pokémon called Swellow."

"Hmm. Is this world sort of like a combo of all the worlds where the Smashers come from?"

"You could say that," Fox answered. He looked into the distance and thought he saw Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi emerging from The Roost. "So, uh… What are you planning to do here?"

"No idea," James admitted. "Landing on this planet was a little…unplanned. But now that I'm reunited with you, I could stay here for a week or so. Maybe longer. Or should I stay here forever?"

"Please do!" Fox pleaded. "I don't want you to leave me again!"

James grinned. "Hey, son. Instead of talking about leaving, let's talk about what to do here at the mansion."

Fox was relieved to have a change of subject. "Well… I could show you around to some of the Smash Mansion's features. We've got all the latest technology and all, and if you need a break from work you can pop into the movie theater or Brawl Room anytime. Speaking of the Brawl Room, something kinda big happened just two days ago, you know."

James' right ear flicked up. "Oh?"

"You see, the Brawl Room is powered by the Brawl System," Fox explained. "Last Saturday, the System got infected by Shadow Bugs, which are those little purple things that could…do a lot of bad stuff."

"So this Brawl System got infected by these Shadow Bug things…similar to the way the Aparoids affect technological equipment?"

"Sort of. But I have to say that our case was a lot more serious. Eight of our guys were sucked into the System by a portal!"

"Wait. Sucked _into_ the…?"

"Yeah." Fox looked at his dad. "And then the portal disappeared, which made it really hard to think of how to reopen it. Turns out that our worst enemy Tabuu had changed the System into some sort of Subspatial cyberspace, which he could use as a temporary home. He can't leave Subspace, you see. So our guys had to fight their way out of there, with a lot of help from us Smashers in the mansion."

James nodded. "How did you get the portal open again?"

"Thanks to Lloyd's big ol' Eternal Sword. It has the power to warp time and space. But even with this sword, we couldn't open the portal just by chopping at the Brawl System. Even in his weakened state, Tabuu could push us back a lot…"

Even with the sunglasses on, Fox could tell that James' eyes had narrowed. "…Who's this…Tabuu?"

"Oh, him. Meh." Fox sighed and leaned over the railing of the balcony, facing away from his dad. "Our worst enemy. He's the leader of the Subspace Army and the embodiment of Subspace. This means that he must remain in a realm of Subspace. About a year ago, we Smashers fought him as a team. He just about had us killed, but Ike really saved our butts and…_almost_ killed him. He weakened Tabuu enough to make him go galloping off to the Isle of Ancients. At that time, we thought he'd died, so we went on to build the Smash Mansion and stuff without ever thinking about him again. But when our eight guys were sucked into that portal, we knew that Subspace still existed. And that means that Tabuu continues to live and cause trouble."

"How do you think you could defeat him, once and for all?"

Fox shrugged. "As of now, we aren't sure. We still have to deal with his minions first. So far, we know he has two under his control—Ridley and General Scales. Who knows about the others? And who are the others? Porky? Galleom? Duon? Some villains we've never heard of? Pfft."

The Smasher turned back to James. "All right. Any other questions you got?"

James laughed loudly. "Oh, boy. I got a ton for you, son."

Fox gawked. "Wait, whaaaaat?"

James patted him on the shoulder. "Nah, just kidding. But try to answer this: Any idea on how to defeat Tabuu?"

Fox scratched the back of his ear. "I'm not so sure. I suppose the best time to attack is now, since he's all weak and vulnerable. But even now, he's a bit of trouble to us; he's never so easy to defeat. And we've got our new Smashers, so we should probably teach them how to fight against the Subspatial forces. They've never seen or fought a Primid before, you know." He looked over the railing to see Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi returning to the mansion, each Smasher with a cup of The Roost-brewed coffee. "But first, we have to take care of Tabuu's minions. They're _everywhere_. And we've got no idea if they're being mind controlled or not." He turned back to James. "Good thing we know two of them are being controlled with a mind-control device.

"But now that we know there are a whole bunch of mind-control devices floating around, I'm getting kind of scared. What if one or more of our Smashers becomes a victim to a device? Then we're really going to be in hot water."

James' ear twitched. "Very true."

"And then these Smashers will become slaves of Tabuu, and then Tabuu has all the information he needs to wipe us out," Fox finished. "We'll need to be really careful. Hey, Dad, why don't you ever take off your shades?"

James was caught off guard by the sudden off-topic question. "Uh, I dunno. I always keep them on. Don't I look good in them?"

Fox snorted. "Well, I can't say you don't look good in them, but… C'mon, Dad, just take 'em off for a bit, will you?" He reached out towards his father.

James quickly stepped back. "I'm afraid you can't do that, Fox. Ever since I crashed onto Venom, my eyes became much more sensitive to light. That's why I can't expose my eyes to the daylight—not even really dim light. I kind of learned that the hard way during my stay on Venom when I took them off."

Fox drew back his hand. "…Oh. I didn't know… Sorry, Dad. I just wanted to look at your eyes. I mean…" He gestured to James. "With the sunglasses, you look like…like some kind of spy or something. It gives me the creeps."

James guffawed. "Ah, c'mon, boy! You're a _Smasher_. You got the guts to fight that Tabuu guy! You got the courage to talk to Wolf face-to-face without getting a scratch! And yet you get intimidated by me and my sunglasses? Sheesh!"

Fox smiled awkwardly. "…Erm…yeah… Heh-heh…"

Falco then rudely interrupted the two foxes' conversation.

"YO, WILL YA TWO GET YOUR BUTTS AND ONE TAIL AND A HALF—yes, I meant you, James—DOWN TO THE CAFETERIA?" the Smasher bellowed from somewhere downstairs. "WE'RE ALL WAITIN' FOR YA! I'M NOT GONNA DO ANYTHING IF YOUR LUNCH GETS COLD!"

Fox grumbled. "Ah, Falco, the birdbrain… Coming, Falco!" he called. "Don't get mad at me!"

"Good! And I'm already mad at you!"

Fox was outraged. "Well, _excuse_ me—"

Darkrai suddenly emerged from a wall. But before he could say anything, Fox had already smashed him back into the wall with his Blaster and his fist.

"Don't you say it!" Fox scolded fiercely.

"OW! Second time this happened…getting smashed into a wall…" The Pokémon's shadow disappeared.

Fox wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Whew. I'm getting really tired of him saying all the 'you're excused' nonsense." He glanced at his Blaster, whose handle was now perfectly flat and out of shape. "Aw, man. Gotta go see Slippy Toad after lunch. Come on, Dad, let's get down to the cafeteria before Falco comes Fire Birding into me. And speaking of Blasters, I'd better get Slippy to make you a new Blaster. Yours is _completely_ outdated…"

-ooo-

Nothing very eventful happened after lunch. All the Smashers and other members of the Smash Mansion went back to their usual "tasks"…

Fox and James went to Slippy Toad's basement workshop to get some repairs—or replacements, in James' case—for their Blasters.

Toon Link and Tetra sneaked out to the side yard to fix and repaint the wall they had accidentally set fire to before Master Hand could find out.

Luckily for them, Master Hand was very busy with the task of chasing Crazy Hand through the Mushroom Kingdom, the latter of whom was very busy with the task of freaking out all the Goombas he saw.

The Sega team, Red's three Pokémon, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon were watching _Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted_ in the movie theater.

Wario was planning to occupy the bathroom until dinner.

Unfortunately for him, Mario and Luigi were already hiding in the bathroom and waiting to assault him with two toilet plumbers.

Kirby was reaching for a jar of chocolate chip cookies while trying to avoid Peach.

Unbeknownst to him, Peach was sneaking up on him with her newest, shiniest, stainless steel frying pan.

The resulting _bang_ really made King Dedede's day.

Apparently, Meta Knight felt sorry for Kirby. Five seconds after hearing King Dedede's loud laugh, he walked up to him and poked him in his (fat) stomach with his sword. Hard.

And so on and so forth.

Since some pretty hectic things were going on within the mansion, the swordsmen Smashers decided to begin their evening duel session an hour earlier than usual. Link, Ike, Marth, Pit, Cloud, and Lloyd managed to escape the house without getting bombed or stabbed. With some persuasion from Lloyd, Kratos Aurion followed the other Smashers.

"This is the Smash Mansion's courtyard, Kratos," Lloyd said to his friend and old partner. "You could call it a gigantic backyard or something. As Pit says it, here we have ten-minute duels where we try not to kill each other. Magical sword moves and arrows and bombs"—here he eyed Link—"are strictly forbidden as to avoid some fatal injuries."

Kratos raised a brow. "…That's quite…difficult to do."

Ike stepped forward. "Allow me and Link to demonstrate an…appropriate duel. Link?"

Link was startled. "But… But…" He glanced worriedly at Ike's sword, Ragnell. "B-but I didn't even volunteer—"

Ike ignored him and grabbed his arm, then dragged him away from the other Smashers. "Oh, come on, Link, we all know you want to duel with me!"

"But—"

Ike turned back to the Smashers. "Look how modest he is! Come on, Link."

Link finally surrendered. "All right! All right! I'll fight you! But please don't impale me, thank you! Remember, this isn't a virtual fight with a Brawl System!"

The two Smashers then faced each other, standing about six feet apart with their swords raised. Cloud began a countdown.

"Three, two, one…fight!"

Ike lunged forward, attempting to trip Link. However, Link saw it coming and quickly jumped out of the way, then did a slash. Ike ducked, and Link's sword caught onto his cape. Link yanked his sword out and jumped upwards just as Ike swung his sword near his feet. The weight and momentum of Ragnell caused Ike to stumble and fall onto his knees. Link brought down his sword from above, but Ike swiftly held Ragnell horizontal to Link's sword, which clanged loudly from the impact and let out some sparks.

"Intense," Kratos commented. "Very intense."

Ike pushed Link away from him and got back onto his feet. He ran towards Link and did a sideways slash. Link parried the attack, and another shower of sparks zoomed out.

Then Link took out a bomb.

"LINK!" Marth shouted. "Penalty! No bombs!"

Link looked at the bomb in his hand, shrugged, and tossed it over his shoulder.

_Boom!_

"…And now you blew up part of the lawn," Pit said, seeing a smoking spot in the usually perfect area of grass. "You'll have to grow that patch back before Master Hand gets mad."

"Really?" Link scoffed. "Would Master Hand really get mad at me just for bombing part of the grass? Ha!"

Ike decided that they had wasted enough time and came barging in, swinging Ragnell towards Link's shoulder. Link yelled out with surprise and dropped onto the ground, Ragnell whistling over his head. When the Hero of Time was back up, he looked mad.

"_Ike!_ Are you trying to decapitate me?"

"Of course not! I was just trying to get back your attention!"

"Oh, sure, that was a _really_ nice way of getting back my attention!"

Link brought down his sword, just as Ike did the same thing. The Master Sword and Ragnell bashed into each other with an ear-deafening _clang_.

Link and Ike's swords crossed once again. The piercing sound of metal on metal was enough to make Marth, Pit, Cloud, Lloyd, and Kratos take ten steps back from where they were. Link and Ike were too concentrated with their battle to hear all the noise they were making, and they continued clashing their swords into each other's.

"And…time's up!" Cloud announced a few minutes later. "What a duel. Ike nearly killed you three times, Link."

Link snorted as he sheathed his Master Sword. "Good to know."

Somewhere off to the side, a voice called out, "Thanks for not killing me or Tetra!"

"Wait, what?" Lloyd strode off to the side yard. "Toon Link and Tetra! Oh, and Snake, too! What are you—wait, what the heck are you guys doing here?"

The other swordsmen joined Lloyd and saw Toon Link and Tetra kneeling close to a rather large hole in the wall. Snake was also there and looked like he had just popped out of the hole.

"I'm just…popping by," Snake said lamely. "Pun not intended. Guys, if you're wondering what I'm doing here, I was escaping from the mansion since R.O.B. malfunctioned and started laser beaming every Smasher he saw… I believe he's being repaired by Tails right now. And then I found this hole, and here I am. Hey, Tetra, watch the paint!" he snapped when Tetra's paintbrush started hovering over him.

Tetra sheepishly held up the paintbrush, dripping with white paint. "And, uh, me and Toon are making some…small repairs to the wall."

"Yeah, 'cause _someone_ here"—Toon Link gave Tetra the evil eye—"just so _happened_ to miss a target and blow a hole in the wall with a bomb arrow."

"But please don't tell anyone!" Tetra begged. "Not even Zelda and definitely not Ganondorf! And _absolutely_ not Master Hand!"

"Don't worry; Master Hand's preoccupied with the business of chasing Crazy Hand through the world of the Mushroom Kingdom right now," Pit told her, calming her down.

Just then, a telepathic voice sounded out from within the Smash Mansion.

_"Keep him restrained! Keep him restrained! Oh—thank you, Olimar and Jigglypuff. Now let us—ah! He is loose! Quickly, lock him up somewhere! He consumed all the sugar—yes, _all_ the sugar, I assure you, Peach—in the kitchen a while ago and is apparently still acting like a frenzied maniac—ah! There he goes! After him!"_

"Wait, Crazy Hand…ATE…all the sugar…?" came Olimar's voice.

_"Yes, he did. That is why we must catch him."_

"…That's not what I meant…"

Snake slapped himself—once again, a little too hard. "Crap! The Master is back! C'mon, fix up the wall, guys—"

Lucario poked his head out of a window three floors up. "SNAKE! I told you already to stop face-palming yourself too hard! And don't be surprised—I hear everything! Yes, _everything_!"

-ooo-

Before anyone knew it, it was dinnertime. Since it was Sunday, all the Smashers piled into the dinner room with the large table. Ever since the arrival of the new Smashers, Master Hand had made the room and the table much larger so as to fit everyone comfortably.

Master Hand, as usual, began with an announcement. _"All right, is everyone here? …Good, everyone is present, other than R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch. Mr. Game & Watch is currently repairing R.O.B.… Ahem. Tails, are you sure our two-dimensional friend is capable of restoring our robotic buddy to his normal self?"_

The two-tailed Mobian fox saluted. "I'm positive, Master Hand! I watched Mr. Flat Guy (I hope he didn't hear that) do his stuff for about ten minutes, and he did everything perfectly so far! It's all under control!"

Master Hand was satisfied. _"Good. And I am happy to say that Crazy Hand has been successfully captured and quieted down—"_

Crazy Hand, floating near the door of the dinner room, waved. _"No! I can never be quieted down! I'm da CRAZY HAND! THE CRAZY DUDE, YA KNOW?"_

Master Hand sighed and pointed at Crazy Hand. A Bullet Bill exploded from his fingertips and tossed Crazy Hand through the door and out of the room.

_"And now that he is gone, let us continue,"_ said the right hand. _"I have better news than the first. Please welcome Fox McCloud's long-lost father—the legendary Arwing pilot James McCloud!"_

Everybody cheered and applauded as both Fox and James stood up.

"Woohoo!" shouted out Diddy Kong. "Go, James!"

The two foxes waited for the Smashers to be quiet. Once they were, Fox said, "Okay, everyone. You all should know who this guy is…" He grinned. "And are most of you familiar with his story?"

"Oh, sure!" said Flamedramon. "Even we, the newcomers, know. He was the leader of the original Team Star Fox—"

"—which consisted of him, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar—" added Renamon.

"—and there was a guy called Andross—" said Red.

"—who was banished to the planet of Venom for his misdeeds," finished Sora.

"Some years or something later, Team Star Fox went to Venom—" began Toon Link, who had successfully finished fixing the wall with Tetra.

"—to investigate some suspicious activities—" cut in Snake.

"—but got betrayed by Pigma—" Samus joined in.

"—who turned McCloud an' Hare over to the ol' Andross dude," Wario said, ending the second sentence.

"James and Peppy broke out and tried to escape—" Sonic said, beginning the third sentence.

"—but James was shot down by Andross—" Shadow said, smirking at Sonic to say that the blue hedgehog wasn't the only one who knew some Star Fox things.

"—so he was presumed dead by most people," Silver supplied, feeling proud to also know about Star Fox. And he was proud to finish the third sentence.

"Why're we doing this weird connect-a-sentence thing?" Rika asked Davis, who just shrugged and mouthed, "Dunno."

"Peppy, in the meantime, managed to escape—" Gantz started, forming the fourth sentence.

"—and went back to the Star Fox base on Corneria—" interrupted Pikachu.

"—where he told Fox of James' unfortunate fate," ended Neku.

"Fox, hearing the sad news—" stated Pit, starting the fifth sentence.

"—swore that-a he would-a one day avenge his father's-a death-a—" Mario provided.

"—and-a proceeded to become-a the new leader of-a Team Star Fox-a!" Luigi concluded, finishing the fifth and final sentence.

James nodded. "Exactly. But all the talk about me being dead turned out to be wrong. Ironically, it was Andross who saved me. You see, during his exile, he made parts of Venom habitable by us Cornerians. I just so happened to crash-land in one of those spots. For years, I lived on Venom, isolated from everyone. I kept my distance from Andross and patched up my Arwing. Over the years, Andross and other various enemies fought Team Star Fox, Team Star Wolf, and the Cornerian Army, Navy, and Air Force. I gave Fox a helping hand when he was in a tight situation…"

Fox stared at James. "…So it really _was_ you. I thought it was…just my imagination…"

James smiled. "But it wasn't, my boy. And then…"

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Fox, Falco, and Wolf.

"These three somehow ended up in the clutches a new enemy, a much more advanced enemy…known as the Subspace Army."

The room was all silent.

"Once again, I saved them. And, after some hours or so…" James gestured to his surroundings. "…here we are. Your friends are back, and I'm here."

Gantz raised his hand. "So, uh, James… Are you planning on staying here for a bit or something?"

James shrugged. "I guess… I haven't really thought it out yet, actually. But I think I'll be staying here for some time."

"Oooh, that's good!" Falco said with approval. "You'll have a _smashing_ time at the Smash Mansion!"

Everyone laughed.

Suddenly, Koopa Troopas and Waddle Dees came pouring into the room. Within a minute, they had set the table and brought out the food.

"And now, let's eat!" Chipple declared. "I'm so hungry, I can eat Bowser right now!"

The Koopa King was shocked. "EXCUSE ME?"

As expected, Darkrai entered the room through the wall. But when he saw Donkey Kong rising from his chair with a raised fist, he immediately turned around and went to the door.

"All right, all right, I'm leaving! I'm not about to get a third bashing on the head and into the wall! But…you're excused, Chipple!" And he dashed out the door, only to be tripped by none other than—

"CRAZY HAND!"

Master Hand's hopelessly crazy counterpart let out a wild laugh as he flew away, with Darkrai in hot pursuit.

"What gave you the right to trip a Legendary Pokémon? Screw you to the Reverse World, you hyperactive idiot of a hand!"

"Hey!" said Sonic, remembering something. "Didn't I say that a while ago?"

Shadow patted his shoulder. "Not a while ago. It was last week."

"No, more like last year," Silver corrected.

"Okay, everyone, let's eat now!" Blaze declared, sitting next to Silver…of course.

For the next hour or so, all that could be heard were the sounds of the Smashers munching and chewing and slurping…along with the "background music" of Darkrai chasing after Crazy Hand with some help from Cresselia.

_"…Bi."_

Oh, and a Bidoof.

-ooo-

Fox, Falco, Wolf, and James went up to the Star Fox room when it was almost time for bed. Fox went straight to the bathroom so he could be the first one in bed. There were only three beds in the room, so for a moment it seemed like either James or one of the Smashers had to sleep on the floor. But then Wolf showed everyone that the sofa in the room was actually a sofa bed ("I can't believe you didn't know that!" he teased), which gave James a place to sleep.

"Thanks, Wolf," James said with gratitude as he settled down on the bed, just as Fox came out of the bathroom.

Wolf grinned. "Hey, no problemo, McCloud. I'm off to the bathroom. And if anyone walks in…" He made a gun with his hand and pointed his finger at a surprised Falco, who quickly held up his hands.

"Don't shoot me! I'm an innocent bird!"

Wolf leered and "shot" his finger gun. Falco pretended to get a bullet in the chest, widening his eyes and staggering and choking, until he finally fell flat on his face. Somehow, he landed precisely on his bed.

Wolf looked at Falco. He rolled his eyes and said, "Anyway, don't you come walking in!" He entered the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Fox went to his bed and lay down. "So, Dad… Want to watch me do a brawl tomorrow? Master Hand told me that I was scheduled for the third brawl of the day, which is the last one."

"Who're you gonna be fighting?" James questioned.

Fox sighed. "Zelda, sadly. I'm not so comfortable about beating up a princess…"

"Ah, Fox. Just do your best. Besides, it's only a virtual brawl…right?"

"Hey, how'd you know?" Fox asked, surprised.

"Oh… I kind of examined the Brawl System while you were doing some stuff with Falco. No, I didn't blow up the thing," he said laughingly when he saw that Fox looked a bit troubled.

"No, that's not what I'm worried about, Dad," Fox explained. "You know how I told you about that Subspace portal? I'm just not sure if the System's one hundred percent okay. But I suppose it should be, if even Palkia inspected it…"

"Palkia?"

"A Legendary Pokémon. Spatial Pokémon. He's got the ability to warp space and stuff, so he could also sense unnatural distortions and stuff."

"Ah, okay."

The two foxes were quiet for the following few minutes. Wolf soon came out of the bathroom and went to his bed.

"…Well, I guess I'm off to sleep now, too, Dad," said Fox, tucking in. "Good night."

James watched his son.

"…Good night, son."

He continued to sit in the exact same position until Fox was finally fast asleep. Now it was past midnight, and James turned towards the window. The light of the full moon shone brightly.

_"Hey, Dad, why don't you ever take off your shades?"_

That was the question that Fox had asked him this afternoon.

_"Ever since I crashed onto Venom, my eyes became much more sensitive to light. That's why I can't expose my eyes to the daylight—not even really dim light."_

And that was James' reply.

James stood still for a minute. Then, with one fluid movement, he reached up to the side of his face whipped off the sunglasses, exposing his eyes to the moonlight.

Despite being in the same family as Fox McCloud's, his eyes weren't the same color as his son's.

-ooo-

Miles and miles away from the Smash Mansion, a conversation was going on.

_"Is he there?"_ asked a soft but commanding voice.

"Yes, Master," a second voice answered. "He reached our objective without any trouble."

_"I presume that no one has any suspicions, much less the fox."_

"Of course not, Master. No one has any idea at all, Master."

The first person was pleased. _"Excellent. Now we may proceed to the next step of our plan…"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that's that, folks. Hope you enjoyed it.<br>**_

_**Hey, Ice Climbers, where will you kick each other to next?  
><strong>_

**Popo:** I'll kick Nana to Japan!

**Nana:** I'll kick Popo to the Smash Mansion!

**Popo:** But I'm already at the Smash Mansion, silly!

**Nana:** I mean, like, I'll kick you _so_ hard that you go flying around the world three hundred sixty times before finally stopping at the mansion. That's my way of getting revenge for getting kicked into the vending machine. Get it?

**Popo:** …Oh, yikes.

_**Indeed, "yikes." So, I was wondering if Genis Sage enjoyed the ice cream…**_

**Klonoa:** Oh, he enjoyed it, alright.

**Pikachu:** In fact, he ate five cones! Vanilla, chocolate, caramel, strawberry, mystery flavor. The ice cream man was so nice that he didn't even charge us!

**Klonoa:** And that's really great, because I'm getting low on pocket money!

_**I see. So Genis **_**loves_ ice cream now, apparently. And what _really_ happened to Crazy Hand?_**

**Darkrai:** Oh… Cresselia and I kind of chased him into the Poké Ball and Trophy Pokémon room…

**Cresselia:** Unfortunately, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres were kind of in a bad mood.

**Darkrai:** So… Well, you know.

_**Okay. Crazy Hand got frozen, electrified, and roasted. Oh, and why was there that…random Bidoof?**_

**Cresselia:** _*mysteriously*_ Because…it's a stalker!

**Darkrai:** _*just as mysteriously*_ The stalker Bidoof stalked Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi while they were on the way home from The Roost…

**Cresselia:** And it entered the Smash Mansion without getting seen.

**Darkrai:** Apparently, it disliked Crazy Hand just as much as us two.

**Cresselia:** So…it helped us.

_**…Um…okay… Ahem. And how mysterious. Who could be those two people at the end?  
><strong>_

**Fox:** _Zzz…_ My dad's actually here…

**Falco:** _Zzz…_ Don't shoot me… _  
><em>

**Wolf:** _Zzz…_ Heh-heh, Falco…

_**Oh, right, I just remembered. No one knows since they're all asleep! Well, let's continue.**_

_**In case you're wondering about the random **_**"I'll kick you to so-and-so" _stuff that the Ice Climbers were saying, my sister and I were testing each other on our knowledge of the world's countries. And so…it is revealed…that the Ice Climbers are a lot smarter than you thought. Maybe that's why they're always on the computer…until last Saturday. (Remember when Popo said, "Aw, man! There goes our computer with the best possible antivirus protection ever" back in Chapter 16?)  
><em>**

**_See you next time in Chapter 20 of _Life at the Mansion_!_**

**_Credits go to Arwingpedia for everything _Star Fox_ related in this chapter! And credits to my sister for joining into my little…kicking game._**

**_Remember to review! 'Cause if you don't, I'll send Snake at you to blow you up with his RPG-7!  
><em>**

**Snake:** …Um… It kind of just…broke down.

_**EH? Ah, dang it! Then get out the grenades and C3s and C4s!**_

**Snake:** …Um… I just…ran out.

_**SNAKE! You're now my least favorite Smasher!**_

**Snake:** _*shocked*_ EXCUSE MEH?

**Darkrai:** _*pops out of a wall*_

**Snake:** _*pulls out an RPG-7*_ You say it, you go _boom_!

**Darkrai:** …Excuse—

**Snake:** _*triggers the RPG-7, which blows up the wall*_

**Darkrai:** _*runs away screaming*_

_**WAIT JUST A MINUTE! I thought you said it broke down!**_

**Snake:** …Hey. Guess it didn't. Now that we know it still works, am I your favorite again?

_**Well…**_**one_ of them. Is that okay?_**

**Snake:** _*happily*_ Of course it's okay!

_**Ah, good! Hey, people, if you don't review, Snake will blow you up with his RPG-7 that actually works, after all! Right, Snake?**_

**Snake:** _*cheerfully*_ Yeah!

_**And now, **_**Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace** **_is on hold. Boohoo. But that's because I _really_ have to start working on _In the Shadows of Time_, my _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ fanfic. So sorry, readers!_**

**Master Hand:** _Wait!_ You have forgotten something of extreme importance!

_**Oh, yeah? What is it?**_

**Master Hand:** _*points at Crazy Hand*_

**Crazy Hand:** Nom-nom-nom—

**Master Hand:** I just _knew_ you would be eating the dessert next! Will you _ever_ give the audience a good impression of yourself? _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**…Ah, yes. That. At least we remembered again.**_

**_So, yeah. Remember to check my profile for the latest fanfic news.  
><em>**

**_But most of all, remember to keep reviewing this story, despite it being on hold for who knows how long! Bye for now!  
><em>**


	20. Team Brawl, Game Brawl

**_Hey, so you know how I said this fanfic was on hold? _I lied, hahahahaha._ I just couldn't help it! But for most of you, I guess that's good news. (Now I'm in a predicament. How do I get myself to start updating _In the Shadows of Time_…? Aargh!)_  
><strong>

**_Anyway, here's Chapter 20. Enjoy! (Although I personally think it's kind of boring…)  
><em>**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing here! And that's that! And none of you own anything here, either! And that's that! And now I'll shut up! And that's that!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20: Team Brawl, Game Brawl<br>**

* * *

><p>Nobody knew it, but a mercenary, two psychic boys, and two Pokémon had been up since four in the morning. Now it was getting close to six thirty.<p>

Snake paced around in circles. "Okay. Let's test it out."

Lucas nodded and started up the game.

"…What's taking so long?" Darkrai complained.

"It's a huge game, so naturally it'd take some time to load," Lucario told him.

"And there goes the introduction," Lucas said as the background music began.

"No fair!" Ness whined. "Why does Snake make a cameo even though he needs to be unlocked?"

Snake grinned. "Because I'm special."

Ness let out a grumpy-sounding huff. "And so is Sonic?"

Snake thought about this for a few seconds. "Nope. Just me." Then he noticed that everyone else in the room was glaring at him. "…What?"

"The intro's done," Lucas said, directing everyone's attention back to the television. "Lucario, the music's good! And the words…well… I don't understand them, but…" He threw his hands up. "Whatever! You don't have to understand the words of a piece of music to enjoy it."

"Hear, hear!" everyone else echoed each other.

"Okay, guys, let's get to work…"

For the rest of the time they had until seven thirty AM, the group of game-makers tested out each mode and searched for glitches and Easter eggs. In the end, they found twelve glitches.

"There could be even more with the hidden characters!" Darkrai said.

"It's nothing serious," Lucario reassured him. "Let's call it done."

"Done!" everyone agreed happily, high-fiving each other.

And that was a very good thing, because the alarm clock sounded.

_"UP AND AT IT, EVERYBODY!"_

Ness and Lucas let out two shrill shrieks and ducked under a desk, and Lucario and Snake clapped their hands over their ears, while Darkrai yelped with surprise and dived into the ground.

_"IT'S A NEW DAY, AND IT'S SEVEN THIRTY, AND IT'S ANOTHER SMASHIN' DAY HERE AT THE SMASHIN' SMASH MANSION FOR ALL Y'ALL SMASHIN' SMASHERS! WE'RE HAVING THE FIRST SMASHIN' BRAWLS AND SMASHIN' MISSIONS OF THIS WONDERFULLY SMASHIN' NEW WEEK! KEEP YOUR SMASHIN' FINGERS OR TAILS OR FEET OR WHATEVERS CROSSED FOR THE SMASHIN' BRAWLS AND SMASHIN' MISSIONS! SO YEAH, _GET UP_!"_

Snake uncovered his ears. "My God, Crazy's wakeup call gets longer and longer each time he does it!"

"And louder," Lucas added fearfully as he and Ness crawled out of their hiding spot.

"With more 'smashin's, if I might add," Lucario said, sighing.

Darkrai reappeared from the floor. "Good thing I've got a good place to go." He pointed down at his feet. "Anyway, let's pack up our stuff and get downstairs for breakfast."

"And get ready for the upcoming brawls," Lucario said as he started to tidy up the room with his friends. "I wonder who'll get chosen for the brawls and missions today."

-ooo-

When Ness and Lucas returned to their room, Jeff immediately asked them where they had gone off to. Ness quickly thought up a lie and told him that they had gotten up early because they couldn't sleep, going to the balcony and their trophy room to check for any break-ins by other Smashers (which was sort of true). Jeff didn't look too suspicious by this story, luckily.

Despite being at the Smash Mansion for only about a day so far, James wasn't the least surprised by Crazy Hand's rude awakening. Fox explained to him that Master Hand occasionally allowed his counterpart to wake up everybody at seven thirty while he was busy on his computer.

"Did Crazy Hand put sound amplifiers on the intercom system?" James joked.

"I hope not," answered Falco as he headed towards the bathroom. "And please call 'em _speakers_. No one uses those fancy-schmancy terms nowadays."

"Well, speakers it is, then."

About twenty minutes later, all the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters were in the cafeteria.

When Fox was walking towards the table with his friends and father, he heard someone call his name.

"Fox!"

He turned around to see Zelda. "Oh, hi, Zelda. What's up?"

"Some things," she replied. "Master Hand wanted me to tell you that we aren't brawling today."

"What?"

"He has scheduled another brawl with different Smashers. I don't know if we'll still be chosen, but… Well, you know."

Fox nodded. "Okay, then. Thanks for telling me that, Zelda."

"No problem. Have a nice breakfast."

Meanwhile, Kirby and King Dedede were eating through approximately two hundred platters of food that they had set all around the cafeteria and outside. Meta Knight took one look at the trails of food, muttered, "Gourmet Race," and exited the cafeteria.

"I bet he's going to the underground hangar to fix the Halberd!" Klonoa whispered to Amaterasu, Chibiterasu, Pikachu, Popo, Nana, and Genis.

"The Halberd?" questioned Genis.

Pikachu beamed. "Meta Knight's humongous flying battleship. It would've been a machine of devastation and destruction if half of its interior hadn't been blown up by the stupid Subspace Gunship…"

"Let's help him, Sword, and Blade with their work!" Nana suggested.

They wolfed down their breakfasts and went dashing out of the cafeteria. Amaterasu stayed behind because she had to look after Chibiterasu.

Sonic, Shadow, and Silver had finished eating their toast and omelets about five minutes ago and were now racing each other to the farthest end of Smashville and back on their Extreme Gear. Tails, Blaze, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream and Cheese were following them with stopwatches, riding their own Gear.

Link had fallen asleep again and was chasing Ganondorf and Toon Link around the room and wildly waving around his Master Sword. Ganondorf was holding a slice of bread he had stolen from Link, which was probably the cause of Link's rampage.

Kirby and Dedede were now going around the cafeteria for the tenth time, finishing up their Gourmet Race. Team Sega reentered the mansion and dropped off their Extreme Gear in their rooms. Everyone went to the Brawl Room where Master Hand was waiting—except for James, who told Fox that he had to check on his Arwing in the hangar.

_"Good morning, Smash Brothers, Assist Trophies, background characters, unexpected guests such as James McCloud, and anybody else I may have missed,"_ Master Hand said to them when everyone was present.

Wolf raised his hand. "James isn't here 'cause he's checking on his Arwing."

_"I see. Well, I hope you all had a good sleep last night. And I am very sorry for the rude awakening you had this morning."_

At this, everybody turned to give the evil eye to Crazy Hand, who was floating next to Master Hand.

_"I was an awesome alarm clock, wasn't I?"_ he said cheerfully. _"Teehee!"_

_"I was preoccupied with the business of writing down this week's schedules for brawls,"_ Master Hand explained. _"Speaking of brawls, Fox and Zelda… You two already know that you are not fighting each other as planned, yes?"_

The Star Fox leader and the Hyrulian princess nodded.

_"Good. I have decided to have team brawls in place of regular one-on-one brawls this week."_

This perked up everyone's attention.

"Team brawls?" said Bowser.

"We haven't had them for who knows how long!" chuckled Marth.

"If I'm picked, I wanna fight Falco!" Kirby declared. "He the closest to chicken."

Falco raised his fist. "You are NOT swallowing me, you little…!"

The new Smashers, other than the ones who previously were Assist Trophies or background characters like Tails or Shadow, were mystified.

"What's a team brawl?" asked Neku. "A fight where you fight in groups?"

"Exactly," said Blaze. "When you're having a team brawl, you are paired up with another Smasher, and the two of you fight another team of two Smashers. There is an item that only works in team brawls, called the Team Healer."

"When you chuck it at your partner, it'll decreases their damage!" Jigglypuff said. "But the bad thing is, it doesn't work on yourself. I once threw it up to make it land on me, but it just disappeared."

Red grinned. "I guess Master Hand cares about selfishness…"

"HEY! I'm not selfish! Wario is!"

Wario looked up with one finger in his nose. "Eh?"

"Ewww, he picks his nose in public?" Tetra hissed to Toon Link, who sighed.

"It's the unfortunate truth. But let's be quiet now."

When the chatter died down, Master Hand resumed speaking. _"Yes, as Blaze has said, a team brawl is a brawl where two Smashers fight another two Smashers. Most items accidentally thrown at a partner will have no effect, like Poison Mushrooms and Deku Nuts. Bombs and Green Shells will still hit anyone, however. And now, for today's mission."_

Everybody got quiet as they waited to see who would be sent to do a mission in their home world.

_"For the first few days of this week, I will be sending only the original Smashers to do a mission. I want our newer ones to have time to adjust to the ways of virtual fighting."_

"That's very smart!" Mr. Game & Watch said approvingly.

_"Today's mission involves…Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, Yoshi, Diddy Kong, and Donkey Kong. Petey Piranha and King Boo have taken up Bowser's old job of invading the Mushroom Kingdom. To make matters worse, they have several Power Stars. Your job is to stop them and get back the Power Stars before things get out of hand."_

"Will do, Master Hand!" said Diddy Kong, standing upright and saluting.

"I guess that explains why he picked out so many people…" Yoshi said thoughtfully. "I mean, Petey and Boo with Power Stars are going to be lots of trouble."

"I'll teleport you to your world," Shadow offered, showing them his green Chaos Emerald.

"It's-a okay." Mario pulled out an interesting-looking gadget. "Our friend-a E. Gadd gave us-a this Teleportificationator for times-a like this-a." Professor Elvin Gadd was a scientist who was also an inventor. The Mario Brothers first met him when Mario was kidnapped by ghosts on a haunted mansion and Luigi had to save him. "We can-a teleport on our own-a. Thanks-a, though!" He switched on the Teleportificationator, and in a flash the missioners were gone.

"Their mission sounds dangerous," Mr. Game & Watch said anxiously.

_"They can handle it,"_ Master Hand said calmly. _"Now, let us start the first brawl and choose the Smashers."_

The television screen behind the hand flickered and turned on, showing four lists of all fifty-seven Smashers. The original Smashers were amazed at how large the number of Smashers had become over the months. The two lists on the left side began to scroll, and they stopped at Tails and Flamedramon.

_"Tails and Flamedramon will be the Red Team,"_ said Master Hand.

"You can handle the fight on your own, right?" Davis asked Flamedramon anxiously.

The Digimon snorted, a small cloud of steam puffing out of his mouth. "Hah, of course!"

_"And now, for the opposing team."_

The right-side lists stopped at Fox and Cloud.

Zelda put her hand on her chin. "It looks like you're still fighting, Fox."

_"Fox and Cloud will be the Blue Team. And now, for the stage. It will be one of the new stages I had been making for the past few weeks."_

"You made more stages?" asked Pikachu, his ears flipping upwards.

_"They are based on some of our newcomers' worlds. First, Breezegale Village, the village of wind!"_

The scrolling lists on the television screen disappeared and were replaced by a stage. The surface was made up of the red and blue rooftops of several houses, both flat and slanted. To the right was a tall windmill whose large blades were rotating slowly in the light breeze. Between each house was a puffy-looking bush with small white flowers. Below the rooftops was a cobblestone road that served as the lower level of the stage. In the distance behind the windmill was a large yellow bell hanging at the top of a tall hill, which had the entrance of a mine at its base. Every half a minute or so, a Klonoa-like creature walked along the road below the rooftops.

Klonoa's eyes widened. "Th-that's my hometown! Breezegale Village! This stage looks just like that! There's Gunston Mine and Bell Hill on top…the windmill…all the little houses…and…and…" He paused to take a deep breath. "It even has Breezegale residents running around! That's so cool!"

_"I am glad to see that you like it, Klonoa,"_ said Master Hand. _"What do you think, Gantz and Chipple?"_

Gantz was looking at every inch of the new stage. "Personally, I think it's a bit too peaceful for a place to fight in, but then again it was overrun by monsters once—"

"—and I fought them off!" Klonoa boasted proudly.

"—so it's decent," Gantz finished.

Chipple nodded. "It's great! Like Gantz, I think it's a little quiet for a Smasher's brawl. But who cares about that?"

_"That is good to hear. Second, a Sonic Riders-related stage called Metal City!"_

Breezegale Village was replaced by a futuristic-looking stage. This stage had only one surface—a metallic racetrack that was facing towards the television, giving everyone the feeling that a racer was going to crash right into them. On either side of the track was a railing to prevent racers from going off course. Tall, sleek buildings surrounded the stage. In the background were two television screens, one on either side of the track. Behind the screens was a ramp, and beyond that was a gap with more of the racetrack on the other side. There was a speed ramp at the end of the other racetrack, meaning that the ramp closest to the stage was just a landing ramp after the racers flew over the gap when getting a boost from the speed ramp.

Shadow tapped on Sonic's shoulder. "Doesn't this place look a little familiar?"

"Yeah!" Sonic replied. "Eggman hosted the EX World Grand Prix II, which included Dolphin Resort, Rocky Ridge, Frozen Forest, Metropolis Speedway, Magma Rift, Forgotten Tomb, Final Factory, and Metal City. I raced Metal Sonic here and won!"

Silver cocked his head to the side. "This stage reminds me of Mario Circuit and Port Town Aero Dive…you know, with the three dimensional feel and racers coming at you towards the screen."

Master Hand then faced everybody again. _"Showing every stage to you all at once will take too long, so we shall continue after the first brawl and lunchtime if we must. Which stage shall be the destination?"_

The list of stages started to scroll, including a few that none of the Smashers had ever seen before.

_"If the choice is a stage that has not been introduced yet, we will simply redo the scrolling,"_ said Master Hand. _"I hope that is fair enough."_

The list stopped at something called Great Glacier Springs.

"I've been there before…" Cloud remembered.

Since no one no one knew about this stage, the list scrolled again, this time stopping at Metal City.

"Oh, boy!" said Tails excitedly. "All the memories of the good old days are coming back to me!"

The four chosen Smashers stepped out of the crowd and faced Master Hand, who then said, _"This brawl will be a two-stock match, and all items are available. The team left standing shall emerge as the victors. Understand?"_

Tails, Flamedramon, Fox, and Cloud nodded.

_"Excellent!"_ Master Hand snapped his fingers, teleporting the four Smashers into Metal City and the virtual world of the Brawl System.

-ooo-

Lucario was telepathically communicating with Snake, Ness, and Lucas while all the fuss with new stages was going on.

_"Now's the perfect time to put the finishing touches on the game! While everyone's distracted, let's sneak out of the Brawl Room and into the EarthBound trophy room."_

The Aura Pokémon, mercenary, and two psychic boys carefully walked out of the crowded Brawl Room. No one looked suspicious or asked any questions.

_Maybe they're thinking that we just need a better view of the TV,_ thought Snake.

On the way towards the trophy room, the group of Smashers bumped into none other than Darkrai. "Hello."

"Hey!" said Lucas, startled at the Pokémon's sudden appearance. "I thought you wanted to watch them fight on the new stage?"

Darkrai's eyes narrowed. "Master Hand made some new stages…?"

"Yes," Lucario answered. "He only showed us two so far— Breezegale Village and Metal City.

"I'd appreciate it greatly if he made one called Newmoon Island…"

Lucario laughed loudly while the rest of the group groaned. "Well, no doubt about that!"

"…but if it turns out to be Fullmoon Island, Cresselia will never stop pestering me about it—I repeat, _never_…"

"I hope he made another Metal Gear-based stage," said Snake. "Maybe one where the Metal Gear actually try jump on you instead of just roaring in the background like on Shadow Moses Island."

"Oh, I wouldn't like that," Lucas said, feeling scared.

"I'd like to see another EarthBound one!" Ness said hopefully. "We've only got two so far—New Pork City and Onett."

"Isn't two enough?" Lucario inquired.

Lucas snorted. "Pfft, look who's talking! You've got two Pokémon Stadiums, Spear Pillar, and N's Castle! That's double the number of Earthbound stages!"

Lucario just continued walking. "I was just thinking… If we have a stage where Dialga and Palkia appear, why not make one where Giratina comes out? Something called the Distortion World or something?"

Darkrai chuckled. "Oh, I don't think Shaymin would like that. Speaking of Shaymin, where is he?"

"Inside a Poké Ball, waiting to be thrown at a Smasher," Snake told him.

They picked up their speed and dashed into the trophy room after checking for other people. Once they were all safely inside, Snake secured the door. Everyone let out breaths of relief since they hadn't been discovered.

But then, a few seconds later, a canine head with sunglasses over its eyes peeked out from the corner, eyeing the trophy room's door.

-ooo-

In the EX World Grand Prix II, there were four teams of Riders: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, and Knuckles the Echidna of Team Heroes; Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, and a robot called E-123 Omega of Team Dark; Cream the Rabbit, Amy Rose, and Vector the Crocodile of Team Rose; and Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross of Team Babylon. Two Riders who couldn't make it to the race were Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat. But now, things were different. The Riders were racing individually. The present Riders were Jet, Wave, Storm, Rouge, Omega, and Vector, plus a few other Mobians—Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee, Big the Cat, Metal Sonic, a robot, and Dr. Eggman.

The Smashers on the stage could easily dodge the oncoming Riders. But what they didn't expect was the Riders getting items and using them—which also affected the Smashers.

Since it was a team brawl, the Smashers looked a little different. Tails' fur had a reddish tint to it, while Flamedramon appeared to have not changed at all. Fox's vest was blue and his boots were bluish, and Cloud's normally black attire was dark blue.

Tails stomped on Cloud and whacked at him with his tails. The swordsman pushed him away and slashed at the fox with the Fusion Sword. Flamedramon appeared to help Tails and raked at Cloud's side with his metallic claws. Fox jumped into the fray, chasing Tails and Flamedramon away from Cloud with Fox Illusion.

"You okay?" Fox asked Cloud.

The swordsman nodded. "It's nothing, just a scratch. Let's go get 'em."

A Team Healer appeared at Fox's feet. He picked it up and threw it at Cloud. When the blue orb made contact with Cloud, it glowed brighter and entered Cloud's body, decreasing his damage by about twenty percent.

On the right side of the stage, opposite of the Blue Team, Flamedramon tossed a small object at Fox. It was a Capsule, and an exploding one at that.

"_Ouch!_ How I hate Capsules!"

Cloud charged at Flamedramon and used Double Cut, striking the Digimon with two quick blows. Flamedramon roared with pain and countered with Flame Shot, flinging Cloud into the sky with his fire-covered horn.

Though Cloud knew very well that getting flung into the sky was not very good, he couldn't help but feel a little grateful when the Riders came flying though the racetrack of Metal City, bowling over Flamedramon. Metal Sonic had a Target Torpedo in hand, which homed in on the Digimon's face when he threw it.

_Boom._

Cloud landed on his feet and smirked at Flamedramon, whose face was now all black from the explosion. "Not so fired up now, eh? Is flame still your game and fire your desire?"

While he was speaking, Tails was quietly sneaking up on him with a Homerun Bat in hand.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Fox slammed into Tails and pushed Cloud out of harm's way. Tails was so surprised that he dropped the bat. Fox picked it up, held it above his head, and swung.

_BANG!_

"AHHHH!" screamed the two-tailed fox as he…_almost_ went past the border.

Ironically, it was one of the stage's obstacles that saved him. Jet the Hawk went too high on the speed ramp and flew right off the track, slamming into Tails in midair and sending the fox back to the ground. Jet got back on the track with some difficulty and went on with the race.

"Aw, jeez!" Fox complained. "Homerun Bats are supposed to work a hundred percent of the time!"

Cloud came over and stood next to Fox. "Well, a little twist of fate just happened to save him. He did get a bunch of damage, though. Hey, a Poké Ball." He threw it and release, the Legendary Gratitude Pokémon.

_"And the game's on, boys!_ Seed Flare!_"_

Shaymin exploded, catching Flamedramon in the blast. Tails cleared the smoke with his tails and saw a glimpse of Shaymin with a smirk on his face before he flew away.

"Aargh…!" Flamedramon threw a Poké Ball he found near his tail at an unsuspecting Fox. Something large and blue with two horns burst out of the ball and pawed the ground, roaring. It was Cobalion, the Legendary Iron Will Pokémon, leader of the Legendary Musketeers. A long, curved horn that glowed with a bluish-white aura extended from the middle of Cobalion's head, and Cobalion dealt a ferocious blow to Fox. Fox cried out in pain and would have gone past the left border if he hadn't reached out and grabbed onto the left-side railing of the Metal City racetrack. Cobalion made a sound of frustration before vanishing.

Fox swung back onto the stage and rammed into Flamedramon with Fire Fox. Despite having fire as his element, the Digimon could easily the burning sensation of Fox's fiery attack. He quickly put up a Flame Shield, enveloping himself in a defensive sphere of fire. Fox backed away to avoid getting barbecued and went off to get Tails.

Tails in the meantime had been fighting Cloud. Tails had the advantage of flying, but surprisingly Cloud could wield his sword in the air as well as he could on the ground.

_But how does he do that?_ thought Tails as he dropped a bomb on top of Cloud, temporarily disabling him. _The Fusion Sword's gotta be fifty pounds at least!_

His thoughts were interrupted when Cloud reappeared with the Fusion Sword held above his head. Then he went upside-down, turned a full circle, and landed the blade on Tails, throwing him upwards with Aerial Fang. The fox gasped and stopped flying, then plummeted onto the ground just as the Riders came along. The Rider in first place, Espio, crashed headlong into Tails. Tails screamed as he left Metal City and sailed past the top border.

Cloud smiled smugly and went back to the ground. "Cool. The Smash Ball isn't even here yet and one fighter's stock goes down by one. Ha!"

As if on cue, the Smash Ball came.

"SMASH BALL!" shouted everyone, including Tails who had just come back on a Revival Pad. Tails, being the closest to the ball, jumped off the Revival Pad and used Tail Spin on the ball. Unfortunately, whirling his tails around so fast soon made him dizzy, and he fell from the air. While Fox was distracted, Flamedramon used the former's head as a stepping stool and drilled at the ball with Blade Drive. Cloud used the Fusion Sword's size to his full advantage and swept Flamedramon away from the Smash Ball with the tip of his sword. Then he launched off of the Digimon's back and used a midair Double Cut, followed by Climhazzard.

The Smash Ball cracked open.

"Good job!" cried Fox, who had recovered from his headache. He ran over to Flamedramon and grabbed him. Flamedramon struggled but could not escape. "Quick, use your Final Smash on this guy!"

Flamedramon was shocked. "W-w-wait! D-don't you dare turn on the Fire of Courage—!"

Too late.

Cloud closed his eyes and held his Fusion Sword before him, which was emitting a light blue glow. When his eyes reopened, they were glowing more intensely than ever.

"And now, for the ultimate finish. _Omnislash!_"

He lunged at Flamedramon and threw him high up into the air. While the Digimon was flailing about in the sky, Cloud's Fusion Sword separated into six smaller swords, five of which zoomed upwards and circled Flamedramon; the main blade followed the others and positioned itself directly above the Digimon.

Cloud flew into the air and grabbed one of the five smaller swords, then dashed forward and sliced at Flamedramon with it. He stopped at a second sword and let go of his first one, which was taken by a glowing silhouette of himself. Cloud continued the sequence of slicing and replacing swords until the five swords were being held by silhouettes, leaving the main blade. Cloud flew above Flamedramon, took hold of the main blade, and slammed into the Digimon with one savagely fierce blow. The silhouettes of Cloud were dispersed by the impact's shockwave, leaving the five blades hanging in midair. Flamedramon soared away from the stage and out of sight just as Cloud descended with the five blades surrounding him. When he reached the ground, the main blade of the Fusion Sword fell into his waiting hand. The other five swords flew back to the main one, reassembling the Fusion Sword.

Fox was awed. "Although I've seen you use that move a few times already, I'm still really impressed by the sheer power!"

Cloud smirked and shouldered his sword. "Thanks. I'd like to see yours."

Suddenly, Tails appeared and punched Fox in the jaw. Then he smacked him with his tails and sent him past the border.

"Dang it!" said Cloud angrily. "Short-lived conversation and the first life lost for the Blue Team. At least the Red Team already lost two."

-ooo-

In the Brawl Room, Ike was feeling jealous.

"Omnislash looks so much more powerful than my Great Aether…!" he continued to rant.

Marth patted him on the shoulder. "No, they're the same. And I honestly think yours looks more dangerous."

"Sure, _looks_ more dangerous, not _is_ more dangerous…" Ike moaned.

-ooo-

Four Smashers and one Legendary Pokémon were still furiously packing up their game. Snake was doing most of the work, though. The others were just following his orders.

"CD sticker stamp."

Lucario gave it to him.

"SSBB disc sticker."

Lucas tossed it to him.

"Instruction manual."

Lucario dropped it at his feet.

"Box."

Ness handed it over.

"Box cover."

Darkrai threw it at him, and it clunked onto his head.

"Watch your aim!" Snake snapped.

When Snake was finished, he held up his completed work. It was a Wii game box with the cover art and summary of their game. Inside the box was the disc, safely stored away; and the instruction manual with information about the first characters' moves, items, basic game-play, different modes for groups and solos, online interactions with other players, and an introduction to the adventure mode.

Everybody couldn't help but feel quite proud. They had finally completed the game they had been working in for the past months!

"Regular people would take a few years to make something like this, but we're smart ol' _Smashers_," Ness bragged.

"Okay," said Lucario. "So what's the plan? Bring it out to show after the second brawl, or after lunch?"

"I believe after lunch is better, since no one is going to have to watch us on an empty stomach," Darkrai said sensibly.

"I agree!" Ness piped up. "We all know that Kirby could never survive that long without eating something."

"Now, let's just wait until it's time and watch the brawl for the time being," suggested Snake. "Someone's gonna notice that we're missing."

Darkrai used Shadow Travel to go under the door and to the other side. Seeing no one in the halls, he told the people inside that it was safe to come out. Snake unlocked the door and then carefully closed it again when everyone was out, and he, Ness, Lucas, Lucario, and Darkrai walked down the hall, chatting cheerfully.

Little did they know that somebody had been spying on them all this time.

-ooo-

James casually strolled into the Brawl Room. "Hey, what's going on here?"

Falco turned around and saw the fox. He quickly pushed him towards the front of the room and pointed at the television screen. "That's what's going on. Fox and Zelda aren't fighting; instead it's Red Team versus Blue Team. And your boy's in the Blue Team with Cloud, teamed up against Tails and Flamedramon of the Red Team.

James watched as Fox took out his Blaster and shot at Tails five times, then dodged Flamedramon's Blade Drive attack from behind. Fox popped up at Flamedramon's back and hit him with a rapid punch-punch-kick combination. Cloud avoided a Rider's Octus, a small octopus-like robot that blinded others with ink, and used Blade Beam on Tails, unleashing a small wave of energy from his sword that ran along the ground, similar to Kirby's Final Cutter move but slower. Tails used Tail Copter to avoid the attack, then used Flash Bang. A bomb fell from his hands and towards Cloud but was detonated in midair by Fox's well-timed Blaster shot.

James looked pleased. "Fox's melee skills are amazing. I didn't know he'd grow up to become a fighter this fierce."

"Oh, you should _really_ start watching him when the Smash Ball appears," Wolf told him.

-ooo-

And the moment he said that, the small but extremely important ball appeared.

Cloud immediately ended his fight with Tails and chased after the ball. He used Climhazzard, which made the ball fly away from him. Flamedramon noticed that the ball was right above him, so he let out a plume of fire at it. This caused the ball to get knocked even higher into the air. Fox knew that he had a very good jump, so he leaped off of the ground, did a midair jumped, and shot several times at the ball. When it was level with him, he zoomed right through it with Fox Illusion. However, the ball still refused to open up and release its powers, and it started hovering away.

Time was running out. Within a matter of seconds, the ball would fly away and one of the Smashers would miss a great opportunity to knock out an opponent!

Tails spun his tails as fast as he could, and he slowly rose into the air. He knew he couldn't fly as high as the Smash Ball, so he took out a bomb and blew it up right at his feet. The explosion tossed him upwards very quickly, and he punched the ball three times.

At last, it shattered and gave its smashing powers to Tails!

Tails went back to the ground as fast as he could. He turned to Flamedramon and gave a thumbs-up…but then he frowned.

"You know what?" he said. "I'll let you have it."

He concentrated, and his power was released in the form of the Smash Ball!

"But why?" asked Flamedramon, bewildered. "You could've just done your Final Smash!"

Tails just winked. "Don't you had a form that rarely appears?"

Then the Digimon understood what Tails meant. He slashed at the ball with his claws before the Blue Team could get it, breaking it open and gaining its powers.

His normally red eyes were now burning gold. "It's time," he said ominously. _"Flamedramon, Golden Armor digivolve to…"_

All at once, he was surrounded by a vortex of cyberspatial energy. The numbers of cyberspace, 0 and 1, circled him in flurries. A golden boxy object appeared and sent a beam of light into his body. Then he began to glow white and grow larger…and larger…

-ooo-

"Golden Armor!" yelped Red. "What kind of digivolution is that?"

Davis just grinned. "You'll see…"

All the Smashers watched as the light faded, revealing what Flamedramon had digivolved into.

And what he had digivolved into was…absolutely terrifying.

Flamedramon had grown several feet taller, and his armor had completely changed. Instead of just a helmet, gloves, and boots, he had metallic orange armor covering almost his entire body. This new armor had spikes and glowing parts, making him look very formidable indeed.

Rika gasped. "That Egg… It was…"

"…the Digi-Egg of Miracles!" finished Renamon.

Davis pumped his fist into the air. "Aw, yeah!"

The new Digimon opened his terrifying crimson eyes. _"Magnamon X!"_ he finished.

-ooo-

Fox and Cloud absolutely freaked out at the sight of this new Digimon. But Cloud suddenly realized that he was acting cowardly, and he felt ashamed. Pushing Fox out of the way, he shouted, _"Blade Beam!"_

Magnamon X didn't even flinch. Then he went over to the very left side of the stage and began to glow.

"Great Star Fox, _really_?" Fox yelled, feeling exasperated. "I've had enough of all the light effects!"

He was cut short when Magnamon X unleashed a shockwave from his body.

_"MAGNA BLAST!"_

Hiding behind the Digimon's right foot was Tails, who watched as Fox and Cloud flew into the sky…and out of sight.

-ooo-

"That was Magnamon X's ultimate move, Magna Blast," Davis was explaining to everyone. "Using power of the Digi-Egg of Miracles, he lets out a shockwave from deep within his body. It's hard to survive the blast, as shown by the poor old Blue Team there."

But for some strange reason, Cloud was the only one who returned on a Revival Pad. Fox was nowhere to be seen.

Sonic scratched his head. "Didn't he get KO'd, too?"

"Either he survived, or it's a glitch with the Brawl System," said Samus. "And I definitely hope it isn't the latter."

The Smashers watched as Magnamon X de-digivolved into Flamedramon, just as Cloud jumped off of the Revival Pad. Flamedramon, Tails, and Cloud started fighting, and though Cloud was against two Smashers, he was holding them off quite well.

And Fox still hadn't reappeared.

Falco started to fret. "Where the heck did he go?"

Suddenly, Pikachu pointed at the right side of the television. "Look!"

They all looked at where the Mouse Pokémon was pointing to, and there was a sharp intake of breath when a hand appeared, grasping onto the railing. Then the Hand's owner pulled himself up and over the railing.

It was Fox!

Falco, Wolf, and James started to cheer. "Yeah! Go, Fox!"

-ooo-

Tails felt a tap on his shoulder. "Missed me?" a voice said into his ear.

He whirled around to receive a punch on the nose. "_Fox?_ But I thought you were KO'd by the Magna Blast!"

Fox smirked. "Well, I didn't." He did a sweeping kick near Tails' feet, and Tails dodged this by jumping. He retaliated with a bomb that exploded near Fox. Fox grunted with pain as the explosion added to the huge amount of damage he had gotten from Flamedramon's Final Smash.

_If only I had a Smash Ball right now…_

Wish granted.

"SMASH BALL ALERT!" Flamedramon pointed out.

While Fox and Tails went off to get it, Cloud and Flamedramon plopped down onto their seats.

"I might as well let Fox get the ball," Cloud said, stabbing his sword into the ground and leaning against it. "I already did my Final Smash, anyway."

Flamedramon sat down, legs crossed. "Same here. I'm too tired to fight you, anyway. Let's let them turn the tide of the battle."

The two foxes had managed to land several hits on the Smash Ball. Fox was faster than Tails, who could fly, which made the competition for the ball difficult. Tails used Tail Spin on the ball, stopping the attack when he was starting to feel a headache from spinning his tails so rapidly. Fox rammed into the ball with Fire Fox, knocking it even higher into the sky. Tails chased after it and slapped it, but it still didn't open. He reached his flying limit and sank onto the ground with Fox.

The Smash Ball started hovering closer to the two…

Simultaneously, the foxes jumped high into the air and eventually were level with the ball. Tails did a spinning kick, while Fox let out a powerful punch.

Both attacks connected with the ball at the exact same time.

It shattered into pieces.

Then something completely unexpected happened. Both Fox and Tails started glowing with multicolored light, their eyes flashing gold.

But…two Smashers with their Final Smashers at ready—_at the same time_?

-ooo-

"Now _that_ clearly is a glitch," Snake said, sounding bored.

Blaze narrowed her eyes. "I wonder if this is Subspace-related."

"It's just a Final Smash problem," said R.O.B., trying to ease up the tension. "Don't blame everything on Subspace."

-ooo-

Fox and Tails were very confused.

"This isn't suppose to happen!" Tails exclaimed. "Only one Smasher could use a Final Smash!"

Fox shrugged. "Well, then…_machine mash_!"

Tails flew high into the air. _"C'mon, X-Tornado!"_

Fox did a soaring leap. _"Landmaster!"_

A large, eight-winged aircraft appeared on the stage with Tails in the cockpit. At the same time, a massive tank crashed down with Fox in control.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

The Landmaster started firing its cannon in all directions, and the X-Tornado responded by shooting a bunch of missiles. The Riders were supposed to be coming around at this time, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile on the ground, Cloud and Flamedramon ran madly in figure 8's and did their best to avoid getting a cannon blast or rocket to the face.

At last, the battle of extremely dangerous projectiles ended with Cloud and Flamedramon lying flat on the ground.

Fox and Tails' machines dissipated. Fox ran towards Flamedramon and threw him out of the battle; Tails did the same to Cloud. Then the two foxes turned on each other and started exchanging punches and kicks. Tails tripped Fox with his tails, but Fox swept his legs under Tails and made him fall. Tails quickly used Flash Bang and tossed a bomb, which Fox destroyed with his Blaster. Fox shot at Tails with his Blaster, who defended himself with his tails. Then Tails used Tail Spin, throwing Fox away from him. Fox retaliated with Fox Illusion and Fire Fox, tossing Tails high up into the air.

Then Fox heard a noise. It sounded like some…very fast moving things.

When Tails thudded back onto the ground, Fox didn't attack him. Instead, he trusted his gut instinct and got off the track.

Tails thought he was self-destructing himself…until he saw the riders.

_Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!_

Eleven Riders on Extreme Gear slammed into Tails at full speed.

And Tails went past the border.

Fox went to the center of the stage and made an act of acting tired. "Whew! What a battle."

The twelfth Rider, who was trailing behind the others, collided with Fox. Fox just grinned…and fainted.

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

_"And the victory goes to the Blue Team!"_ Master Hand announced.

James was awed. "Good God, that was an epic battle! Especially with the Landmaster, Fox!"

Fox had woken up a few minutes ago, and he nodded. "Sure. Thanks. But that was a glitch. Only one guy can use his Final Smash."

_"I believe Crazy Hand has been tinkering with the Brawl System again,"_ Master Hand said, flying out of the Brawl Room. _"I shall deal with him."_

Meanwhile, Flamedramon was being surrounded by Davis, Rika, Renamon, Pikachu, Lucario, Jigglypuff, Red and his Pokémon, Snake, and Captain Falcon.

"Tell me what the hell that thing you turned into was!" Snake demanded.

"Hey, go easy on him; he needs a break!" Davis said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Flamedramon insisted. "Anyway, that was my X Golden Armor Digivolution. Using the Digi-Egg of Miracles, I digivolve into Magnamon. But in the brawl, my Chrome Digizoid armor completely integrated with my body through X-Digivolution, making me Magnamon X. This is my alternate Final Smash which appears only about ten percent of the time. The rest of the time, I digivolve to Raidramon."

"I have a similar Final Smash," Renamon said. "Most of the time, I digivolve to Kyubimon. But in rare cases, I Biomerge with Rika and digivolve to Sakuyamon."

"Biomerge?" asked Jigglypuff.

"It's like fusing a human and Digimon into one body," Rika explained. "You can call it a human Digimon."

"Reminds me of a certain Legendary Pokémon who's always lurking around in his human form," remarked Lucario.

Red was deep in thought. "Pokémon and Digimon seem so alike, but they also have many differences… They both evolve using items and they both hatch from eggs, but Digimon can de-evolve. And they can talk naturally, and they're made of computer data, and they come from the digital world, and—"

"—Red's turning into a Digimon nerd," Snake said.

"—and they don't have—wait, _what_?" Red shouted.

"Snake said you're turning into a Digimon nerd," Pikachu said innocently.

Snake suddenly looked scared when Red gave him the evil eye.

"…Charizard. Flamethrower."

_"GAH!"_

-ooo-

The second brawl ended with Lloyd and Amaterasu, the Red Team, winning over Colette and Ness. Lloyd fought surprisingly well, even when he knew that he was against his best friend Colette. Two new Assist Trophies showed off their abilities during the brawl. Raine Sage was summoned by Peach, and she healed the princess quite a lot. Amaterasu summoned Chibiterasu, who charged at the opposing team and struck them with his small glaive. Chibiterasu was young, but he could fight almost as well as his mother.

Near the end of the second brawl, Mario and friends returned, looking quite beaten but grinning broadly. They had successfully defeated Petey Piranha and King Boo, kicked them out of the Mushroom Kingdom, and retrieved the Power Stars. Mario felt every lucky to not have broken the Teleportificationator during the fights.

After the brawl, Master Hand quickly went through the new stages. One was Great Glacier Springs, a stage based on the Great Glacier in Cloud's world. There was a hot spring to the left, and the surface of the stage was covered with snow and ice, making things slippery.

Another stage was simply called Digital World, a Digimon-based stage where a single platform that would fly through the digital world. Eleven of the thirteen Royal Knights would make brief appearances to attack the stage. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, founder of the Knights, would also come, though rarely; when he appeared, it meant doomsday for the onstage Smashers.

A third stage went by the name of Traverse Town, the place where Sora met Neku. The stage was the Traverse Town Square, surrounded by several shops, including an items shop, a jewelry store, an accessories shop, and a restaurant. Moogles would walk around in the back of the stage.

A fourth stage was called Asgard, a city in Lloyd's world, Sylvarant. The stage was the top of Asgard's tall stone Dais of Wind. Strong winds gusted around the stage, making movement difficult. It was hard to target something with a projectile.

A fifth and final new stage was from Amaterasu's world, Kamiki Village. It was a village surrounded by water, with rice paddies, mills, and various fields of crops. In the background was a monument of Shiranui, Kamiki Village's wolf guardian and Amaterasu's "mother". Nothing bizarre happened on the stage other than a ghostly image of Shiranui occasionally flying around.

After the stage introductions was lunchtime. Before everyone was done eating, Snake, Lucario, Ness, and Lucas sneaked off to get the completed game.

At last, was time.

-ooo-

"HELLO, ONE AND ALL!"

Link, Marth, and Ike turned their heads to the direction of the loud voice.

"I hope it's not Crazy Hand…" Ike said in a low voice.

"I think it's Snake," said Link.

"With a megaphone," added Marth.

"HELLO!" blared Snake again. "_HOLA!_ _KONICHIWA!_ _CIAO!_ _BONJOUR!_ _LOREM!_ Okay, I'm getting tired of speaking in different languages… If you're interested in video gaming, please come on over to the movie theater. We have a new game waiting! Thank you!"

"Did you hear that?" asked Link excitedly. "A new video game. About time! I'm starting to get bored of _Skyward Sword_."

"And I'm getting tired of _Path of Radiance_," said Ike. "Let's check it out."

As Snake had expected, every Smasher and Assist Trophy came pouring into the movie theater.

"Okay, so what is it?" asked Silver.

Lucario held up a Wii disc for everyone to see. "Introducing a video game that Snake, Ness, Lucas, and I had been working on for the past few months…"

Darkrai appeared from the shadows. "You forgot about me!"

"But you barely did anything! …Oh, all right. And with some help from Darkrai. Let's continue. Lights, please."

Ness flipped off the lights in the theater and turned on the television screen. Lucas took the disc and inserted it in the Wii. The television screen showed the Wii Menu and its channels. Snake got a Wii Remote and selected the first channel, opening up a game titled: _Super Smash Bros. BRAWL_.

_Wait, haven't I heard of that somewhere?_ thought Kirby.

The game started to load. Suddenly, the screen went white…and then…it faded.

The screen panned rightwards, giving the five Smashers and Pokémon a quick view of every single Smasher in the Smash Mansion. While this was happening, an orchestral piece of music began to play. Then the scene changed to a picture of all the Smashers standing on a cliff, gazing at an X-shaped light in the distance. The music went into a crescendo, and the title of the game appeared.

_SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL,_ it proclaimed.

After the title, the scene switched into short cameos of the veteran Smashers, then the rest of the Smashers. All the newcomers—Klonoa, Amaterasu, Neku, Sora, and the rest; plus about half of the original Smashers—did not appear.

_But why?_ wondered Kratos.

The last scene was of the Battleship Halberd flying through a mass of red clouds and into the blue sky. Then the title appeared for the second time.

_This has to be a pretty good game if the title has to appear _twice_,_ Sora thought, smiling.

The screen went to the main menu of the game. Snake turned around and said, "Yep, here you are. The game we made."

Neku raised his hand. "I have a question. How come most of us didn't appear in the introduction except on the beginning?"

"That's because a bunch of the characters need to be unlocked, as do a bunch of stages!" Lucas explained. "We'll show you a demo of a typical brawl in this game."

"Now," said Ness while Lucas was picking characters, "you'll see that this game is extremely similar to the way we have fights in the Smash Mansion. All items have the same effects, and we use the same damage gauge as we do in real brawls."

"But there's one major difference," Snake said. "Hold on…"

A stage suddenly appeared on the screen; it was the Battlefield. Four characters appeared on the stage—Mario, jumping out of a pipe; Link, emerging from a whirlwind; Kirby, crash-landing on his Warp Star; and Pikachu, popping out of a Poké Ball.

"It's-a us veterans-a!" Mario said.

"This is just a battle between four CPUs," Lucario said. "The one major difference is that this is mostly 2D, since you can only go right, left, up, and down. But the camera is 3D." Snake paused the brawl and showed the camera to everyone, rotating the scene in all sorts of directions.

"I never knew the bottom of the Battlefield looked like that," Ganondorf noted.

Snake un-paused the game. "Watch how they brawl."

When the announcer finished the countdown (he sounded remarkably like Master Hand), all four Smashers charged. Mario aimed a punch at Link, who dodged and slashed at Kirby. Kirby got hit, then started floating upwards, and he used Stone, flattening Link. Pikachu used Skull Bash, but Mario used Fireball, and Pikachu rammed into the ball of flame instead. He got knocked backwards, taking some damage.

"So yeah, several differences." Snake quit the battle and went back to the Brawl Page.

"You can adjust a CPU's level here," said Ness, pointing at a little box beside the Smasher's picture. "Scale of one to nine. Nine can smash Level One into a pulp."

"Now let's see some other modes," Lucario said, taking the Remote and going back to the Group Page. "Special Brawl is like a regular brawl, but you can add in special effects. You could have a Stamina Mega Flower Curry Heavy Slow Brawl, where the fighters have HP to watch and are big, flowered, and spitting out fireballs—all in slow motion with lots of gravity. Crazy, huh?"

Several Smashers laughed.

"Tourney is where you can have up to thirty-two players fighting, including CPUs, and up to four players per match. In Rotation, you basically swap around with other players if you don't have enough controllers. Names, just write down names to use in brawls." Lucario went back to the main menu and selected Solo.

"Solo, as you should know, is for one player, though a few allow two. In Classic Mode, you defeat other Smashers and complete Target Smash to progress through levels and reach the boss. You can adjust the difficulty from Easy to Intense. In Events, you play as a certain character and have to beat a certain opponent. When you complete the first batch, you unlock another bunch. You can change the difficulty here, too. Here's the Stadium, where you can do Target Smash, the Homerun Contest, or Multi-Man Brawl. Smash all targets as fast as you can in Target Smash, hit the Sandbag as far as you could with a Homerun Bat in Homerun Contest, and fight the Alloy Team in Multi-Man Brawl. Here's Training, where you just train and improve your skills. You can change the CPU's actions."

Lucario paused, then grinned. "Lastly…the Adventure Mode."

Everyone waited.

"The Subspace Emissary."

All the original Smashers gasped. _"What?"_

"I'm sure this'll be your favorite," Snake said. "Here, you play a game version of our Subspace adventure. To make everyone happy, we added the newcomers, too, in scenes that never occurred in real life."

"Thanks!" Chipple exclaimed.

Lucario set down the Remote. "The rest you can find out for yourselves. It's all self-explanatory."

"Um, guys?"

They found Samus with her MacBook Pro.

"I just searched up '_Super Smash Bros._', and apparently in the human world they already have three of those games."

Everyone was shocked, especially the game-makers.

Samus started reading. "The first game was called _Super Smash Bros._ and had only eight characters. Then came _Super Smash Melee_, which brought along many new characters, items, modes, and improvements. Lastly was _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, bringing most of _Melee_'s characters back and introducing, well, _many_ new things." Samus scrolled down. "And listen to this! They have a fourth installment of the series in progress, rumored to be titled _Super Smash Bros. Universe_. And they have an official website for _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_." Samus looked up. "How'd you guys get the idea without knowing that the people already had it since 2008?"

Mario gawked. "Since-a…_2008_…?"

Lucario and Snake pointed at Ness and Lucas. "Ask them."

"We honestly don't know now it came to us!" Lucas admitted. "We just…thought of it." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

"Maybe our minds are linked with the human world," Ness suggested. "Or maybe… Is the Smash World connected to the human world somehow?"

"Whatever the reason, our version of the game is _way_ better!" Lucas said. "More Smashers, more Assists, more stages, more Poké Balls, more craziness. Cool, huh?"

"One more thing before handing out the games," Snake said. "Since Master Hand made more stages after we finished making the game, we'll be working on an update for those stages. Happy? Good. Now let's start distributing, guys."

Everyone started crowding around the game-makers.

Darkrai jumped on top of a table. "Not until after lunch!"

Lucas got mad. "Stupid! We already ate lunch!"

"Sorry, sorry, just teasing you!"

-ooo-

Word of the new game spread quickly through the Smash Mansion. Master Hand was informed of it, and he was quite impressed.

_"I wonder how they finished making this game in a few mere months,"_ he remarked.

James wasn't too surprised at the news of the game.

"I saw them sneaking into a trophy room…" he said to Fox. "I got curious, so I stayed there. I heard them testing out the game and complaining about the little glitches they found."

Fox laughed. "See, I told you I was right about you looking like a spy in the sunglasses!"

James shrugged. "Hey, I'm sorry."

After the third brawl, in which the Green Team (Sora and Neku) defeated the Blue Team (the Ice Climbers and Tetra), all the Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters rushed off to their rooms to start going nuts over their new game.

Lucario walked over to Snake and patted him on the back. "Looks like it was a great success, huh?"

Snake nodded, grinning.

-ooo-

Miles away from the Smash Mansion…

_"Why is he not striking yet?"_ a voice said angrily.

A person bowed before the first voice's owner. He looked like a teenage boy all dressed in black. "He wants to wait until the time they're least suspecting it, Master. Our chances of success will be even higher if we let him do as he wants."

The Master was silent for a while. At last, he said, _"All right. But make sure he still knows what to do."_

The boy nodded. "Yes, Master."

* * *

><p><em><strong>And that's that with Chapter 20.<strong>_

_**Woohoo! Finally, **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ is "released"! Oh, and I put quotation marks because it was actually already released in 2008._  
><strong>

**Snake:** I know. It's depressing.

**Lucario:** At least our version has more stuff…

**Lucas:** But now I know that the idea wasn't mine or Ness'! It was the people in the human world who thought of it!

**Ness:** Don't remind me!

_**Come on, cheer up, you guys! I wish I had this version of yours. Mine's getting boring with all the original characters and stuff. And I unlocked all the modes and got a lot of trophies and stuff… Anyway, let's go on. James, how do you think of your boy's skills?**_

**James:** Darn mad! And I thought he was already good enough in his Arwing! Speaking of Arwings, Slippy Toad has successfully patched up my Arwing and upgraded its weapons.

**Slippy:** Ain't I good or what!

_**Yes, Slippy, you are. And it looks like this "Master" person at the end has another minion! Who could it be?**_

**Crazy Hand:** Oooh, I know! Can I say it?

**Master Hand:** No spoilers! Now get back to your room! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_**_  
><em>**

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!_  
><em>

_**Credits to Wikipedia, the Smash Bros. DOJO! website, the Digimon wiki, and the Final Fantasy wiki for stuff related to the Smashers, **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, Flamedramon, Magnamon X, and Cloud Strife. And credits to the Klonoa wiki, the Sonic wiki, the Final Fantasy wiki, the Digimon wiki, the Kingdom Hearts wiki, the Tales of Symphonia wiki, and the Ōkami wiki for stuff about the new stages!_**

**_Remember to review!  
><em>**


	21. When Master Hand Goes Out

**_All righty-o, here's Chapter 21! Enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me, blah-blah-blah, I'm getting really sick of saying this…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21: When Master Hand Goes Out<strong>

* * *

><p>Since everyone was excited about the just-released <em>Super Smash Bros. Brawl<em>, all the Smash Mansion residents stayed up way past the time they were supposed to be in bed. Master Hand knew about this, of course, but he did not say anything.

The four game-makers agreed to meet in the EarthBound trophy room at six in the morning to work on some updates for the game, as they had promised their friends that they would do so.

Many of the Smashers and Assist Trophies were slightly miffed at the fact that there were many more hidden characters than they had expected. And there were many more things they were a little annoyed about.

Sonic and Shadow were not impressed with the current characters' speed.

King Dedede didn't know that his "star-KO'd" cry sounded so funny.

Wario wished his Wario Waft move had a larger, more dynamic effect.

Bowser wondered why he "ran" so strangely.

But no one complained out loud, since they all knew that one of the makers of this new game was Solid Snake.

The next morning, Crazy Hand managed to wake up _everybody_, since they had all stayed up until past midnight because of _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_.

_"OKEY-DOKEY, EVERYONE! IT'S A NEW SMASHIN' DAY, AND IT'S A NEW SMASHIN' SEVEN THIRTY OF THE NEW SMASHIN' DAY, AND IT'S ANOTHER NEW SMASHIN' DAY HERE AT THE SMASHIN' SMASH MANSION FOR ALL Y'ALL SMASHIN' SMASHERS AND SMASHIN' ASSIST TROPHIES AND SMASHIN' BACKGROUND CHARACTERS AND SMASHIN' GUESTS AND SMASHIN' GUYS WHO I KINDA SMASHIN' FORGOT! WE'RE HAVING A NEW SMASHIN' SET OF SMASHIN' BRAWLS AND SMASHIN' MISSIONS ON THIS SECOND SMASHIN' DAY OF THE WEEK! THAT'S RIGHT, THE SECOND SMASHIN' DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE WONDERFULLY SMASHIN' TUESDAY! KEEP YOUR SMASHIN' FINGERS OR TAILS OR FEET OR WHATEVERS CROSSED FOR THE SMASHIN' BRAWLS AND SMASHIN' MISSIONS ON THIS SMASHIN' TUESDAY! SO YEAH, I THINK I'M DONE WITH MY SMASHINGLY SMASHIN' SPEECH! _GET YOUR SMASHIN' BUTTS UP NOW!_"_

Snake smirked at Lucario. "I _told_ you his wakeup call was getting longer and longer every day…"

Once everyone had gotten over the wakeup call, they did their morning routines and went downstairs for breakfast. The smell of fresh pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, and toast wafted through the mansion and instantly set their stomachs rumbling.

Since R.O.B., Mr. Game & Watch, and Ray MK III were robots, they were the only ones who didn't need to eat. When everyone came into the cafeteria, they noticed that nearly all of them had dark circles around their eyes.

"They must've stayed up way too long because of that game," Ray whispered to his companions, wh nodded in agreement.

"We haven't tried ours yet," Mr. Game & Watch said. "Is it really that good?"

R.O.B. glanced at the parade of sleep Smashers. "Well, judging from these guys' looks, yes."

When they were all finished with breakfast, the Koopa Troopas and Waddle Dees rushed in to clean up the cafeteria. The Smashers went to the Brawl Room while everyone else left to do their own things.

_"Good morning, Smash Brothers,"_ greeted Master Hand.

"'Morning, Master Hand," a few Smashers said dully, while the rest said nothing at all. Master Hand examined the group.

_"You are all much quieter than usual. You stayed up past your bedtime because you were all playing that game, correct?"_

The Smashers nodded slowly.

"We're sorry, but it's just so addicting!" Davis tried to explain.

"Yeah, even when I'm not even in the gaaaaame…yet," added Flamedramon, yawning at "game".

"You start playing it, and you're instantly hooked," said Neku.

"I have to say, the Adventure Mode is the catchiest part of the whole _Brawl_ game," Marth commented. "Ike and I are only about ten percent through!"

_"I understand,"_ said Mast Hand. _"But you must remember that doing this bad habit is bad for your health. Now, for the big news."_

Everybody stopped chattering among themselves.

_"I have some important errands to run outside of Smashville,"_ the hand said. _"Just for today, assuming that I return to the Smash Mansion with no fingers lost, Crazy Hand will be in charge."_

Yoshi's jaw hit the ground.

Diddy Kong slipped on the banana he had sneaked into the room.

R.O.B. promptly short-circuited.

Pikachu shouted at him, "Hey, I'm supposed to do that!"

Lucario's ears twitched twice.

The Ice Climbers hit each other on the head and knocked each other out.

"No way!" gasped Sora. "Of all people and otherworldly creatures of the Smash Mansion, you pick _Crazy Hand_?!"

"Dude, he's got 'Being of Destruction' in his name!" Falco shouted angrily.

"You shoulda picked _me_!" yelled Wario, outraged at the fact that a crazy left hand had been chosen over him. "I'm da _man_!"

Master Hand waited until everybody had calmed down a bit, which took about five minutes. _"I am sure that everything will be all right. It is only for a day."_

"Why can't we just go without anyone in charge for a day?" protested Amaterasu from the back of the room. "I bet _that_ will have better results than when Crazy Hand is in charge!"

Cries rang out in all directions, supporting Amaterasu's smart words.

"She's totally right, man!"

"I think we can _all_ manage to stay in one piece if we do things her way."

"Can't we just lock up Crazy in the basement or something until Master comes back?"

"No! He'll destroy my Halberd!"

"Well, that's three million times better than getting _ourselves_ destroyed…"

_"ENOUGH!"_ Master Hand roared. _"I can see your discomfort in my_ words…" He let out a sigh of frustration._ "All right, I give in! To make everyone happy, no one shall be in charge while I am gone."_

This brought out an approving cheer from the Smashers.

Master Hand turned to Crazy Hand. _"Well, you heard me, Crazy Hand. Just because nobody is in charge while I am out does _not_ mean that you have the pleasure of doing whatever crazy actions you want to do! I expect to see the Smash Mansion in one piece when I return. And I definitely do _not_ want to see Bob-ombs, Gooey Bombs, Smart Bombs, or any other bombs of the sort lying around. Do you understand?"_

Crazy Hand saluted. _"Aye-aye, cap'n!"_

Olimar leaned over to Captain Falcon to whisper into his ear. "I don't trust him."

Captain Falcon readily agreed. "No one can trust him."

Then Master Hand turned to the Smashers. _"I believe you Smashers are capable of handling your brawls and missions on your own. Speaking of missions, he is the mission for today."_ He paused. _"Davis, Rika, Flamedramon, and Renamon. You four are go to Tokyo, Japan. A Cherubimon is on its way to the city. There is a virus within it and it is your job to get it out and save Cherubimon from its corrupted state."_

"Cherubimon, eh?" Davis said. "I've heard of it. When it's got a virus, it's tough."

"But our Digimon are stronger," Rika added. We'll destroy that virus."

"I wonder why this Digimon's name includes the name of a Pokémon…" Red mused.

"Looks like I'm up for the job again," said Shadow, bringing out his Chaos Emerald. "Ready? _Chaos Control!_"

The missioners and the hedgehog disappeared.

Master Hand faced the Smashers again. _"And now, I must take my leave. But before I go, I need to tell you something. The three brawls today do not include any members of Team Nintendo or Team Sega. I want them to do some last-minute training for the London Olympics, since they are leaving tomorrow. And today's brawls are team brawls once again. I already set up the chosen Smashers. Just turn on the television and it will how you. Remember, do not destroy anything important while I am gone! Good-bye."_

With that, he snapped his fingers and vanished without a trace. At the same time, Shadow returned.

"Tokyo's in good shape right now," he said. "But it'll get trashed if Cherubimon's virus isn't destroyed soon." He looked around. "Master Hand just left, eh?"

"Yeah," said Bowser. "Let's get outside and do some training! I'm gonna win the gold at London!"

"I'll get Metal Sonic, Bowser Junior, and the others," Sonic said, zipping off.

"We're going-a to the courtyard-a to set up-a the stuff-a," said Mario, exiting the room with all the other members of Team Nintendo and Team Sega.

Tails turned to Shadow and Silver and asked, "I hope this doesn't bother you, but can you two get Dr. Eggman? He _is_ part of Team Sega, after all."

"No problem," said Silver. "And if he refuses to come, I'll threaten him that he'll be the only one to win nothing at the Olympics!"

Blaze laughed nervously. "Sounds a little extreme, but go ahead. I'll come along with you. Knowing you, Silver, you won't last long if Eggman had something up his sleeve."

"Blaze, I can take care of myself!" Silver tried to protest, but in the end he had to give in.

"I want to come, too!" said Yoshi.

Shadow nodded. "Okay. Let's go. C_haos Control!_"

The other Smashers decided to begin with the brawls. Tetra turned the television on.

"Let's see which guys the Master chose," she said.

The first brawls of the day started with Samus and Zelda, the Red Team, versus Falco and Diddy Kong, the Blue Team.

The two girls looked at each other. "Girl power!" they exclaimed happily, high-fiving each other.

"Hey!" said Ganondorf, frowning. "The Blue Team has Subspace partners. Did Master Hand do this on purpose?"

"Master Hand's a fair guy," said Snake. "I think it's just a coincidence. So, are we starting or not?"

"Someone should go to the room where the Brawl System is stored and guard the Brawl System," said Meta Knight. "I can't, since I have my Halberd work to do with Blade Knight and Sword Knight." He left the room with a sweep of his cape.

"Wait for us!" The Ice Climbers, Pikachu, Klonoa, and Genis chased after the knight.

A few seconds later, King Dedede waddled after them. "Hey, I want to do something helpful for a change! Slow down, will ya? I'm a _king_, ya know!"

"Yeah, a _self-proclaimed_ king," muttered Kirby once King Dedede was out of earshot. "I'll go, too! Wait up!" He dashed out of the room.

"I'll guard the Brawl System," James volunteered. "I'll do whatever I could to keep Crazy Hand away from it!" He took out his Blaster, which now looked much more up to date. "And I've got my Blaster ready if that hand pokes his finger inside!"

"You go, Dad." Fox chuckled as James marched out the Brawl Room.

Tetra raised the remote control. "And now, let's see what stage we have!" She pressed a button, and Master Hand's choice appeared on the screen.

"Oh, it's one of those new stages!" exclaimed Samus. "Hmm… Digital World, huh?"

"That's the Digimon one," said Ness. "But none of us now that much about Digimon, so we won't know which Digimon that appears is which. We'll all easily recognize Magnamon." The Digital World stage's Magnamon had nothing to do with Flamedramon's Final Smash.

Toon Link jumped up and down and waved around a little blue book. "It's okay, I've got a Digimon handbook here. Davis let me borrow it."

"Digimon handbook?" Red muttered. "Like a Pokémon handbook of Digimon? I'm finding more and more similarities every day…"

"Okay!" Tetra announced. "I'm guessing that the brawls today are just like yesterday's—two lives, all items are available, crazy Final Smashes, et cetera. Let's start!" She waited for someone to snap his fingers.

Mr. Game & Watch raised his hand. "How are we supposed to teleport the Smashers into the game without Master Hand?"

Tetra paled. "Oh, yeah."

A light emitted from the remote control and enveloped the chosen Smashers—and they vanished!

Everyone gasped while Jigglypuff started crying.

"Oh, no, they got sent into oblivion!" she wailed.

And then a countdown started.

_"Three!"_

Samus, clad in her Power Suit, walked out of a cylindrical container. Zelda daintily stepped out of a column of swirling light. Zelda, being in the Red Team, had a red dress, while Samus' attire didn't change at all

_"Two!"_

An Arwing flew overhead and Falco was ejected from the cockpit. A barrel with "DK" in red appeared and Diddy Kong jumped out of it, clapping his hands. Since they were in the Blue Team, their clothes were blue.

_"One!"_

"Well, guess they're safe," said Sora.

_"FIGHT!"_

-ooo-

Samus ran quickly across the stage, tripping Falco and causing the latter to nearly drop his Blaster. While Samus went off to fight Diddy Kong, Zelda ran towards Falco and used Din's Fire, throwing out a red and pink fireball. Falco canceled out the fireball with a shot of his Blaster, then did a forward jumping kick and tackled into Zelda. Zelda quickly recovered from the kick and slapped her foe on the hand. Falco hopped backwards, his knuckles stinging.

_Jeez, who does she think she is…a nineteenth-century teacher or somethin'? Sheesh._

Diddy Kong whipped out his popgun and shot a peanut at Samus. The bounty hunter curled up into a defensive ball, causing the fast-flying peanut to ricochet off her hard armor. Samus uncurled herself and did a forwards kick, digging her foot into Diddy Kong's gut. In return, the monkey turned around and slapped at Samus with his tail, using it like a whip. Samus backed away from Diddy Kong and hit him with an energy shot from her arm cannon, pushing the monkey off the stage. Diddy Kong used his rocket barrels to fly back to safety.

Falco snatched up a Poké Ball that had appeared at his feet, and he chucked it at Zelda. The Pokémon that appeared looked like a yellow tiger with long fangs, black zigzag patterns, a purple cloud on its back, a black crest above its red eyes, and a lightning bolt-like tail.

"Cool," said Falco. "I don't think this one appeared yet. I guess Master Hand was busy recruiting more Pokémon last night."

-ooo-

"That's Raikou, the Electric-type Thunder Pokémon," said Red. "It's a member of the Legendary Beast Trio of the Johto Region. It was one of the three Pokémon that were reincarnated by Ho-Oh when they perished in the burning of the Brass Tower."

"The name 'Beast Trio' makes 'em sound real tough!" said Chipple.

"Wow, they're really lucky to have been reincarnated as Legendary Pokémon, hm?" Gantz remarked.

-ooo-

Raikou swerved its head around, its sharp fangs gleaming in the light of the Digital World. It locked onto the closest opponent of the Blue Team—Zelda.

The Thunder Pokémon roared, and a black thundercloud appeared above Zelda.

Samus saw what was about to happen. "Hold on, Zelda! I'm coming!" She threw a Poké Ball she had found, which burst open in front of Zelda. The ball released a Gardevoir, the Psychic-type Embrace Pokémon with short green hair and a flowing white dress. Many people agreed that it was quite an attractive Pokémon.

Just as a massive thunderbolt came down from Raikou's cloud, Gardevoir enveloped itself and Zelda within a semitransparent circular barrier called Reflect. Raikou's Thunder struck Gardevoir's Reflect, but since lightning bolts were considered to be projectiles, the reflective barrier threw the lightning away from Zelda and back at Raikou. The Thunder Pokémon swerved around its own attack and roared at Gardevoir with rage. The Embrace Pokémon just waved cheerfully while Raikou vanished from the stage.

Zelda let out a sigh of relief and looked at Samus. "Thank you for saving me!"

Samus winked. "Ha, no problem! Gotta get back to work now!" She threw out her leg and caused Diddy Kong to do a face-plant on the hard ground. He had been planning to run around the bounty hunter and to her front to shoot some peanuts.

Zelda stayed inside Gardevoir's Reflect while Falco warily looked on, holding his Blaster in front of him. He knew he couldn't shoot because his shots would get thrown back to him. And he couldn't do any close-range attacks because Zelda could always toss out a Din's Fire…

At last, Gardevoir and its barrier disappeared. Falco pressed the trigger and two laser shots struck Zelda.

"Now, now, that's no way to treat a lady of royal blood!" Zelda scolded the Star Fox pilot, using Nayru's Love and striking her opponent with crystal shards. Falco deflected about half of the shards with his Reflector while the rest hit him and Diddy Kong, who was behind him with Samus. While the monkey was momentarily stunned with pain, Samus whacked him on head with her arm cannon, knocking him down.

The stage turned a corner and entered another path in the Digital World labyrinth.

Just then, there was the sound of something coming towards the stage at a furiously high speed. A large figure zipped through the air and past the surprised Smashers.

"What was that?" asked Falco.

"I think it's one of those Royal Knight Digimon!" Samus answered.

"I wonder which one will appear?" Zelda asked.

_Oh, great!_ thought Diddy Kong. _Now we're all in the same boat._

The Digimon came to a stop at the right corner of the stage. It wore white and blue armor with gold spikes, and on its back was a pair of torn indigo wings. Each of its palms had a red jewel embedded in it.

-ooo-

"What kind of Digimon is _that_?" asked Charizard.

Toon Link flipped through the Digimon handbook. "According to Davis Motomiya's handbook, that Digimon is called Dynasmon. It's a Warrior Digimon of the Data attribute, and it possesses the powers of a wyvern." He looked up. "What's a wyvern? I kinda forgot all of a sudden."

"It's a kind of dragon," said Marth. "Let's see what Dynasmon will do to our friends."

-ooo-

Dynasmon hovered above the Smashers, his large wings flapping slowly. Then he lowered himself to be in level with the stage and began to glow with a bluish-white light.

"I have a feeling that he's gonna shoot a laser beam at us or something," said Diddy Kong. _"Jump!"_

He charged up his rocket barrels until they were ready to explode, and he zoomed high into the air. Falco jumped, did a midair jump, and used Fire Bird. He felt very lucky to have the biggest jump height of all the Smashers, exceeding even Luigi who was famous for his jumping abilities in the Mushroom Kingdom. But he was a little worried about the speed of his fall…

"We have to jump, too!" said Zelda to Samus. "But let's be smart. At the last possible second, jump as high and quickly as you can!"

They waited until Dynasmon raised his right arm.

_"Now!"_ shouted Samus.

Zelda spun in place and transformed into the more agile Sheik. She took Samus' hand and jumped twice into the air, then used Vanish and teleported away from the stage.

Meanwhile, Falco and Diddy Kong found themselves sinking rapidly falling the ground—and Dynasmon.

"No!" shouted Falco. "It's too early for us to lose a life already!"

But, of course, the Royal Knight did not hear.

_"DRAGON BREATH!"_ he bellowed, bringing forward his right arm.

A mass of bluish-white energy took the shape of a winged dragon with two forelegs and a long, barbed tail. It was a wyvern!

The wyvern of energy erupted from Dynasmon and swept across the stage, obliterating all the unused items.

And Diddy Kong fell into the energy beam.

"EEEEEEK!" he screamed, getting blown away as well.

Falco was shocked to see his teammate lose a life so quickly. He knew that his team's stock was much more important now. Struggling to stay in the air as long as possible, he held out his arms to slow his descent.

Meanwhile, from a safe distance above, Sheik and Samus were watching the ensuing chaos on the stage. After the two had appeared high in the air, still holding hands, Samus dropped a bunch of bombs, using their detonation blasts to stay away from the ground. Sheik made sure that she was holding onto Samus' hand very tightly so she wouldn't slip and fall into Dynasmon's Dragon Breath attack.

At last, the Royal Knight's energy ran out, and Falco landed without any burns. Samus stopped dropping bombs, and she and Sheik fell to the ground. Diddy Kong, seeing that it was now safe to leave his Revival Pad, rejoined Falco. Dynasmon looked at each Smasher in the eyes, nodded while saying, "Good luck to all of you," and flew off.

Falco let out a low whistle. "Well, that was close."

Diddy Kong jumped up and down. "But now the Blue Team's a life down, thanks to me! I'm so sorry about that! We gotta be really careful now! And I promise to be more careful!"

Falco nodded. "Right. Let's brawl!"

-ooo-

James stood still in the small room. Nothing else was with him except the Brawl System, which was humming away with a low drone. The fox could hear the excited Smashers shouting out words of encouragement to the four Smashers in the virtual brawl.

He closed his eyes and lowered his head.

_I can't do it. Not with so many people walking around! But…_when_ can I do it? I don't want to disappoint him. I must wait until there are less people here… Less people…_

There was a very soft rustle near the door of the room. Snapping his eyes open, he took out his Blaster.

A large, white index finger poked inside.

"Crazy Hand!" James shouted. "I told you to stay out of this room! This is the fifth time already!"

He fired away with his Blaster. Several yellow energy shots struck Crazy Hand, and he zoomed away, laughing and crying with pain at the same time.

"Jeez… What a nutter." James pocketed his Blaster and resumed his job of standing guard.

_Someday… Someday._

-ooo-

A gasp arose from the crowd of Smashers when the Smash Ball appeared on the television screen.

Within the virtual world and on the stage, the two teams looked up to see the rainbow-booted ball flying over them.

Samus turned to Sheik. "Cover me, will you?"

Falco and Diddy Kong had the same idea. "I'll get the ball," said Diddy Kong to Falco. "Keep away the others."

Samus jumped as high as she could and jabbed at the ball with her left hand. Diddy Kong came along and blasted himself into the ball, boosted by his rocket barrels. This caused the ball to move away from him, and Samus struck it with her Screw Attack.

While Diddy Kong was fighting for the Smash Ball, Falco was sneaking towards Samus when her back was turned. Sheik saw this and came to the rescue, flinging six sharp needles at the Star Fox pilot. Falco let out a small grunt as he fell backwards onto the ground.

Samus let out a chain of small explosions on the ball, pushing it in Diddy Kong's direction. Diddy Kong Monkey Flipped into it and sent it flying back at Samus, who tossed a bomb at it. When she paused to catch her breath, Diddy Kong used the bounty hunter as a footstool and hopped off her shoulders, then shot a peanut at the ball, opening it.

He grinned like a maniac and strapped on his rocket barrels, then took out a pair of peanut popguns.

"Woohoo! _Rocket Barrel Barrage!_"

His rocket barrels flared with firepower, and he shot into the air. He took aim at the two princesses of the Red Team—and fired.

_Pew! Pew! PEW!_

Sheik and Samus did the best they could to dodge the incoming missiles. Diddy Kong continued to fire peanut after peanut to prevent the princesses from stopping to eat a peanut to restore their health.

Falco, on the other hand, knew that Diddy Kong's Final Smash couldn't hurt him, so he took all the time he wanted to stoop down and munch on some peanuts.

_"Mmm,"_ he said, slowly chewing. "Thanks, Diddy! _Mm-mmm._" He swallowed. "Needs more salt!" he declared.

Diddy Kong swooped down and fired away with his popguns as if they were a pair of machine guns. Sheik backflipped to avoid the peanuts, but Samus was caught in the blast.

There were several small explosions, and the next thing Sheik saw was her teammate flying past the right border.

_Oh, no! Now the Red Team has one less life! But the good thing is that the Blue Team also has one less life. If we could keep it this way, things will stay a bit equal._

Soon, Diddy Kong's rocket barrels ran out of fuel, and they exploded, throwing the monkey into the air without harming him. While this was happening, Sheik and Falco were having a peanut-eating contest.

Diddy Kong landed on solid ground—and his jaw dropped. "Wh-wh-whaaaaat? Where'd all the peanuts go?"

Sheik grinned. "Sorry, but we kind of ate them all."

Steam poured out of the little monkey's ears. "Why, you—!"

He was cut off by a wallop on the side of his head, given by an arm cannon.

"Hello, everybody!" Samus greeted cheerfully. "Missed me?"

While Falco was distracted by the appearance of the galactic bounty hunter, Sheik threw out a chain and wrapped it around the unsuspecting Smasher. Then she started banging him into the ground.

"Hey—yo!" the Star Fox pilot said angrily as he got a hit to the beak with every word. "Watch—it! No—one—messes—with—the—_bird_!"

At last, Sheik let the bird go, but not before zapping him several times with the electrified tip of her chain. Falco stumbled around a bit, then shook the dizziness out of his head. "Like I said before, _no one messes with the bird_!"

He used Falco Phantasm and zipped past Sheik. The mirage that trailed after him went right through the princess and scored a painful hit.

A Party Ball appeared on the left side of the stage. Samus heaved it up and, with a small grunt, threw it at Diddy Kong, who dodged it. When the Party Ball hit the ground, it slowly rose into the air and opened, releasing a party of—

"BOB-OMBS!" everyone screamed. "RUN!"

The four Smashers forgot about fighting each other as they focused on steering clear of the walking bombs. Two Smashers weren't that lucky.

_Kaboom!_

_Kaboom!_

"Why me, why meeeeeee…!" screeched Falco as he went past the right border.

"You forgot about me," Sheik muttered irately, passing the left border.

Samus and Diddy Kong managed to stay away from all the Bob-ombs without getting a scratch. When Sheik and Falco returned on their Revival Pads, a Smash Ball appeared.

"Woot! Smash Ball!" whooped Diddy Kong, Monkey Flipping into the ball and kicking it towards Falco. The bird left his Revival Pad and kicked out his Reflector, which zapped the ball and caused it to fly near Samus. The bounty hunter let out a missile which struck the ball, bumping it towards Sheik. Sheik had been readying her Needle Storm, which she now used on the ball.

The stubborn little ball floated upwards and out of the Smashers' reach. Bobbing up and down, it seemed to be daring the Smashers to come and get it.

"That's enough!" Sheik shouted angrily. She did a flying leap and let out a flurry of jabs at the Smash Ball. With the twenty-fifth punch, the ball cracked open.

Falco paled. "Oh, jeez. It's Doom Arrow time."

Sheik transformed back into Zelda, who smirked at the cowering Blue Team. "No, not the Doom Arrow."

A massive golden bow with intricate designs appeared in her left hand. Then a large arrow appeared in the bow, which she began to draw back.

She took careful aim at Falco and Diddy Kong.

_"Light—"_

She was interrupted.

"What?" complained Samus. "Of all times, it has to be _now_ when a Digimon comes?"

An enormous figure appeared from the back of the stage, then soared over. The wind it made knocked down all the Smashers. Zelda managed to keep hold of her bow and arrow.

The Digimon stopped at the left side of the stage. It wore pure white armor with gold spikes and claws. The breastplate on its front looked strangely like Giratina's head, but white. The Smashers could see that the Digimon itself was blue with a long tail. On its pack was a pair of large white wings.

-ooo-

"Aha!" Toon Link cried, pointing at a picture of the same Digimon in the Digimon handbook. "That's the grand master of the Royal Knights! That Digimon is Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, which is sort of like the angelic or holy form of Imperialdramon. He's a Mega level Digimon of the Vaccine attribute. He's not a Royal Knight, even though he founded the group."

Wolf whistled. "Let's see how this guy deals with our buddies on the stage."

Toon Link looked closer at the book. "It says here…that Imperialdramon Paladin Mode can cut his opponent in two with a single stroke of his Omni Sword, resetting and clearing their configuration data."

Snake's eyes widened. "Ohhhh, damn."

-ooo-

Imperialdramon Paladin Mode looked at each Smasher. Then he held out his right hand, and a massive sword materialized. The blade was silvery white with gold edges, and etched on the surface were ten runes.

-ooo-

"According to Davis Motomiya's handbook, those runes say 'INITIALIZE' in Digital World runes," Toon Link stated.

Red shuddered. "Sounds creepy."

-ooo-

Holding his Omni Sword high above his head, Imperialdramon Paladin Mode prepared to land a finishing blow on the Smashers.

_Finishing blow…_ Zelda smiled. _That's it!_

"Samus," she said quietly. "Do whatever you could to dodge the Digimon's attack. But whatever you do, _don't let Falco and Diddy Kong notice_."

The galactic bounty hunter nodded, then left Zelda alone.

Imperialdramon Paladin Mode's sword glowed with massive power. Falco and Diddy Kong prepared themselves to run.

They were so concentrated on the Digimon that they didn't know what was going on behind them…

Zelda stood up and drew her bow.

Imperialdramon Paladin Mode finished charging up power.

A golden arrow zoomed out. _"Light Arrow!"_

A gigantic glowing sword went down. _"OMNI SWORD!"_

Two excruciatingly painful attacks struck Falco and Diddy Kong.

And…all was over.

_"GAME!"_

-ooo-

Outside the Smash Mansion, a bluish portal appeared in the air. A small, pale-skinned person stepped out of the spatial hole before it disappeared into nonbeing. The person appeared to be a Hylian and looked similar to Toon Link. He wore a purple tunic with a gold belt; the belt had a circular red gem. Over the tunic was an indigo cloak. He had red pants, red sandals, and an indigo cap with gold designs and a red jewel set in the center. His shoulder-length hair was lavender, and his eyes were blood-red. His hair drooped over his right eye.

At the same time, another hole dropped off a tall, canid creature that looked like a bipedal fox. It was black in color with a bundle of deeper black fur on its chest. Cascading down its back was a long mane of red fur with black tips; near the bottom of the mane was a teal bangle. Its claws were bright red in color, and it had red trims around its mouth and cyan eyes.

The pale-skinned Hylian regarded the fox-like creature, his mouth set in a tight line. "You were invited, too?"

The canine nodded.

"I see," said the Hylian. "Let's go together and see what this…Smash Mansion has in store for us."

-ooo-

"And the Red Team emerges as the victors!" proclaimed Tetra as the four Smashers came tumbling back into the real world. "Ha, Samus and Falco didn't even need to use their Final Smashes! And I bet the Blue Team is really glad that Samus didn't get the Smash Ball! Congrats to the Red Team!"

The two girls smiled at each other and exchanged a high-five. "Girl power!"

"Hey!" said Lucario, surprised. "Didn't I hear that sometime before?"

Tetra cleared her throat. "Aaaaand next up, we have…"

With the press of a button on the remote control, the television screen switched back to four lists of all the Smashers. The Red Team's lists began to scroll, and they stopped at Link and Toon Link. After that, the Green Team's lists stopped at Ganondorf and Tetra.

Snake looked skeptically at his rival Tetra. "Are you _sure_ Master Hand didn't choose the Smashers?"

"Of course!" said Tetra, but she didn't sound so sure now.

_Heh, I thought so,_ thought the mercenary with a smirk.

-ooo-

James chased the persistent Crazy Hand out of the room for the seventeenth time. He glared at the fleeing hand before walking back into the room.

"Nothing can stop him, eh?" he chuckled. "Well, I'm going to do whatever I can to keep him out of here…and away from the Brawl System…"

He took a step closer to the humming Brawl System and examined it closely.

"So…this machine was used for a portal that led into a corrupted world of virtuality, eh? I wonder how much strength was used to succeed in making that portal."

He put a hand on the System, feeling its radiating warmth.

"Portals aren't the only things you can make out of this piece of complicated piece of machinery…"

-ooo-

The Red Team took the victory without getting any serious injuries.

Link grinned at Toon Link. "That went well…I guess."

Toon Link nodded. "Yeah, right. I didn't feel so comfortable about fighting Tetra, but whatever…"

"Okay, second brawl's done," Tetra said. "Let's go eat lunch now!"

The Smashers filed out of the Brawl Room and went into the cafeteria, joined by the Assist Trophies and background characters. Teams Nintendo and Sega didn't come in because Peach had taken their lunches outside. The same went for the Smashers in the basement who were fixing the Battleship Halberd; Sword Knight had brought their meals down to eat.

For some reason, James wasn't with the Smashers in the cafeteria.

"I guess he's still keeping Crazy Hand away from the Brawl System," Fox said to Falco and Wolf.

Lunch was over in about an hour, and the Smashers went back into the Brawl Room while the others left to do their own things.

Tetra clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, people. Let's get started with the third brawl! And for the third brawl, we haaaaaave…R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch in the Red Team versus Link and Yoshi in the Green Team!"

Snake stared. "_Now_ are you sure Master Hand didn't pick us out in advance?"

"Err…" Tetra paused. "No."

-ooo-

Knuckles the Echidna ambled down the hallway, a piece of paper in his large, gloved hands.

"I know that the rest of Team Sega is out in the courtyard, training for the Olympics, but I think this is more important," the red echidna said to himself. "I gotta put this on Master Hand's desk before I forget! 'Cause if I do, it'll be too late, and I'll have to stay as a background character for the Green Hill Zone. Bo-ring." He turned a corner, still double-checking the paper. "I'd better make sure I didn't write anything wrong here, or I'll be busted… Let's see… Name: Knuckles the Echidna. Age: sixteen. Allies: Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao, the Chaotix, and pretty much everyone else in Team Sega other than Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic, though they're my allies during the Olympics. Former or current occupation: guardian of the Master Emerald and Angel Island, last member of the—"

A resounding _crash_ sounded nearby. Knuckles looked up and nearly dropped his paper when a figure about his height, pitch-black in color, darted past him and down the hall.

Knuckles blinked twice, his violet eyes staring in the direction of the figure. "I'm sure I didn't imagine that… But was I imagining it when that guy looked like Sonic?"

-ooo-

Olimar was getting ready to teleport the chosen Smashers into the game and onto the stage, which happened to be Flat Zone, but several shouting fits were holding him back.

"That Master Hand must've picked us out in advance!" yelled R.O.B. "See—we're all Subspace partners. Okay, G&W and I weren't exactly partners, but you get the point. What else could explain it?"

"Maybe Crazy Hand broke into the room and made the Brawl System glitch up!" suggested Ness.

"Bah, that's impossible!" Fox scoffed. "My dad's guarding it!"

"Well, what if Crazy got past him and made it have some glitches?" Sora shouted back.

A fast-moving breeze blew through the room. Then Neku gasped—and he crumpled onto the floor.

Sora was shocked. "Neku? Neku!" He knelt down and put a hand on the other boy's forehead. "Please tell me you're all right, Neku Sakuraba!"

Cloud joined Sora. "Unconscious…? But how…?"

Lucas let out a small scream. With a trembling finger, he pointed near the doorway of the Brawl Room. "Look!"

It looked exactly like Sonic the Hedgehog. But something was wrong. Instead of blue fur and light peach arms, front, and lower face, this hedgehog was colored black all over with a neon green tint to its fur. The parts of the eyes that were supposed to be white we're of the same shade as its body, and its irises were neon green.

All the original Smashers in the room instantly got into their fighting stances.

"What the hell is _that_?" Kratos demanded.

A menacing snarl ripped out from deep within Wolf's throat. "A Reversal."

And, claws outstretched, he dived at the black hedgehog.

"Wait, a _what_?" questioned Colette curiously.

"A Reversal," R.O.B. explained as he watched the fight. "Basically, a Reversal is the opposite of a Smasher—the reversed form of a Smasher. It's made up of Subspatial matter. It has no emotions whatsoever and lacks all the qualities that makes a living thing, well, living, and it only knows about destroying everything in its path. _That_ one," he said, pointing at where the black hedgehog once stood, "is the Reversed form of Sonic. But…" He began to think. "How can that be? I thought we destroyed them all…"

"We missed one," Ike said grimly. "We escaped from the Great Maze shortly before Sonic arrived. No one was expecting him, so no Reversed form of him was created."

"But still, how can a Reversal survive outside of Subspace and in the real world?" Marth asked angrily, cringing at the sound of Wolf getting flung into a wall with a sickening _crunch_.

-ooo-

In the courtyard of the Smash Mansion, Amy Rose was shaking Sonic. "Sonic? Sonic! Please wake up! What happened?"

The blue hedgehog was unconscious.

-ooo-

Fox looked at Falco straight in the eye and said, "Wolf needs our help!" Falco agreed, and the two Star Fox members left the Brawl Room to join the fray.

"Quick!" Snake ordered. "Let's lure the Reversal out into the open! Lead it to the entrance room and get it outside!"

All the Smashers, even the newer ones who still had no idea as to what was going on, exited the room and surrounded Reversal-Sonic. With all their strength, the managed to make it to the entrance room. As the neared the tall entrance doors of the mansion, Reversal-Sonic began to struggle even more. It thrashed around, knocking over Tetra and Lloyd.

"Someone get the doors!" Wolf roared before tackling Reversal-Sonic.

There was no need to.

The doors were thrown wide open. A blade of air whooshed past the Smashers—and cut diagonally through Reversal-Sonic, whose usually emotionless eyes were now blazing with shock.

A second later, a red streak cleaved through the Reversal, perpendicular to the first strike.

The Smashers, as if by instinct, backed away from Reversal-Sonic. The Reversal fell onto its knees and, with a silent scream of agony, melted into four black puddles of otherworldly material. Everyone wanted to know what it was, but no one dare touch it. After all, it came from a being of Subspace.

The Smashers stared at the puddles of black liquid that were once a Reversal. Then, in unison, they looked towards the entrance doors.

Standing side by side were two strangers, one who looked Hylian and the other who looked fox-like. Both of them had their right hand raised, indicating that they were the ones who destroyed the Reversal.

Link and Toon Link jumped up with shock. "You!" they yelled simultaneously.

They lunged at the Hylian, swords raised. The stranger looked alarmed at the sudden onslaught.

"Link, Toon, _no_!" Samus and Captain Falcon stepped out and restrained the two Heroes of Time, who were still wildly waving around their Master Swords. "He's a _newcomer_, guys! And they destroyed the Reversal, too!"

Red, on the other hand, was awed by the sight of the other newcomer. "Legends above! A Zoroark! I've never seen one before!" He walked towards the canid creature.

Zoroark, for that was what the Pokémon was, suddenly looked wary. "Are you going to capture me?"

Red stopped in his tracks. "What? No! I don't catch Pokémon now! By the way, I'm Red. I'm a Pokémon Trainer from the Kanto Region. Welcome to the Smash Mansion! And, as you can see here…" He nodded towards the black puddles. "You picked a pretty bad time to arrive at the mansion…"

The two Links were still trying to decapitate the Hylian.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Toon Link shouted furiously, kicking at Samus but to no avail. "Can't you see who he is? That's Vaati! He kidnapped you before, Zelda!"

Zelda raised an inquisitive brow. She hadn't moved from her spot ever since Reversal-Sonic was destroyed. "I'm fully aware of that. But why would a villain be invited to the Smash Mansion? He must have turned over a new leaf, just like Bowser and Ganondorf!"

"But still…!" Link insisted, struggling within Captain Falcon's sturdy grasp.

The Hylian, Vaati, then spoke up. His voice was quiet with a commanding edge to it. "It's true. I'm not a villain anymore. I've learned my lesson. But I wished to remain in this Hylian form instead of my Minish form, so here I am. Don't kill me. By the way, why are there two Links?"

Link and Toon Link finally decided that fighting was futile. And they noticed that Vaati sounded very different. They remembered him as an boastful-sounding fellow, full of arrogance. But now he sounded like any other person.

_We should introduce ourselves,_ thought Toon Link.

Link answered Vaati's question.

"You're right; we're both called Link," said Link. "We're actually from parallel universes, but we still somehow know what happens to our counterpart. For example, if Toon Link meets someone and fights him, I know that person as well, even without meeting him. It's all very strange and hard to explain, but you don't need to worry about it at all."

"_Toon_ Link?"

"That's right," said Toon Link. "You know me as Link, but I'm called Toon Link here to avoid name confusion with Link. So please call me Toon Link or just Toon. And thanks for destroying the Reversal."

"Okay…Toon Link. And you're welcome."

Snake looked at Lucario, Ness, and Lucas "Hmm, more Smashers, eh?"

They nodded.

"We need to make some updates for _Brawl_!" they announced to no one in particular, and they all ran off in the direction of the EarthBound trophy room.

"So, do you have your letters?" asked Mr. Game & Watch. "I just want to see if you two really were invited by Master Hand."

The Pokémon and the Hylian gave the two-dimensional Smasher their letters. Mr. Game & Watch glanced at them and confirmed that they we're signed by Master Hand.

"Boy, are we ever glad to see you!" Jigglypuff gushed. "Well, I don't know you two, but I'm just saying that now's the perfect time for your arrival!"

"You see, our worst enemy has made a comeback," explained Amaterasu. "The original Smashers thought they destroyed him more than a year ago, but it turns out that he survived. He is still intent on ruling the Smash World as its king and using us as his servants."

"'_Original_ Smashers'?" Zoroark asked.

"Several of these guys you see here joined us after our fight with our nemesis," said Olimar, gesturing to the crowd of Smashers. "We have some more Smashers in the backyard and down in the basement."

"Not now!"

Pikachu, Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, the Ice Climbers, Klonoa, and Genis came running out of a door and towards the Smashers.

"Sorry we're late!" Klonoa apologized. "We heard a commotion upstairs and decided to check it out, but the elevator broke down as we were going up."

"We fixed it as fast as we could, but you had already finished with your business before we finished ours," Meta Knight said.

Fox pointed at the people who had just arrived. "These guys are also Smashers, but that boy in blue is an Assist Trophy. Genis, can you get Teams Nintendo and Sega in here, please? Bring only the Smashers and tell the rest to keep training. And tell them that it's extremely important and it had something to do with a Reversal."

Genis nodded and rushed off.

Popo and Nana were stunned. "Something to do with a _Reversal_?"

A minute later, Genis returned with Mario, Luigi, Peach Bowser, Yoshi, Wario, Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Tails, and Blaze. All of them looked very shocked. Silver was carrying an unconscious Sonic with his ESP.

"Genis told us there was a Reversal attack earlier—" Yoshi began, but was interrupted by Mario.

"Mama mia!" he exclaimed. "More newbies-a? What-a great news-a!"

"Yes, yes," Shadow said impatiently. "What was that? A Reversal attack?"

"What's a Reversal?" Silver asked.

Suddenly, the four black puddles on the ground began to froth and bubble.

"You'll see in a few seconds," Cloud said, holding out his sword.

"By the way, what happened to Sonic?" asked Zelda.

"He just_…_collapsed," Donkey Kong said, glancing back at the blue hedgehog. "We had no idea why. But now that you're talking about a Reversal-Sonic, it's all starting to make sense. A Reversal without any form attack Sonic without us seeing and took his form_…_then got destroyed by you_…_and—"

"Quiet!" Diddy Kong snapped. "Look!"

The puddles solidified into what could only be described as four blobs of amorphous material. Then the blobs zoomed out and attached themselves to Bowser, Pikachu, Sora, and Blaze!

"Blaze!" shouted Silver, rushing over to her. He put his hands on the blob and struggled to pry it off his friend's body. But it stuck fast and refused to budge.

"It's no use!" Amaterasu said as she helped Cloud with Sora's blob. "They're latching onto the Smashers with an incredibly strong grip!"

Then each blob left the four victimized Smashers, who all collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

And each blob took form as the Smashers they had attached to.

In a matter of seconds, there were four Reversed forms of Bowser, Pikachu, Sora, and Blaze standing before the astonished Smashers.

"Well, what do you know," King Dedede muttered. "They learned how to multiply."

And the four Reversals attacked.

Reversal-Sora swiftly went to the unconscious Sora and Neku, but was blocked by a gigantic Fusion Sword.

"First you gotta get past _me_," Cloud said to it.

Reversal-Sora's right hand became a blur, rushing forward to punch Cloud in the gut. The swordsman blocked the attack with his sword and pushed down the Reversal. Meta Knight, Ike, Marth, Lloyd, and Kratos joined Cloud and slashed at Reversal-Sora, who proved to be too quick for them. Nimbly dodging an attack from Lloyd's Material Swords, it drew out a Keyblade of dark power and intercepted Marth's Dolphin Blade attack. Meta Knight, thanks to his small size compared to everyone else, was able to kick out Reversal-Sora's feet from under. As the Reversed form of Sora struggled to regain its balance, Kratos charged in and struck it back down with Hell Pyre, slashing upwards at the enemy and following that up with a fireball thrown out from his sword.

Shadow, Silver, Tails, and Amaterasu teamed up against the Reversed form of Blaze the Cat. Using a darkened version of Twin Fireball, it caught Tails by surprise with two black spheres of fire. Tails went flying towards the ceiling, but he was cushioned from the impact by his bushy tails. Shadow decided to use his speed powers to the fullest extent, and he ran around and around Reversal-Blaze, too fast to be seen. Then he attacked from behind, driving his feet into the dark feline's back. Reversal-Blaze was knocked down, but it was up once again in less than a second. Amaterasu came in and slashed with the glaive on her back, which was met by Reversal-Blaze's Twin Fireball. Then the Reversal used Axel Jump, jumping high into the air and enveloping itself with a fiery tornado, and rammed into Silver. Silver was thrown into Amaterasu, and the two Smashers went down. Tails suddenly reappeared and punched the Reversal in the face. Surprisingly, the Reversal appeared to be unfazed. Silver attacked with Psychic Knife, which missed by a few inches. The blue blade of psychic energy slammed into the wall instead, creating a large hole.

Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Red, Charizard, and Jigglypuff were up against the Reversed forms of Pikachu and Bowser, who appeared to be working together. Reversal-Bowser tucked inside its spiked shell and used Whirling Fortress, aiming at Yoshi; right before the attack connected, Reversal-Pikachu used a darkened version of Thunder and turned Bowser's move into a Whirling Thunder Fortress. Yoshi was too surprised to move, and he was instantly flattened. Red gave the command for Charizard to use Fly. Charizard flew towards Reversal-Pikachu and grasped the dark Pokémon in his claws, then flew upwards and turned back to slam down the Pokémon. But Reversal-Pikachu showed some quite amazing strength and managed to flip around Charizard so that the Flame Pokémon was facing the ground. Charizard was flung into the ground with a colossal _crash_, and he was lost within a deep hole he created in the marble floor. Jigglypuff used Sing on Bowser, but somehow the dark Koopa king didn't feel its effects and used Bowser Bomb on the Balloon Pokémon. Mario and Luigi quickly came to Jigglypuff's aid, throwing out a red and green fireball. Both balls hit Reversal-Bowser, but the foe didn't even flinch.

"What's with all these guys?" yelped Peach, ducking an attack. "They were never _this_ strong before!"

"INCOMING!"

A Nikita missile exploded in Reversal-Blaze's face, throwing it away from Silver. Before it could recover, Silver had paralyzed it with his telekinetic abilities.

Snake came running into the battle, followed by Lucario, Ness, and Lucas.

"Boy, what a bad time for a Reversal attack!" Lucas commented, hitting Reversal-Sora with a PK Fire attack.

"I know, right?" Ness yelled over the din, whacking Reversal-Pikachu's head with his baseball bat.

Lucario struck Reversal-Bowser with Aura Sphere. "Less talk, more fight, boys!"

Even though they had just arrived at the Smash Mansion, Vaati and Zoroark took part in the frenzy and went straight to Reversal-Blaze. Vaati used his powers over the wind and hit Reversal-Blaze with a small tornado. Zoroark's claws glowed bright red, and he brought them down in the form of Night Slash.

The chaotic battle went on for several minutes, until…

There was a bright flash in the midst of the battle, and a familiar figure appeared.

"Thank the Almighty God!" Snake said. "It's Master Hand!"

True to his word, the master of the Smash Mansion had returned. And he was absolutely livid.

_"You four Reversals invaded our Smash Mansion, injured our Smash Brothers, damaged our home, and even had the nerve to _appear_ after the Subspace incident!"_ he roared. _"Here is a one-way ticket to…"_

Intense lightning bolts of several colors—red, yellow, and blue—appeared at the hand's fingertips.

_"_…_OBLIVION!"_

The multicolored lightning tore out from Master Hand and straight into the four Reversals' bodies, dissolving them into a purplish mist. Master Hand snapped his fingers and opened a small portal, which sucked in the mist. The hand snapped his fingers away, closing the portal and sealing away the Reversals in an alternate dimension.

With a weary sigh, he turned to the Smashers. _"I apologize for not returning sooner_…_ I sensed that somethi__ng wrong was happening in the mansion, so I came back as quickly as I could."_ He sighed again. _"I never knew that__ teleporting could take up so much energy_…_ But please tell me, is everybody all right?"_

"Yup, just kind of bruised and stuff," Ike confirmed.

"Sonic, Neku, Bowser, Pikachu, Sora, and Blaze all got knocked out by the Reversals," Tails added. "But they're gonna be just fine."

"Meta Knight, Ike, Marth, Lloyd, Kratos, and I got dinged up by Reversal-Sora, but we're A-okay," said Cloud.

"Reversal-Blaze banged up me and Shadow, Silver, Amaterasu, Vaati, and Zoroark," Tails said. "Oh, yeah, and Vaati and Zoroark are newcomers."

_"I know. Welcome to the Smash Mansion, you two. And sorry for the rude introductions. But do not worry; most of our days here in the mansion are not as hectic as today. So, anyone else hurt?"_

"Me, Mario, Peach-a, Yoshi, Red-a, Charizard-a, and-a Jigglypuff got-a battered-a by Reversal Bowser and-a Reversal-Pikachu," Luigi said, "but-a we're fine-a as well-a."

Lucario looked around the entrance room. "But, um… While we were dealing with Reversal-Sonic, we wrecked the hall and a bit of the Brawl Room."

"And there's no need to describe the state that the entrance room's in," added Kirby.

_"That is all right,"_ said Master Hand. _"No one suffered fatal injuries, at least. Now, did anything happen to the Brawl System?"_

"Nah," said Fox nonchalantly. "James guarded the thing pretty darn well."

-ooo-

The shadowy boy could easily tell that his master was pleased.

_"He finally goes on the offense, eh?"_ the master said, sounding satisfied. _"He has done well."_

The boy nodded. "I knew we could depend on him, Master. What shall we do next?"

His master was deep in thought. _"…What day is it?"_

"July 19, 2012," the boy said, confused. "Why do you need to know, Master?"

His master remained silent for a while. Then he said, _"And the Olympics begin on July 27… And that is when a large__ portion of the Smashers are separated from the rest of their friends."_

The boy began to see his master's plan. "I see… And that is when we strike…"

There was a faint smile on the master's lips. _"Exactly."_

And an evil laugh rang through the darkness.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ahhhh! Finished! That was Chapter 21! Ha, this chapter has 10,000 words exactly! No kidding, people!<strong>_

_**It appears that Knuckles doesn't want to be a background character anymore. Is he joining as a Smasher?  
><strong>_

**Knuckles:** _*grinning*_ You bet! When you're a background character, you don't really get to do anything. I just run the shuttle loop at the back of the Green Hill Zone. Dialga, Palkia, and Cresselia are background characters, but they get to do things to the stage and the Smashers. I want to take part in the fighting! Auditions, here I come! _*runs off*_

_**Go, Knuckles! I hope you make it. And it looks like we've got two more newcomers!**  
><em>

**Vaati:** I have to admit that the welcome I got was not the kind I was expecting… But at least I'm still alive.

**Zoroark:** I had tons of fun beating up those things! What were they called again?

**Vaati:** Reversals, I think.

**Zoroark:** Right. They were very strong. They were worthy opponents! I'm just wondering where they come from.

**Vaati:** I don't think they're supposed to be here…

_**I agree, Vaati. Speaking of that, how is the Brawl System?**_

**Falco:** Perfect! No scratches, no dents, no dings. Just the way I like it.

_**Hey! The Digimon missioners haven't returned yet. What's keeping them?**_

**Marth:** I guess that evil Digimon they're dealing with was a lot stronger than they thought. I'm getting worried.

**Ike:** Hey, they're Smashers. They can handle it.

**Marth:** _*nervously*_ I hope so… I'm just glad we survived the Reversals without their help.

_**And…what could the evil "master" be thinking? Is it a new plot? Hmm, I wonder… And thanks for not wrecking the Brawl System, Crazy!**_

**Crazy Hand:** No prob! Can I wreck it now?

**Master Hand:** NO! I do not want the most important object of our mansion to get destroyed! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**Credits to the Smash Bros. DOJO‼ website for information about the Smashers' moves, the Digimon wiki for some information about the third Digimon movie (that's where I got information about Cherubimon and the virus and stuff), and the Super Smash Bros. wiki for some things about Reversals. By the way, I made up the name "Reversal". I honestly don't know what they're really called; on the Super Smash Bros. wiki they called them "false characters," which is quite a mouthful. And so now they're called Reversals.  
><strong>_

_**Once again, thanks for voting! All four of these characters are going to come in as Smashers.  
><strong>_

_**Sorry for not introducing Mega Man yet. That's because I'm still trying to pick a certain Mega Man from the vast group. I'm currently stuck between Mega Man X and Star Force Mega Man**_**_, but I'm leaning towards X._  
><strong>

**_Remember to review!  
><em>**


	22. Mansion Invasion

**_OH, DEAR GOD. After a four-month hiatus, I have finally made_**…**_my return! I'M ALIIIIIIIVE! [insert dramatic music here] _**…**_Well, that was really lame. Anyway, this fanfic has finally been updated!_**

**Ness:** _*cheering*_ Yayyyyyy!**  
><strong>

**_H-hey! No one's allowed in the openers!_  
><strong>

**Ness:** Well, they are now! _*sticks his tongue out*_

**_Get_ out_!_**_** *kicks Ness out of the opener* W_hew**… **_**_**_Now, on with the show—or should I say, story of the Smashers! Please enjoy.  
><em>**

**Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me, but I do own the story… Just letting y'all know! By the way—I do hope I'll get a three-digit number of reviews with this chapter! I'd appreciate it very much if you leave one (or two, if you're a guest). Thanks in advance!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22: Mansion Invasion<strong>

* * *

><p>After the incident with the Reversals, the Smashers tried to keep their lives as normal as they could be at the mansion. Soon the event was forgotten, and Bowser, Pikachu, Sora, and Blaze recovered after a few days of being cooped up in the Smashville Hospital. Everyone was relieved, since two of the assaulted Smashers were Olympians as well…<p>

"Hey!"

Blaze the Cat mumbled something and continued to sleep.

"Hey… Bla-aze…"

"…Get out… I'm tired…"

Someone's hands shook the lavender cat's shoulder excitedly. "Don't tell _me_ to get out. And don't use the old 'I'm tired' excuse, either. Don't worry, no Reversals today…I hope. Hey, don't you know what day it is?"

Blaze's gold eyes fluttered open to see Amy Rose standing over her, still in her pajamas. The pink hedgehog must have gotten up just minutes ago. "No… What is it?"

Amy giggled. "Silly… It's Friday, of course!"

Blaze raised her eyebrows. "It's Friday. Got that. What's so important about it, other than getting to sing the Friday song?"

Amy jumped back and pulled out her Piko Piko hammer out of nowhere, waving it dangerously around. "Hello? It's Friday…July…20…2012!"

Blaze raised a brow. "So?"

Amy grumbled. "More hints? Fine. Seven days later…?"

Blaze bolted upright. "Ah! Right! We're going to London today! In a week we'll be at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics!" She quickly ducked back down to avoid getting clobbered by Army's hammer.

"And I am _so_ ready!" the pink hedgehog gushed, lost in her own world. "I'll take on Team Nintendo and win! I'll get the gold! I'm ready for anything! I've been training so much that I bet I can beat Peach in the 100-meter freestyle—"

"—without the use of your hammer," Blaze cut in.

Amy stopped jumping around, blushing, remembering what had happened four years ago. "Oh. Yeah."

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she was one of the eight swimmers in the 100-meter freestyle. By some strange turn of events, she ended up last, and Vector the Crocodile was first, her rival Peach at second, and Shadow third. When Vector taunted her at her position of eighth place, she was so enraged that she whipped out her Piko Piko Hammer and smashed the crocodile so fiercely that he somehow landed in the middle of the Bird's Nest, right when the 100-meter dash was about to begin.

If Amy had gotten a position that would give her a place on the medals podium, she probably would have been immediately disqualified. But that didn't matter, since she was last. The officials _did_ confiscate her hammer for the remainder of the Olympics, though.

"I promise that won't happen again!" Amy cried out.

Blaze smirked. "Oh, really?"

"Yes! Really!" Amy insisted, feeling annoyed and struggling to resist the strong urge to bring down that hammer onto—

Cream the Rabbit burst into the room, Cheese the Chao circling around her. "What? Still here?" She sighed. "You two had better hurry up or we'll be late for the flight! Everyone else is already ready!"

"Okay, okay, we're going to hurry up…"

The two girls went to the bathroom to get dressed, while Cream and Cheese went back to the kitchen to help Zelda and Raine make some snacks for the Olympians. Normally, Peach would be cooking, but since she was one of the Olympians she had to pack up her things and get ready for the plane.

The rest of Team Sega, along with Team Nintendo, were already in the living room with their suitcases, wearing their team jackets. Vector the Crocodile, Metal Sonic, and Dr. Eggman were absent; everyone made an agreement a few days ago that they were to join Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and the other Sega Olympians at the London Heathrow Airport. Vector merrily assured the Sega Smashers that he would do anything to Metal Sonic and Eggman if they began to screw around. _"Anything,"_ he said, grinning slyly.

As for Team Nintendo, they told Daisy and Bowser Jr. (Junior for short) to stay with Vector, Metal Sonic, and Dr. Eggman at the airport. Junior had reluctantly promised not to destroy anything while waiting, and Daisy had reluctantly promised to babysit Junior while waiting.

The previous night, Donkey Kong told his nephew that he would be leaving. Diddy Kong didn't want to be separated from his uncle and miss the fun at London. So, this morning, he marched into Master Hand's office and asked if he could leave as well. Master Hand agreed, easily understanding how Diddy Kong felt. And so, a non-Olympian Smasher was joining the party.

When Amy and Blaze entered the living room, they found that Sonic, Shadow, and Tails were missing.

"I thought Cream said _everyone_ else was already ready," Blaze said, confused.

A blue blur rushed past her and solidified into Sonic. For some reason, he had a Goomba on his head.

"True," the blue hedgehog said, giving the lavender cat a wink. "Shads and I are just passing time, you see." And he was gone again. Blaze heard a terrified squeak from the Goomba passenger.

_"Sonic!"_ raged Shadow from elsewhere. "Don't call me that!"

"Oh, yeah? Why not, Shads?"

"A shad is a _fish_, Sonic; do I look like one?"

"Uh…maybe?"

"SONIC!"

"But everyone knows that all life forms evolved from fish, Shads! So you're technically a fish!"

"SHUT UP, SONIC! I AM THE _ULTIMATE_ LIFE-FORM, NOT A MERE FISH! _ALL FISH ARE INFERIOR TO ME!_"

"Whoa, there, Shads! _…Ack!_"

Tails strutted into the room, not even noticing his two hedgehog friends zipping in and out. He was too absorbed into his 3DS.

Bowser looked over the two-tailed fox's shoulder and took a peek. "What's this?"

"_Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games_ for the Nintendo 3DS," Tails said without lifting his eyes up. "Did you know that a 3DS could show things in 3D without the use of 3D glasses?"

"But _how_ exactly does a 3DS work without 3D glasses?" Donkey Kong demanded. "It's just two screens stuck together and powered by batteries, right?"

"Simple," said Tails.

Whenever Tails called something "simple," it always meant the opposite. And there was always a lecture coming right after it.

"The reason of the three-dimensional abilities of the 3DS is actually kept a secret by Nintendo, but rumors say that the 3DS achieves its glasses-free three-dimensional effect by using a parallax barrier, which works by—"

Yoshi held up his stubby hand. "Let's just stick to the 'two screens stuck together and powered by batteries' idea, please."

Tails' lectures on "simple" things were always interrupted partway as well.

Just then, Cream and Cheese reentered the room with several bags.

_Must-a be the snacks-a,_ thought Mario, catching a whiff of freshly baked cookies and other pastries.

"All set?" asked Cream, while Cheese whizzed around and around her head the way stars do when someone bumps their head in cartoons and anime.

Sonic and Shadow appeared at her sides. "Sure, we've been ready since five in the morning!" Sonic chuckled. The Goomba was still on his head, but now its black eyes were spinning.

The rabbit smiled. "That's good to know." She turned to face the two Olympic teams. "Okay, everybody. I just received a call from the Smashville Airport. Our flight is nearly ready!"

Knuckles grinned. "Then we'll be in London in no time flat!"

Silver patted him. "There's a downside to that, though. Master Hand accepted your Smasher application three days ago, so you're supposed start having your auditions today…"

"…_buuuuuut_ we're leaving for London _today_, so I guess you'll have to wait for another two weeks before _finally_ joining us Smashers," finished Sonic, putting a lot of emphasis on "finally" while he gently set down the dizzy Goomba. "Which means I have two more weeks of rubbing that in your face."

The red echidna let out a grumble. "Don't start rubbing _either_ of those in my face or I'll start rubbing my _fist_ in your face, Sonic…"

Lucario and Snake were standing at the door when Team Nintendo and Team Sega reached the doors of the Smash Mansion.

"Leaving already, huh?" Snake commented, opening the doors for the two teams. "Well, have fun there."

"Best of luck to each and every one of you!" Lucario said cheerfully.

"And try keep your noses out of trouble for once, will you?" Zoroark piped up, poking his head through a doorway.

Waluigi was a little surprised at the sudden appearance of the Illusion Pokémon, but then he relaxed. "Oh. Yer one o' de new guys from a few days ago, eh?"

Zoroark nodded energetically. "That's right. The other newcomer was called Vaati. I'm Zoroark."

"Waluigi's name is Waluigi," replied Luigi's purple-clad counterpart. "Don' evuh mess wid Waluigi, y'hear?" he added, shaking his fist threateningly.

"Now, now," said Peach gently, pulling Waluigi back. "If you want to pick a fight with Zoroark, you'll make us late for our plane."

Waluigi let out a grouchy huff and blew a noisy raspberry at no one in particular.

Mario and Sonic turned and faced both teams.

"Ohhhh-kay!" Sonic announced, clapping his hands. "We're off to another great competition!"

"We're-a off to the-a 2012 London Olympics-a!" Mario yelled.

Everybody cheered with great vigor.

"We'll face a lot of wins, and a lot of losses," Sonic said. "But the Olympics aren't just about winning or losing, guys. I personally think it's more of a socialization thing. A cooperation thing, you know…a teamwork thing!"

Peach and Amy were nodding their heads in firm agreement. For some reason, there was now a Goomba on Amy's head.

"We'll-a be gone from-a the Smash-a Mansion for two weeks-a," said Mario. "For those-a two weeks-a, we'll be competing-a fiercely. Though we're two different-a teams-a, we must remember to-a continue having-a fun with-a each other!"

"My bro is-a right-a!" Luigi said to himself proudly. "I sure am-a glad he's-a my bro!"

A loud ring sounded from Tails' backpack. The two-tailed fox pulled out his Galaxy S3 and gave a start.

"Yikes! It's a text from our pilot!"

"What about it?" asked Cream.

"They say our plane's leaving in _fifteen minutes_!"

_Beep._

"Now it's leaving in _fourteen minutes_!"

_Beep._

"Now it's leaving in _thirteen minutes_!"

"W-wait!" shouted Donkey Kong. "That's totally impossible! It's only been two seconds since that text!"

_Beep._

"…They just sent another text saying that the one about thirteen minutes was a lie," said Tails, feeling relieved. Then he panicked again. "But we still only have _fourteen minutes_ until our plane leaves!"

"_Ahhhh!_ Run, run, RUN!"

"W-w-w-wait, Sonic! None of us except Shadow can run as fast as you… H-hey! _Are you even listening?_"

Lucario, Snake, and Zoroark let out three large sighs at the same time as they listened to the Olympians charge after Sonic and Shadow, who were laughing madly.

_…Oh, boy,_ Snake thought, shaking his head.

-ooo-

"It's gotten awfully empty in the mansion now, hasn't it, Mewtwo?"

"Not really. The population just went from about two hundred fifty to two hundred thirty."

Darkrai paused. "…Now that you mention the numbers, that's actually not a really big difference, is it?"

Mewtwo frowned. "Next time, my friend, look around the mansion some more before telling me that it's gotten a lot smaller or larger. You'll get a more accurate number that way."

"I can count properly, thank you very much!" Darkrai snapped.

The two Pokémon continued through the halls of the third floor. Mewtwo stopped at the Pokémon Smashers' door, causing Darkrai to nearly smash into his back.

"But we also gained a couple more guys," said Mewtwo, looking at the door. "Zoroark, the Illusion Pokémon…and that Hylian guy. What was his name again? He kind of looks like you, except he's got red eyes and a hat."

"He's called Vaati, and am I wearing purple right now? And do I look like I'm wearing a purple Toon Link-style hat?"

Mewtwo looked at him from head to toe. After a few seconds of deep thinking, he gave a very sage answer.

"Well, what it your black clothing is actually a very dark shade of purple?" He shrugged. "It's possible. Also, you _could_ be wearing a hat. It's just that it's an extremely light shade of purple, so light that it looks white."

Darkrai did a face-palm. "You're hopeless…"

-ooo-

Toon Link strolled into the Brawl Room after having a game of _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ with Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf. They had successfully unlocked Ness and Marth, although with a bit of difficulty, and were now in the process of getting Luigi.

"Hey," he said, approaching Lucario and Snake. "They left already?"

Lucario nodded. "They couldn't say good-bye; they were almost late for the plane."

Toon Link nodded. "Okay." He looked towards the ceiling. "I wonder what London is like… Does it look like my world?"

Snake chuckled. "Definitely not. For one thing, their technology far surpasses the Hylians'. But they don't have such a thing as magic. No magic or fantasy-ish things at all."

"That's cool!"

Lucario nodded to himself. _No magic or fantasy-ish things at all, huh? Then London must be a perfectly safe place. Nothing bad could happen to Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Tails, and the others._

He turned to face the door, and he smiled.

_Nope, nothing bad at all…_

-ooo-

When Mario boarded the plane after going to the bathroom for a few minutes, the first thing he saw was that all the other Olympians were fast asleep. He swore he could see a bubble coming out of Sonic's nose, anime-style.

An hour later, the first thing Sonic saw was that a chili dog was floating in front of his face. In reality, Diddy Kong was dangling one from a string to wake him up.

Another hour later, the first thing Yoshi saw was that Tails was sleeping on him. Hmm, awkward…

When the Smashers were about ten minutes into lunchtime, there was an announcement.

_"Attention, all passengers,"_ said a voice through the plane's radio system. _"We are now approaching a warp point. Once we have exited this warp point, we will be in London, England. Please fasten your seatbelts as to avoid the risk of flying out of your seat and into some other section of the plane. Thank you."_

Of course, Sonic was too preoccupied with the task of eating five chili dogs, so he completely ignored the warning.

Suddenly, the plane lurched forward, causing Sonic to fly out of his seat and disappear from the first-class section of the plane.

Amy rolled her eyes. "That's why we follow directions, Sonic."

-ooo-

The shadowy boy rushed into the large but empty room. "Master! They have just left!"

His master made no sign of surprise. _"Good. How many of them?"_

The boy paused. "According to his reports, exactly sixteen have left the Smash Mansion about half an hour ago."

His master slowly nodded once and began to think. _"…Sixteen of the residents of the Smash Mansion are thousands of miles away from their allies… I believe now is the best time."_ He turned towards the boy and looked at him with his blank, emotionless eyes, causing the latter to cringe. _"Bring as many Primids as you can—the more variety, the better_—_but not too many or the plan is bound to go wrong at some point. Send some of them to London…the rest to where agent is located."_

The boy tilted his head. "Only the Primids…and myself?"

_"Yes."_

The boy bowed, smirking a little. "Understood, Master. I prepare everything at once."

The master waved him off. _"Go. Do not fail me, or you shall suffer the consequences."_

"Yes, Master."

The boy turned on his heel and quietly walked out of the room.

Something let out a nearly inaudible gasp and quickly ducked into the shadows of the master's room's doors. The boy clad in black swept past, not noticing the hidden figure. But the master did.

_"What is the matter, Primid 00001? Is something on your mind, troubling you so much that you wanted to speak with me?"_

The figure, now identified as a Primid, timidly stepped out from behind the doors, knowing that its cover had been blown. There was no hiding from the master. It bowed towards its master and let out a stream of gurgling noises.

The master listened to it. _"…Nothing is the matter, you say? Then why were you concealing yourself in the shadows?"_

There was another bunch of incomprehensible words.

_"_…_You wanted to be alone for a while when you happened to hear my conversation with the boy, and so you decided to listen. But you hid yourself for you feared that the boy would destroy you for listening to our plans. Is this correct?"_

The Primid nodded, watching its master with wary red eyes.

The master smiled, but it certainly was not a smile of warmth, and it was never going to be. _"I shall let you off for now, Primid 00001. If this happens again, I shall guarantee your destruction. You are now free to leave."_

The Primid bowed again, then quickly departed.

When it turned a corner and found itself in one of the hundreds of murky corridors, it stopped and sighed with relief. It glanced over its shoulder to make sure it was not being followed.

There was silence all around.

It began to walk again, this time at a considerably faster pace than before. Something thudded frantically in its small chest.

_Must go… Must go…_

It was running now.

_Must go to…the Smash Mansion!_

-ooo-

In the Pokémon Smashers' room…

"EH?"

"What's this?!"

"Th-there's already a Generation VI?"

"But how? It's only been less than a year since Generation V!"

There was proof right before the Pokémon Smashers' eyes. On the computer screen before him, there were several pictures of the three starters of the sixth generation of Pokémon.

"And look here," said Lucario, pointing at the screen. "It says here that the mascots of the new games are out too!"

"Crazy fact número uno," broke in Pikachu. "The Legends got their English names before their Japanese ones!"

"No, _all_ of their names are already out…" Red clicked on one of them. This guy's called Chespin, the Grass-type starter…"

"Looks awfully like an Oshawott during Halloween," commented Zoroark. "Sad."

"Here's the Fire-type!" said Jigglypuff. "Fennekin… Wow, I think it's the most popular of the starters!"

"The same way I was the most popular of the starters in Pokémon Yellow!" Pikachu exclaimed proudly.

"Stupid!" raged Jigglypuff. "The players had no choice 'cause you were the _only starter_!"

"Shut up, you two," ordered Lucario. "Lastly, the Water-type starter." He clicked on the link. "…Froakie? _Froakie?_" He snorted. "…Are you serious?"

"A very original name, that's true," agreed Zoroark. "But I think it's—"

"Crazy fact número dos," interrupted Pikachu. "Chespin is the first mammal-based Grass-type starter!"

"Um, you could've said that right after we were talking about it…" said Red nervously.

"Crazy fact número tres," said the Mouse Pokémon. "Fennekin is based on a dog that had been set on fire!"

"PIKACHU!" shouted Jigglypuff, horrified. "How could you think of that kind of stuff? You're so mean!"

"Crazy fact número cuatro," the Electric-type continued, completely disregarding the Balloon Pokémon's outburst. "Froakie is based on a frog!"

Silence.

"…Um…we kind of…knew that already."

Pikachu was confused. "Really? But I thought I needed to clear things up a little, so I…" He stopped and shook his head. "Moving on. Crazy fact número cinco!"

_Oh, please shut up soon,_ thought Lucario.

"Xerneas is an entire nine feet, two inches shorter than Yveltal!"

Silence.

"…That's just not right."

"Crazy fact número seis. Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie's types and names have been revealed, while Xerneas and Yveltal's heights and weights have been revealed!"

"…That's just not right."

"Again."

"Crazy fact número siete." Pikachu pointed at the Smashers' door. "Crazy Hand is going to barge into this room in exactly nine point four seconds, starting three point two seconds ago!"

Silence (again).

"…AHHHHHHH!"

"THIS MOUSE! HE'S GONE PSYCHIC!"

_"YAYYYYYYYS! I'S LOVES PSYCHICS STUFFS!"_

_Crash._

"How could that hand say so many S's without tripping his tongue, wherever it is…or if he even has one?!"

When Mr. Game & Watch saw Red, Zoroark, Lucario, and Jigglypuff stampeding out of their room, with Crazy Hand quickly trailing after them, he stopped walking for a moment.

_…What just happened? Uh… I'll just pretend I didn't just see that._

-ooo-

_"Welcome to London Heathrow Airport."_

Wario groaned as he awoke. "That was…quick."

The others were bustling about with their luggage. Mario and Sonic were so excited that they would have hopped right out of the plane (it was still over five hundred feet in the air) if it hadn't been for Luigi and Tails to pull them back.

As if the pilot had been watching, a voice announced:

_"Please do _not_ step out of the plane when it is still five hundred feet in the air. I am not about to name names, but you should know who you are!"_

When the plane landed at last, Team Nintendo and Team Sega quickly marched out of the plane, thanking the pilots and flight attendants for the comfortable ride. They descended the stairs and were immediately greeted by some old friends.

"Yo, Sonic!" called out a green hawk. He had a pair of orange-yellow-tinted goggles on his forehead, white gloves, and large red boots with arrow designs on the fronts. The feathers on his head had been straightened into a loose mohawk, and his eyes were a vivid shade of cyan. He was leaning against some kind of green and white hoverboard that looked to be built for speed.

Upon recognizing the hawk, Sonic grinned and offered his hand. "Jet, ol' bird! Long time no see! How are you and the rest of you Babylon Rogues?"

Jet the Hawk grasped Sonic's hand and shook it vigorously, nearly throwing the blue hedgehog off balance. "Doing great, ya hedgehog. How 'bout you?"

"Perfect. Well, almost."

"…Almost?"

Silver started to explain, then closed his mouth and shook his head. "It's a long story that's saved for later."

Jet nodded. "Mm. 'Kay."

"But, Jet, what are you doing here?" asked Tails. "You aren't participating the Games."

"True, I'm not an athlete of the Games, but I volunteered to help Vector babysit Metal and Egghead over there," replied the green hawk, pointing behind him with his thumb. "Apparently, they were too much for Croc, so he hired me."

Even as he was speaking, the Smashers could hear the rowdy crocodile letting out booming yells at Metal Sonic, who was trying to avoid getting a short circuit from excessive terror of Vector.

"And I _may_ be refereeing for the track events… Another reason why I'm hanging out in here in London, England," Jet concluded.

"Ah…so that's how it is," said Shadow. "Hello again, Doctor."

"Oh!" yelped Dr. Eggman, surprised. "Shadow! Hello! How are you?"

"I'm fine. And how have you been doing?"

"Er…"

"Judging from your tone, you've been up to no good again, haven't you?"

"N-no! Of course not, Shadow! How could you suggest such an impossibility?!" Metal Sonic made his own series of metallic sounds as he zipped by, confirming his creator's words.

"Don't ya try anything behind my back, Metal!" shouted Vector, still pursing the metallic hedgehog.

Peach, in the meantime, had her eyes on another familiar face.

"Ohhhhh! Daisy! And Junior, too!"

The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom dashed towards her best friend, the princess of Sarasaland named Princess Daisy, who was always dressed in something of her favorite color: orange. Behind Daisy toddled a grumpy-looking Junior, Bowser's own son.

Daisy's face brightened. "Peach? Oh, Peach! It really is you!" She allowed her friend to jump on top of her and hug her very tightly. "I'm so happy to see you again! When was the last time we saw each other?"

"Some years ago, I think. Why, it's Toad!"

The mushroom-like resident of the Mushroom Kingdom waved. "Hello, Princess! How are you?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

"I'm doing really well, and so is the kingdom. Life is amazingly peaceful without Bowser around to cause trouble, you know! And better yet, he's gone over to the bright side… If you're wondering why I'm here, I'm actually one of the referees."

"Really? That's nice to know."

Peach then directed her attention to Junior, who let out a small cry of "Eep!" and tried to hide behind Daisy.

Peach smiled kindly and gently patted Junior on the head. "I hope _you_ haven't been causing trouble in your dad's stead, Junior. You'll make Bowser feel _very_ badly ashamed if you do."

"Um, um, I've been good!" said the young Koopaling anxiously. "I've been good, it's true, and I'm sure my pa's gonna be real proud of my good behavior these days—"

Peach patted his head again. "That's a good boy, Junior."

Junior sighed heavily when Peach left, obviously relieved that the Mushroom Kingdom princess hadn't slapped him. Not yet, at least.

"So, everyone-a," began Mario. "Did anything-a happen while we were on-a the way here-a?"

"Umm, like gh-gh-ghosts appearing-a?" asked Luigi fearfully.

"Nah, nothing yet," Vector answered, finally giving up the chase. Feeling at ease for the first time since the crocodile's arrival, Metal Sonic hovered over to Dr. Eggman and stayed there. "The zombie apocalypse is scheduled for next year, so there's nothing to worry about now."

"Wh-wh-_whaaaaat_-a?" shrieked poor Luigi. "Next year?!"

"H-hey, just kidding!" Vector laughed nervously. "Just kidding, okay, lil' Weegie?"

"D-don't-a call me that-a!" Luigi whined indignantly as some embarrassing memories began to stream through his head.

Blaze clapped her hands loudly to stop the chatter. "Well, then. Now that we're all together, let's go to the Stadium to sign in, and then find that hotel we're staying in. Don't tell me you all forgot already!"

Everyone except Blaze and Metal Sonic suddenly began to blush furiously. (Robots couldn't blush, you know.)

"Sorry, Blaze," Sonic apologized. "I guess we all got carried away a bit. Okay!" He pointed onwards. "Let's go to the Stadium before we're left out of the Games!"

"YEAH!"

-ooo-

"That…blasted…Cherubimon!"

Amaterasu whirled around, shocked. "Oh! You're back! And…" She looked carefully. "…all in one piece, it seems, but covered in bruises and blood…"

Lloyd poked his head into the entrance room. "Who's back? …Oh! It's you! Where have you been to, Sylvarant? You guys sure look like it." He chuckled at his own little joke.

Davis, Rika, Flamedramon, and Renamon were not in the mood for laughter. "Lloyd, now's not the time for jokes," said Rika. "We failed the mission."

Lloyd instantly shut up and Amaterasu gave a start of surprise. "What?"

"The Cherubimon's been taken over by an insanely powerful and dangerous virus," Davis explained, sitting on the floor. "We've never faced such a strong Virus-possessed Digimon before.

"Neither Renamon nor I could land a good blow on it, even after I digivolved to Magnamon X," Flamedramon said tiredly. He seemed to be struggling just to stay on his feet.

"When I biomerged with Rika," said Renamon, sounding very exhausted, "it still wasn't enough. The Cherubimon could have defeated us all just by swatting us if it hadn't been for our battle experience." She coughed for a few seconds, then gasped, "Must…rest…"

Lloyd quickly put the Digimon on his shoulder. "I got you, Renamon… Wow, you're seriously hurt… Now let's go up to the hospital wing, shall we?"

As he carried her away with the rest of Team Digimon following, Amaterasu said quietly, "Next time, we should bring backup. A lot of backup…"

She silently walked out of the entrance room and started towards the movie theater. Then she stopped.

"Exactly _what_ kind of virus could make a Digimon so powerful, though?" Sighing, the celestial wolf entered the theater, where some Smashers and Pokémon were watching _Rise of the Guardians_. "I don't know very much about modern-day technology, but if I remember Flamedramon's definition of _virus_ correctly…it is a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs… 'In the world of Digimon, it's something that pretty much completely ruins a Digimon and corrupts them into a Digimon that is tainted and evil inside and out,'" she recited, remembering the day when Davis' Digimon told her all this. "But still, I can't imagine such a strong virus."

She joined her friends and sat down. "Perhaps it isn't even a virus…but something much more dangerous…"

-ooo-

Snake was in his room, playing _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, currently fighting a Level 6 CPU playing as Ike.

Dodging a swing of Ike's sword, Snake found himself wondering what else to add into the game.

_After completing everything in the game,_ he thought, pressing the A button on his Wii Remote to make his character (obviously, he had chosen Snake) punch Ike in the face, _it's bound to get boring. Sure, you can replay the Subspace Emissary and everything, but even so, you're gonna start wanting some more. But what can we add?_

Snake finished the match with a well-aimed smash attack, throwing Ike into the sky and getting himself the victory. After allowing the game to save, he turned off the TV but let the Wii keep running.

"Maybe we need a stage," he said out loud. "Yeah, that's it. One that's so crazy that it's too crazy to be true—"

The door was flung open, and Lucario came dashing in.

"Snake!" he shouted. "We need to make a new stage!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" the mercenary bellowed. Then he realized what had just happened.

"Ah… So that telepathic link thing did its thing again, eh?"

"Yep. I heard your thoughts as clear as an Exploud's Roar move. Or maybe as clear as the roar of Metal Gear REX."

Snake put his hands behind his head. "Thanks for the Metal Gear reference…even though I hate all Metal Gear, especially REX… Damn that hunk of scrap metal to hell… Well, what do you think? What kind of stage should we make?"

"I was watching some YouTube videos last night," said the Aura Pokémon. "Many people had posted videos of themselves playing the old Pokémon games like Red and Blue, showing all the marvelously wild glitches they had found and tinkered with. For example, catching a Level 76 Arceus in Blue—"

Snake laughed. "No way. A high-leveled _Arceus_? In the _Blue_ Version?"

"I know, right? And there was an instruction manual that came with it. First, you and everyone else has to be a Dunsparce—"

Snake whooped loudly.

"—or the glitch won't work properly. Second, I think yor team has to have a Missingno, an unnamed square—"

"Say what?"

"—probably a Dunsparce, and two more Pokémon, one of which is a glitch, I think. Sometime later, a Level 76 Chansey would randomly appear in your. Crazy, huh?"

Snake had to agree with that statement.

"Then there were some that instantly caught my eye," the Aura Pokémon said. "They were videos of a glitch found in Pokémon Yellow that causes you to travel through a land made from that glitch. The players dubbed it 'Glitch City.'"

Snake raised his brows when hearing this. "Glitch City, huh…" He snapped his fingers and grinned.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Lucario?"

"I believe I am, David."

"Don't call me that. Let's go make a stage."

"And remember not to remove any of the glitches…"

"And we'll have to add in a lot of crazy effects."

"Like multiple Smashers using their Final Smashes at the same time?"

"Exactly. And we can do this…and this…maybe this…"

"We should also make it so that the Solid Snake character's name automatically changes to David when he's on this stage."

"For obvious reasons, I find myself strongly against that."

-ooo-

It was still running.

_Must not stop… Must not stop…_

The Primid was sure that the shadow bugs its small body contained would come bursting out of at any moment, but nevertheless it hurried on.

A small light appeared, about fifty feet away.

_Exit! Exit!_

The Primid dashed towards the light, which turned out to be the way out of its master's maze. Soon, it found itself standing not on Subspatial matter, but on hard stone.

_Is this…what the ground…of the Island of Ancients…truly is like?_

But now was not the right time to ponder such questions. The Primid drew in a deep breath and took a step forward.

_Clang._

"And where do you think _you_ are going, Primid 00001?" someone asked in a deadly serious voice.

Caught again.

Very nervously, the Primid raised its head to stare into the red eyes of a boy, who glared at it in reply. Then the Primid looked at the boy's hands, which were clutched onto the guard of a peculiar-looking black blade that looked very much like a large key.

_Is he going to…destroy me…right here?_

It didn't want that to happen.

In its language, it quickly made up an explanation. Struggling to keep a straight face, it told the boy that it wanted some fresh air, since the space within the master's maze was stifling, and it also wanted to have some time alone instead of always sticking with its Primid comrades.

The boy still looked unconvinced, but he said, "Well, I'll let you off the hook _just this once_. If I catch you again, there's a one hundred percent chance of you getting sent to oblivion. The master will be perfectly fine with that. Got it?"

The master's words echoed threateningly in the Primid's mind: _"I shall let you off for now, Primid 00001. If this happens again, I shall guarantee your destruction."_ It nodded to the boy, who brought his key-shaped blade back up.

"Sure. Get going."

The Primid dashed past the boy, breathing heavily. _Another narrow escape… I must be very lucky today…_

It did not stop running until the boy was out of sight. Once he was out of its view, it scanned the area for a warp point. Locating one a few minutes later, it immediately ran to it and jumped in.

_Smash Mansion…here I come…_

-ooo-

There was never a time when Smashers didn't think something was wrong.

"Yo! Did they decide to put up some fancy-schmancy fog machine or something?"

Wario looked at every square inch of the Stadium, frowning. "Dat's odd. Whaddya think, Waluigi?"

"Waluigi thinks it's a fog machine," said the purple-clad plumber. "Waluigi thinks it's kinda pretty, too."

Yoshi scratched his head. "But, but…why would they put up a fog machine? We're not little kids…"

Rainbow-colored fog was spewing out of the top of the London Olympic Stadium. The Smashers and their friends mentally agreed with Waluigi that it _was_ quite dazzling, but there was something ugly about it.

Silver turned and faced Bowser and Dr. Eggman. "Was this fog caused by you two?"

The two ex-villains panicked. "_Bwah!_ Of course not!" roared Bowser.

"Don't compare us to those scoundrels in _Mario and Sonic at the London Olympic Games_!" Dr. Eggman added. "Besides, I don't think there's such a thing as a vase that contains Phantasmal Fog in this world!"

"There's no such thing as Phantasmal Fog in the first place!" Bowser corrected the doctor. He paused, then corrected himself. "Well, not in this world, y'know."

"Oh. Right."

Tails swatted at the fog, causing it to swirl around him. "Ewww! Is it just me, or is this fog practically hugging us?"

Amy lifted her hand and saw that some of the fog was sticking onto it. "…It's not just you…"

And she fell.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Cream. "Miss Amy…" She fainted as well.

One by one, the Smashers and their friends began to drop like stones. Within minutes, only Mario and Sonic were left standing.

"Wha… Wha…" Mario gulped. "Wh-what just happened-a?"

"They're… They're all out cold…" Sonic whispered. "Is it the fog?"

"It-a must be. Hmph… I just-a _knew_ there was something weird about-a this fog-a! _Mama mia!_" he suddenly groaned, clutching his head.

"M-Mario!" Sonic cried out with shock, dashing to his friend's side. "You all right?"

"Ugh… Not at all-a…"

The plumber's knees finally gave way, and he collapsed into a heap on the paved ground.

"Holy Mobius! Mario! Luigi! Tails? Shadow? Amy! Anyone?" Sonic shook everyone's shoulders, but to no avail. None of them would wake up. And then—

"Ah, crud!" swore the blue hedgehog when his head suddenly felt like it had been struck by a sledgehammer. "What's… What's going…"

He fell and landed heavily on his back, but that was nothing compared to what was going on in his head.

"…on…"

The world was slipping away from him. Just before his eyes closed, Sonic saw the sky turning red, filling with small purple and black particles…and someone dressed in black from head to toe was looking down at him.

_No…_ Sonic thought weakly. _Not again…_

A cruel smile played at the stranger's lips, and it reached down to touch the hedgehog.

_They shouldn't…be…here…_

Everything went black.

-ooo-

_"Ohhhh!"_ raged a certain ex-SOLDIER. "You damn veterans!"

Cloud was playing in the Brawl System's game, fighting Link, Marth, and Ike—all at the same time, one on three. He wanted to test his sword skills against three of the best swordsmen in the Smash Mansion. So far, he had been having quite a lot of trouble trying to keep his opponents at bay.

Cloud split his Fusion Sword in half, throwing the one in his left hand at Link. The Hylian easily dodged the missile and used his Master Sword to make it bounce and spin back towards its owner. "You couldn't be _that_ desperate yet, could you, Cloud?" he taunted.

"Whoa, there!" Cloud ducked—and he was just in the nick of time. His own sword embedded its sharp blade into the cold white snow of the Great Glacier stage, just a mere centimeter away from his right toe.

"Dangerous, guys…" He put his sword back together. "And incredibly violent! Is this how all of you fight?"

Ike shrugged, shouldering his sword. "I guess so."

Cloud thought he would have an advantage over his adversaries on this stage, since the Great Glacier was from his own world and he had fought on this kind of terrain before. But it turned out that Link, Marth, and Ike had experienced slippery stages many times before, like the Ice Stage of the Pokémon Stadium and Summit. Marth had even climbed a frozen mountain to its peak during his and his friends' Subspace adventure.

_Damn,_ Cloud thought. _What should I do now? I've only got one life left and they each have an average of…_ He did some quick mental math. _…Great. They each have an average of _three_…_

All of a sudden, Ike's massive sword came swinging down, knocking down Cloud and sending his Fusion Sword flying out of his hands.

_Crap!_ Cloud thought furiously when he saw his sword land at the left edge of the stage. Now_ how can I get it?_

Marth then appeared and jabbed at Cloud, who evaded the blade by rolling to the side, throwing himself into the snow. Scrambling back onto his feet, Cloud ran as fast as he could towards his sword. The ground beneath him suddenly changed from powdery snow to slippery ice.

Then he felt someone shove him.

"Skating's really fun… Did you know that?" Link called after him as the ex-SOLDIER. "You ought to give it a try—right now!"

"Uh… _Ah, damn it!_"

Cloud skated right off the stage.

_"GAME!"_

The four Smashers were teleported back into the empty Brawl Room.

"Well, I guess that sums it all up," said Ike. "Don't try to land full-out blows all the time; your attacks started to get a little too obvious."

"Focus more on tactics rather than strength," added Link. "Using your head will really help you in a big battle, like the one we Smashers had with Tabuu some years ago. The first ones to get trophificated were those who charged at the enemy without forming a plan. Remember how Donkey Kong did it, guys?" The other two swordsmen nodded while Cloud just looked confused.

"And lastly, remember to defend yourself," Marth finished. "Attacking isn't everything."

Cloud grunted. "Sure. Thanks for the training and the tips." He turned. "Now I should get going… I think it's time for lunch."

-ooo-

It was.

Since Peach wouldn't be home for the next three weeks, the cooking job was handed over to Zelda and Raine. The two Smashers were sure that no one in the Smash Mansion could cook as well as the Mushroom Kingdom princess, so they tried to make the food as delicious as possible.

Of course, there was no difference to Kirby.

"Yayyyyyy!" he cheered, his small red feet a blur as he rushed into the cafeteria. "You made apple pies!"

Within three seconds, he had a tray stacked with forty pies, wobbling precariously as he carefully made his way to the table where Meta Knight, Pikachu, Red, and Jigglypuff were seated. Right after setting down this tray, he went back to the counter and returned with piles of chicken, steak, ham, lettuce, tomatoes, salad, apples, peaches, pears, garlic bread, burgers, tacos, and ice cream.

Pikachu was sure that Meta Knight's mask would fall off with amazement, but somehow the little Dream Land knight managed to keep it stuck on his face.

"Kirby…" he said slowly, "are you sure you won't choke on all that food?"

"Choking is impossible for Kirby!" said Jigglypuff, laughing. "Pretty much everything related to food troublI doesn't matter to him! Like choking, food poisoning, throwing up…"

Red pointed at the ice cream, his mouth watering. "…Where did you find all that?"

Kirby shrugged. "The kitchen. Where else?"

"But that's for _dessert_, not lunch, you big pink marshmallow!" Pikachu raged (just as he had done about a year and twenty chapters ago).

The "big pink marshmallow" paid no attention to the Electric-type Pokémon and began to gobble down the food very ravenously. One minute later, he was up and off to the food counter again.

"…All right," said Meta Knight. He hadn't even touched his food yet.

Pikachu yawned and pushed his tray away. "After watching that big pink marshmallow chow down his food, I've kinda lost my appetite."

Kirby came dashing back with another gigantic mass of food. "Then can I have your leftovers?" he asked eagerly.

Pikachu left the table. "Sure, sure, do whatever. Hey, tell you what. You can put the fried egg on King Dedede's butt if you want…and tell him that it's actually a Sticky Bomb that's been colored wrong."

Kirby beamed. "That is…a great idea! Yayyyyyy!" He was off and running once again.

Pikachu let out a sigh. _Whew…_ He entered a hall and went down.

_Let's see… Mental note to Master Hand: Please replace the lights in the halls. They seem to be a lot dimmer than yesterday. Speaking of Master Hand, why is he being so quiet today? No shouting fom him yet… That's weird. And I haven't seen Crazy Hand ever since he barged into our room right after we finished looking at the new Pokémon… Maybe he's sleeping? Bah, whatever, I don't care…_

The Mouse Pokémon soon found himself at the entrance of the library,

"Finally, some peace and quiet. What should I read today?"

He went to the section of the library with books about Pokémon; scanning the titles, he found one called that caught his interest.

"Hmm…a Mystery Dungeon story… Sounds mysterious. I'll give it a look."

Pikachu pulled the book out of the shelf and plopped down on a beanbag chair. Flipping to the first page, he began to read.

_Prologue._

_Pain. Pain. Pain. And more pain._

"Ooooooh, scary beginning." Pikachu shuddered and snuggled into the beanbag. "But I like it."

_I screamed as the invisible claws of agony slashed at my body, the wind howling around us and threatening to loosen our grasps._

_"Stop that!" My partner tightened his grip on my hand as if it were his lifeline. "Stop trying to shield me!"_

_"I'm not going to let you get hurt!"_

_"For your information, you're getting yourself hurt!"_

_The claws tore at me again, making me shriek loudly._

Pikachu was only on thw first page, and yet he could feel himself trembling. "Gee, I'm such a wimp when it comes to books…"

_"How do you feel?" my partner said loudly._

"I'm certainly not feeling well," Pikachu said to himself, chuckling lightly.

_I shouted with pain again, which answered his question._

"It looks like this giy's not feeling really well, either." The Smasher kept reading.

_"But what's hitting us?" he yelled angrily._

_Another bolt of lightning flashed through the darkness, and another invisible claw raked at my side._

_"I know you're hurt and bloody and all, but above all else, hold on!"_

_I stared at him for a moment, my expression incredulous. "Hold on! In this kind of weather?"_

_"The lightning flashed again. Our hands slightly slipped._

_"I'm not letting you go, no matter what," he vowed, shutting his eyes._

_The thunder boomed._

Pikachu closed his eyes. "This book starts out with such an ominous tone… And how can a storm ever get that crazy? There's definitely something supernatural about it. Maybe it's the work of a Legend like Lugia or Kyogre, or maybe even Mewtwo. After all, he _was_ able to make a storm to test Ash Ketchum…" He grinned, feeling himself blush deeply. "…and my idol…" He continued to read.

_"And you're not letting go, either!"_

_Once again, a wave of pain washed over me, and I shuddered as I tried to hold on. Agony racked at my body, and I gnashed my teeth so hard that my mouth suddenly felt sore._

_"I can't…hold on… Too weak…!"_

_An explosion of electricity surrounded us, slackening our grips even further._

_"You're not letting go! You just aren't!"_

Boom_ went the thunder. The sound echoed through my head like the roar of a colossal monster._

_"_…_Can't…hold…on…"_

A shadow-enshrouded figure stepped out from behind a bookshelf with Fire Emblem-related books and sneaked towards an unwary Pikachu, who was still engrossed in the book.

_"No…"_

_"…I'm…sorry… Good…bye…"_

_"No!"_

_And we let go of each other._

_"NOOOOOO!"_

_I tumbled through the storm, tossed around by the wind, getting attacked by the ferocious claws that did not exist._

_"NOOOOOOOO…!"_

_Somewhere in the midst of the storming darkness…_

The figure balled its hand into a fist.

_Somewhere in this world of slashing claws that nearly rendered me useless…_

The figure silently raised its hand.

…_there was a thundering roar._

And Pikachu was struck senseless.

The boy in black gazed at the fallen Mouse Pokémon. "'_DIAAAAA_,'" he finished quietly.

-ooo-

"AIEEEEEEE!"

Thankfully, Mew wasn't high on sugar, but she was still screaming her head off.

"AIYAAAAAAA! BUGS! _BUGS!_"

She raced into the Pokémon Smashers' room, flinging the door off of its hinges. Zoroark, who had gone to the room because he had finished lunch early, looked up, startled at the sudden and loud intrusion.

"Oh… Hi, Mew," he said awkwardly. "How are you?"

"BUGS!" the traumatized pink cat-like Legend continued to shriek as she started to zoom in circles near the ceiling. "BUGS EVERYWHERE! _AIEEEEEEEE!_"

Zoroark was bewildered by this unusual greeting. "Hey, calm down! What's all this business about bugs? Just squash 'em."

"THEY'RE NOT THE USUAL BUGS! THEY'RE THE _EVIL_ BUGS!"

"…Aren't _all_ bugs evil to you?"

"THEY AREN'T THE USUAL BUGS! THEY'RE THE _EVIL_ BUGS! THEY'RE _SHADOW BUGS_!"

Zoroark leaped to his feet. "What?"

The Illusion Pokémon was one of the newest newcomers of the Smash Mansion, but he knew about them. In fact, they had invaded his forest a few years back.

Mewtwo poked his head into the room. "Zoroark!" he shouted. "Shadow bugs are swarming into the mansion from the library… I found Pikachu out cold on a beanbag in there."

"Ehhh? But how?"

"Someone had smashed a hole in the wall of the library… That's how the bugs were able to come in without us noticing. I already took him to the hospital wing to be treated by two Waddle Doos and a Paratroopa. Zoroark, I want you to warn all the Smashers and Assist Trophies and everyone downstairs of the bugs while the Legends and I take care of things on the third and fourth floors and all around the Smash Mansion. Now get going, for Arceus' sake!"

Zoroark was startled. "Um, yeah!"

Mewtwo then glanced at Mew. "As for you, you crazy pink psychic cat, you're coming with me." He grabbed the distressed New Species Pokémon by her tail. "Go, Zoroark, GO!"

Zoroark bolted out of the room, trampling right on top of the door. Practically flying down the stairs, he burst into the cafeteria, where everyone was still eating.

"Everyone!" he shouted. "We've got company!"

Snake jumped up. "Unwanted?"

"I guess you could say that. What if I told you that your guests were a bunch of shadow bugs?"

The Smashers' reaction was instantaneous. Several of them, along with half of the Assist Trophies and background characters, charged out of the cafeteria.

"Marth and I'll go to the Brawl Room!"

"Go ahead… I"ll check movie theater!"

"I'm coming with you, Lloyd!"

"Kirby, King Dedede, Knuckle Joe, let's see if there is anything in the entrance room."

"Poyo!"

"KIRBY, HOW CAN YOU STILL BE EATING FIFTY APPLE PIES WHEN A HORDE OF SHADOW BUGS JUST INVADED THE MANSION?!"

"Okay, I'm coming, MK!"

Zoroark took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "All right. Lucario, Red, and Jigglypuff…we're going to the library. Mewtwo told me the bugs came from there. Also, he found Pikachu in there… He had been knocked out."

Lucario gasped. "No!"

Red was stunned. "P-Pikachu? Knocked out? That can't be!"

"Tell me where he is right now!" Jigglypuff demanded. "I'm gonna blow up that knock-outer right now!"

"Slow down, guys!" Zoroark yelped. "Mewtwo also said he's resting in the hospital wing right now, so I don't think we need to worry too much about him. But we have to take care of the bugs first. To the library!"

His fellow Smashers nodded simultaneously. "Right!"

-ooo-

Sora's feet thudded noisily on the ground as he sprinted through the dark corridors, his heart pounding loudly. He had gotten separated from Neku and Cloud, but he didn't care. Hundreds of thoughts were going through his head.

_How did shadow bugs get in here in the first place?_

_Why are they here?_

_Why did they choose to invade the mansion today?_

_Who made that hole in the library?_

_Was that person—or thing—something—also the one who knocked out Pikachu? Poor guy, getting his daylights smashed out and landing him in the hospital wing…_

_Klonoa reported that both Master Hand and Crazy Hand were found unconscious…Master Hand in his office and Crazy Hand in the lower basement. But how? How could a bunch of little bugs defeat _Master Hand_? It's pretty much impossible!_

He turned into another hallway, one that seemed to be darker than the previous one. Sora paid no heed to it and went on.

_Subspace has struck again… First through the Brawl System, and now this! They actually have the nerve to do all that? I can't believe it—oh, crazy Keyblades, what's going on here?_

His shadow was not following his movements. Rather…

"It's attacking me! _Ahhh!_" Sora narrowly dodged a slash from his shadow's black Keyblade. He jumped as the shadow tried to hit him again.

_Wh-what's going on? Why is my shadow doing that? The only guy who can manipulate the shadows is Darkrai… Who else could there be, so willing to hurt me?_

Just then, the shadow paused. Sora remained in a defensive stance.

"Well, what's the matter?" he mocked his own shadow in a voice that sounded bold to him. "Aren't you gonna attack?"

He could have sworn his shadow flashed an insane grin at him, and a figure dressed in completely black clothing from head to toe began to take shape.

"Of course I am, Sora," it said in the same mocking tone Sora had used just moments before. "But first, you have to see who I am, right? It's very rude to attack and taunt a person whose identity remains unknown."

Once the figure had completely solidified, Sora quickly took a step back, feeling shocked.

"No way… I thought I destroyed you so many years ago! You shouldn't be alive…"

The stranger gave the Smasher such an unpleasant leer that the latter felt a chill run down his spine.

"…AntiSora!"

-ooo-

Fox McCloud had his Blaster in front of him, prepared to shoot anything that was his enemy. He had already had a few unfriendly encounters with several Primids of several kinds.

_Damn…_ he thought angrily._ I sure hate it when our enemy randomly chooses today to invade the mansion…_

A Primid jumped out from behind the wall. Fox quickly vanquished it by firing quick energy shots from his Blaster ten times, then kicking the enemy into pieces. He then shot at the shadow bugs that spilled out of its green body to scatter them and prevent them from reforming into another Primid.

Fox's right ear twitched. "Jeez… It's so quiet. I hate it when it's this silent. It makes me feel really uncomfortable…"

He inched around a corner as soundlessly as he could, his Blaster still poised to shoot.

"…It's like something terrible is going to happen in a few minutes or something… Ugh. I wonder how Falco and Wolf are doing… We separated from each other when that hallway led to a fork. Sometimes, I really wish Master Hand didn't make the layout of the Smash Mansion so complicated…"

"Where are you off to, Fox?"

The Smasher whirled around, instinctively pressing the trigger of his Blaster. One small bullet zipped out and whizzed towards the stranger, who dodged it by stepping off to the side. The blast went to the wall instead, making a tiny explosion and burning a good portion of the wall.

"Oh, great Star Fox!" Fox rubbed the back of his head sheepishly when he discovered who the stranger was. "I'm so sorry, Dad!"

James McCloud shrugged. "Whatever. Good thing your Blaster's designed to throw out light shots, unlike Wolf's…" He grunted. "Sheesh, his Blaster's even got a claw on the end… Merciless, isn't he?"

"That's something I must agree to." Fox pocketed his Blaster. "And to answer your question, I'm on a hunt for some bugs to squash."

James' forehead furrowed to form several creases. "...You don't mean…shadow bugs, do you?"

Fox sighed. "Unfortunately, our shadowy little pests are spreading through the whole mansion. Someone must've punched a hole in a wall somewhere and let the bugs swarm in. I guess there were shadow bugs sitting right outside our door all this time… Feh!" he spat ill-temperedly. "I can't believe none of us ever noticed!"

He expected his father to make some sign of anger, maybe even do some dirty hand gesture like flip the bugs off or something.

Instead, James relaxed.

"That's…excellent to hear," he said in a hushed tone. "Everything went according to the plan…" He grinned, exposing his fangs and causing Fox to flinch back and put his hand on his pocketed Blaster. "My, my, the master's calculations are always so amazingly accurate, eh?"

This statement greatly baffled Fox. "What? What do you mean, 'the master'? Are you talking about Master Hand?"

James shook his head, still smiling. "No, no, my boy… Not your master. _My_ master."

Fox jumped backwards, flattening himself against the wall. "Wait, what are you talking about? Since when did _you_ get a master, Dad? Dad? _Dad!_"

James' smile faded. He stared directly into Fox's emerald-green eyes.

"Fox McCloud," he said softly. "You never suspected anything ever since I came here, did you?"

"D… Dad?" Fox whispered hoarsely.

The other fox turned around to face his back towards the Smasher. "A true Star Fox member should be able to have noticed something strange the moment he meets someone like me. If you didn't see anything…then you aren't fit to lead the team."

"No!" Fox gasped. "Dad! What's wrong with you? How… How could you say such things? Dad? _Dad?!_"

"Even now," James murmured, "you don't see anything. I never expected you to be _that_ unobservant. Well…I'm getting tired of your blindness. I'll show you my secret…"

Fox saw his right hand going towards the sunglasses.

"…and my true identity."

Fox froze with fear.

James McCloud suddenly turned back to Fox. The dark sunglasses were in his right hand.

What Fox saw nearly caused his heart to cease beating.

"I am not your father, Fox McCloud," James whispered, his red eyes flashing viciously. "I am here to eliminate the members of the Smash Mansion. And nothing is about to stop me from completing my mission."

The sunglasses clattered onto the ground, the sound echoing noisily through the dark corridor.

* * *

><p><strong><em>This chapter turned out to be a lot shorter than what I had originally planned to write, due to it being rushed and all, but I hope you liked it anyway. (I hate to admit it, but I didn't really like this one as much as a few of the previous chapters…) Anyway!<em>**

**_Oh, my, two new enemies of the Smashers have been introduced—AntiSora and James McCloud himself! What do you Smashers think of this?_**

**Sora:** _*raging*_ ANTISORA…!

**Neku:** Did someone mention AntiSora?

**Cloud:** Is that supposed to be some darkened version of Sora who's against Sora?

**Lloyd:** Sure sounds like it.

**Ganondorf:** I have to say, it was really shocking.

**Toon Link:** _*surprised*_ H-hey! How could _you_ have heard? You didn't even make an appearance in this chaper!

**Ganondorf:** _*snorting*_ Oh, yes, I did! Who cares if it was brief?

**Samus:** _*matter-of-factly*_ Toon Link cares.

**Toon Link:** _*surprised*_ H-h-hey! Now where did _you_ come from, Samus? You _really_ didn't make an appearance!

**Samus:** _*sweatdrop*_ …Just now, I did…

**Fox:** _*speechless with a mix of emotions that just cannot be described with words*_ …

_**Thank you for your helpful answers, everyone! And what's with the fog that knocked out the two Olympic Teams?**_

**Everyone in Teams Nintendo and Sega:** _*groaning*_ Ughhhhh…

_**…Thank you for your time, guys. Such great…enthusiasm you all have.**_

_**And now I have an extremely important announcement to make. From this chapter on, we will have little bonuses featuring certain Smashers, Assist Trophies, and anyone else in the Smash Mansion! The bonuses will come right after our interviews with the Smashers.**_

_**For our first bonus, we have the Ice Climbers! (WARNING: There are censored words here, so go back **_**now_ if you feel uncomfortable about this stuff! But…there's more to them than sees the eye!)_**

**Tattoos Everywhere_  
><em>**

**Popo:** _*waving*_ Hiya, Nana!

**Nana:** _*waving back*_ Oh, hi! What's up?

**Popo:** I have big news. So, did you know that some of the boy Smashers had tattoos on some part of their bodies?

**Nana:** _*stammering*_ T-t-tattoos?!

**Popo:** _*nodding*_ Yeah! I just found out, like, yesterday!

**Nana:** Wow, that must've taken a lot of effort, huh?

**Popo:** Yep! Ike has a tattoo of a sword on the back of his right hand. None of us knew that because he hardly takes off his gloves, y'know.

**Nana:** That makes perfect sense.

**Popo:** Ganondorf has a Triforce on his left shoulder. Captain Falcon has a falcon (obviously) on his right arm. I have an eggplant on my left ankle—

**Nana:** _*angrily*_ POPO! Lying is very bad!

**Popo:** _*ignoring Nana__*_ —and Snake has the Metal Gear Fox emblem on his **ck.

**Nana:** _*screaming*_ HIS **CK?!

**Popo:** _*nodding*_ That's right. His **ck.

**Nana:** _*nervously*_ P-P-Popo… Um… Uh… Is that…_okay_?

**Popo:** Of course! Do you have a problem with tattoos?

**Nana:** N-no, I don't mean that. I-I-I mean…is it okay to talk about stuff like that here…?

**Popo:** _*confused*_ Eh? What's wrong with talking about Snake having the Metal Gear Fox emblem on his back?

**Nana:** _*slowly putting things together*_ …Wait… B…a…"ck"?

**Popo:** Yep. His **ck.

**Nana:** _*massive sweatdrop*_ …Y-you know, in my opinion, there's no reason to censor that.

_**…**__**And there you go. Hope that was pretty good to start off with!**_

_**Of course, there will be times when I just can't think of anything worthy enough to appear as a bonus at the end of a chapter. So, I'd like YOU to leave some of your thoughts in a review! Cookies for those who give me great ideas! **_

_**Credits to_**—**_oh, WAIT! We aren't done yet!  
><strong>_

**Crazy Hand:** …Eh wot?

**Master Hand:** Ah, yes. We nearly forgot to do _that_ again.

**Crazy Hand:** What's "that"? A cookie?! The reviewers got some! So can I? Huh? _Huhhhh?!_

**Master Hand:** Absolutely not, and _t__his_ is "that"! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!_  
><em>

**_And_ now_ we have the credits._**

_**Credits****_ to_ the Kingdom Hearts wiki for a little bit of info on AntiSora! And that's all, I believe.  
><strong>_

_**By the way! Did any of you recognize the prologue of the book Pikachu was reading in the library? Extra cookies for those who say yes!  
><strong>_

_**Well, then! Hopefully, Chapter 23 is coming soon. But who knows? School is giving me hell right now******…******ugh****. Anyway, remember to review!  
><strong>_


	23. SPECIAL — The Easter Game

**_Hey, there, y'all! It's another really late update! It was supposed to be posted on March 31, you know! And—oh, wow. It's already almost the end of _****April_! April 19, to be exact._**

**Ness:** _*cheering*_ Who cares! Hoorayyyyyyy!

**_I THOUGHT I SAID NO ONE WAS ALLOWED IN THE OPENERS._**

**Ness:** Well, too bad! _*sticks his tongue out*_

**_WELL, TOO BAD,_**** YOU_._ I'M_ IN CHARGE. NOW PLEASE GET OUT. *kicks Ness out*_**_ **Anyway, I have a very important announcement to make! This chapter—Chapter 23—is different from the others. This is our **_**first special chapter_! C'mon, cheer with me! Woohoo!_**

**_Special chapters are based on holidays and have no relation to the main storyline. This one's about Easter Sunday, since that's the most recent holiday._**

**Yoshi:** No, April Fool's Day was the most recent one…

**_I DON'T CARE. THIS IS_**** MY_ STORY. GET OUT. *kicks Yoshi out* Special chapters will only include the original Smashers and maybe a Pokémon or two. Expect to see Darkrai and/or Mewtwo in most of them, if not all. By the way, they're both appearing in this special._**

**Darkrai:** _*triumphantly*_ Yessssss! I have a high appearance rate!

**_"NO ONE" INCLUDES POKÉMON, YOU KNOW, AND "POKÉMON" INCLUDES THE LEGENDS. AND I HOPE YOU WON'T COME BACK HERE ANYTIME SOON OR I WILL GIVE YOU A HIGH _****CATCH_ RATE INSTEAD OF A HIGH APPEARANCE RATE. THANK YOU. *kicks Darkrai out* NOW LET'S BEGIN; WE'RE THREE MINUTES BEHIND._**

**Mewtwo:** Actually, it's more like one _month_ behind, since this chapter was supposed to be posted on March 31.

**_YOU ARE A LEGENDARY POKÉMON, WHICH MEANS YOU ARE PART OF "POKÉMON," WHICH MEANS YOU ARE PART OF "NO ONE." GET OUT OF MY OPENER OR I'LL TAKE YOU OUT OF THE CHAPTER._**

**Mewtwo:** I certainly won't like that.

**_YOU SURE WON'T, YOU. *kicks Mewtwo out*_**

**_And one more thing! __Lucario and Snake's minds are telepathically connected, allowing them to communicate telepathically. Remember about that thing back in Chapter 18?_**

**_And that's all for now. Enjoy._**

**Disclaimer: The Smashers and Easter do not belong to me!**

* * *

><p><strong>SPECIAL – Chapter 23: The Easter Game<strong>

* * *

><p>Two Smashers were walking through a corridor on the second floor.<p>

"So, Snake, what do you think we should do today?"

"I dunno. Maybe we should play some _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_."

"I'd rather do a brawl with the Brawl System, though…"

"Nah. I'm too tired. I'm not in the mood for beating up Smashers and getting beaten up."

Somewhere in the kitchen, an explosion sounded. It was immediately followed by Peach's yelling, Kirby's screaming, King Dedede's guffaws, and Meta Knight's sword chopping up tables.

"KIRBY! YOU OWE ME!"

"I don't owe you anything!"

"OH, YES, YOU DO! TWENTY APPLE PIES!"

"Kirby! Apple pies are my favorite, you know!"

_Chop-chop-chop-chop-chop._

"Haaaahahahahaha!"

Snake looked at Lucario, grinning. "I guess today's gonna be another normal day, eh?"

Lucario let out a loud sigh through his nose and stretched his arms toward the ceiling. "'Normal,' huh?" he commented. "Now that you mention it, Snake…" He pointed at the top of the Smasher's head.

"Exactly what about _that_ is normal to you?"

Solid Snake—soldier, spy, musher, mercenary, one of the oldest fighters in the Smash Mansion, "the man who makes the impossible possible"—was wearing a pair of fuzzy white bunny ears.

"You look really silly with those, you know," Lucario said. "It's getting hard for me to believe that you're the legendary Solid Snake." He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

Snake gave him a crooked smile as he gently patted the ears. "Ah, well. Since today's Easter, I was kind of…_forced_ to put them on."

"Who forced you?"

"Eh. Peach. She wanted us all to—how did she say it?—oh, yeah…'join the fun and festivities.'"

"Oh. Okay. They're rather disturbing to look at, in my opinion." Lucario looked down on the first floor, where Peach and Meta Knight were still pursuing poor Kirby. All three of them were wearing bunny ears; Lucario analyzed Meta Knight's aura and discovered many feelings of humiliation, which was easily understood. "Peach doesn't seem to be in the 'fun and festivities' kind of mood right now, you know, even with those bunny ears."

Snake nodded in agreement, the bunny ears bobbing up and down. "Uh-huh." Then he put his right arm around Lucario's shoulders. "C'mon, Lucario. Some Smashers want us to meet them in the Ice Climbers' room."

The Aura Pokémon and the mercenary made their way to a staircase and went up to the third floor. After walking about fifty feet or so, they reached a door with a purple eggplant—Popo and Nana's room. Lucario could hear a great deal of chattering inside and took a nervous step back as Snake pushed the unlocked door open.

The Pokémon was immediately greeted by two pairs of short arms.

"Hi, Lucario!" the Ice Climber twins said in unison, giggling. Like Snake, they were wearing bunny ears, as were all the other Smashers in the room: Peach, Toon Link, Pit, Ike, Zero Suit Samus, Kirby, Meta Knight, Lucas, and Sonic. Lucario wondered how in the world Peach, Kirby, and Meta Knight got here so quickly before giving everyone a halfhearted smile. The smile quickly turned into a frown when Samus approached him with a pair of bunny ears.

"Lucario, there's no point in celebrating Easter without bunny ears!" she said with a laugh. With lightning speed, she kicked the Pokémon's legs from under him and held him down as she applied the ears to his head, much to his dismay and embarrassment. "There you go. You can thank me later."

Lucario staggered upright, rubbing his shins and groaning. "Great Arceus, Samus… There's no point in celebrating Easter if you have to knock your friend down just to put on some silly bunny ears…"

On the other side of the room, Toon Link pouted. "These ears aren't silly! They look a lot like Bunny Hoods, and you know how Bunny Hoods can save your life! Yet you never bothered to call the Bunny Hoods 'silly'…"

Lucario flushed. "Th-that's a whole different topic!"

Toon Link stuck his tongue out. "Is not!"

"Oh, really?" the Aura Pokémon growled.

"Yeah, really!" the cartoon Hero of Time shot back.

Lucario would have pounced on Toon Link if it had not been for Snake and Samus holding onto his arms. "Lucario, it's Easter," Snake said patiently. "Like Peach said, join the fun and festivities! Now apologize to Toon."

Lucario grumbled a reluctant "sorry", satisfying Snake and Samus, who released him. Peach stepped forward and clapped her hands to catch everyone's attention.

"Okay, all you Pokémon and heroes and swordsmen and angels and bounty hunters and mercenaries and anthropomorphic animals!" she announced hurriedly, earning a sigh of relief from Snake. "I'm glad you're all here on time to celebrate Easter together! As you all know, Easter is a day of food, fun, and egg-related games such as egg tapping, egg rolling, and the famous egg hunt. And, for reasons unknown, bunnies are an important subject of this wonderful holiday!"

"I know," Snake interrupted. "The origin of the celebration—and the Easter bunny—can be traced back to the thirteenth century, pre-Christian Germany, when people worshiped several gods and goddesses. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal's high reproduction rate."

Samus glared at him. "…You got that from the NBC News website."

Snake was surprised. "How did you know?"

The bounty hunter smirked. "Oh, trust me, David, I know everything you do."

_"Don't call me David!"_

The two Smashers were stopped by Peach's clapping.

"Okay, all you…" The Mushroom Kingdom princess stopped herself. "No, I already did that."

Again, she was rewarded with a sigh from Snake.

"We'll start with the egg hunt, everybody! Then there will be egg tapping and egg rolling." Peach pulled a basket from a dresser and removed the cloth that concealed its contents. "Ta-da! Aren't they beautiful?"

The basket was full of Easter eggs, painted with the most complicated patterns anyone could think of. The princess was obviously very pleased with her handiwork.

"I painted these with Zelda last night," she explained. "We worked till our eyes were all red. But I think it was worth it."

Meta Knight took a swift glance towards the eggs. "I most definitely agree."

"Zelda and I spent the rest of our time hiding the eggs in various places. My back is so sore from bending down so much!" Then Peach's sapphire-blue eyes lit up with delight. "Oh!" She quickly and carefully withdrew one of the eggs from the basket. This one had glitter and gems neatly glued on it, as well as stripes and Smash Balls that were painted on its smooth surface. It easily stood out from the rest of the eggs. "Isn't this one just _gorgeous_? This is the egg that will be everyone's goal! If you find this egg, you're the winner of the egg hunt!"

"So _that's_ how it is, huh?" remarked Pit, longing for the egg.

Snake stepped forward. "I have a better idea."

All the Smashers looked at him.

"A game where you just go looking for the most eggs will eventually get way too boring," the mercenary said. "We need some more action. We're Smashers, for crying out loud! So I was thinking—why not have something that involves two ladles and an egg?"

"Go on," Ike urged. "It sounds interesting."

"So the game will kind of go like this. We'll be split into teams of two, and each team has two ladles—one for each person—and a raw egg. There are three rules, all of which are pretty simple, actually. First, a team is free to exchange their egg between its members. What I'm saying is that one guy can pass his egg to his teammate as much as he wants. Second, if your team's egg is cracked in any way—I repeat, in _any_ way—your team is disqualified. And third…" Snake suddenly looked like his favorite rule was this one. "And third, you're allowed to attack another team's egg by any means necessary, as long as you don't hurt the team members themselves." He grinned sadistically. _"By any means necessary."_

"There goes that 'any' thing again," Pit muttered.

Several of the Smashers looked quite uncomfortable. Lucas seemed to be more interested in his shoelaces than Snake's version of the egg hunt. Sonic was itching for a chili dog.

Snake quickly put on a cheerful expression. "So! I guess that's that. Any questions or objections?"

No one said anything. Snake did a thumbs-up sign.

"No? That's great. Let's get started right away. Begin Operation Easter G—"

Unfortunately, the Smasher did not get a chance to get started right away.

_CRASH._

Sonic whirled around. "Did a rock just crash into the window?"

"No, _I_ just crashed into the window—and your little discussion."

A boy literally flew into the Ice Climbers' room. He had long white hair and one visible ice-blue eye, and was wearing a black trench coat, black pants, and black boots. He was all too familiar to Lucario, Snake, and Lucas.

"D-D-_Darkrai_?" they spluttered together.

Darkrai winked. "The one and only."

"What in Dream Land are _you_ doing here?" Meta Knight questioned, his yellow eyes glowing with curiosity.

Another person swung inside. He had violet eyes and gray windswept hair tied into a loose ponytail, and wore a lilac-colored jacket trimmed with fur, skinny blue jeans, and navy blue sneakers. He could have passed for a regular human if Lucario did not see the two small ears that poked out of his hair or the long tail.

"Mewtwo, too?" the Pokémon exclaimed. "What?"

Mewtwo nodded. "Hey, there."

Popo and Nana were beside themselves with rage. "HEY!" they shouted. "YOU'RE PAYING FOR OUR WINDOW, DARKRAI!"

The Legend gave a nonchalant shrug. "Sure. Whatever." He turned to the other Smashers. "I heard you were about to start an Easter egg hunt when Snake suggested a more dangerous alternative." He smiled mysteriously. "I know what you're up to, Snake. I'll soon be hearing a lot of explosions, correct?"

Snake gulped. "Uh…"

Darkrai waved it off. "Don't worry, Mewtwo and I already…'evacuated' everyone. We kind of had a feeling that this egg hunt would be a bit…well, life-threatening, you see."

Ike nodded in understanding. "I think that was a great idea." Lucas noticed that he was eyeing Snake in particular.

"But it's okay," Darkrai went on. "If you _do_ happen to blow up a chandelier or something, I'll ask Dialga to rewind time to restore the things that had you had blown to smithereens. I won't tell Master Hand; you know how angry he gets when you destroy part of the Smash Mansion—or _his_ Smash Mansion, as he sometimes calls it." He cleared his throat. "Ahem. So. What's the plan?" he asked, smiling innocently.

Everybody except Mewtwo, who had been expecting this, fell down.

"Quit screwing around!" Kirby snapped after he got back up.

Mewtwo shoved Darkrai out of the way. "Don't mind him. He does it all the time to Cresselia. That's why she's always rampaging after him with her Psycho Cuts."

"…'Kay…" Lucas said with uncertainty.

For the third time, Peach clapped her hands. _My, my. My hands are starting to feel raw._ "Well, then! Shall we begin? No, not yet. Darkrai and Mewtwo, you need bunny ears to participate."

"WE'RE LEGENDARY POKÉMON AND WE DON'T NEED BUNNY EARS—"

Peach smiled somewhat creepily. "Would you like Samus to do the same thing she'd done to Lucario?"

Both Darkrai and Mewtwo gulped.

-ooo-

Outside the Smash Mansion, some Smashers were eagerly anticipating the egg hunt, while others had expressions that read, _What the heck am I even doing here?_ Four of the ex-villain Smashers—excluding King Dedede—were huddled together, having a quiet discussion.

"So where'd you reckon Peach hid da winner's egg?" Wario asked.

Ganondorf raised his hands, shaking his head. "Don't ask me. What do _you_ think, Bowser?"

The Koopa king drew his hand through his untidy auburn hair. "Well, she could have hid it in the kitchen since she's there most of the time. That egg could also be in her room because most Smashers wouldn't try break into another Smasher's quarters. And then she could've put it at some really tall place, like the top of a pillar or the tallest roof or something."

Wolf looked a bit incredulous. "…There's no way she could've done that in so little time."

Bowser snorted. "So _little_ time? She had the whole morning!"

"Sure, but she was in da kitchen mostly," Wario said.

"Then maybe she asked a Paratroopa or someone to do it for her," Ganondorf suggested.

"She doesn't look like the kind of person who'd ask a Koopa to do a job for her," said Bowser. "It's always Mario. Mario this, Mario that. 'Save me, Mario! Bowser has kidnapped me!' 'Fix my roof, Mario!' 'Mario, you have to get back the treasure!' 'Mario, you must defeat Count Bleck!' Bah!" He grunted. "Oh, and sometimes lil' Weegee."

"Uh…Lil' Weegee?"

A green fireball went flying into Bowser, setting his hair on fire.

"I heard-a that-a, Bowser!" a certain green plumber yelled from somewhere, laughing at the sight of the Koopa king running in circles while all the other Smashers did their best to avoid him.

Something buzzed in Ganondorf's ear. Thinking that it was a mosquito, he slapped the side of his head. "Ouch!"

Wolf looked at him. "Well, that's what you get for slapping yourself…"

"There was something in my ear, okay?" the dark king said impatiently. The buzzing came back, and he slapped himself again. "Damn, this mosquito's really persistent!"

Wolf stuck his pinkie inside his own ear. "Huh, I think I have one in my ear, too."

_"It's not a mosquito."_

"How do you know?" Ganondorf demanded, glaring at Wolf.

Wolf hopped back, surprised at the dark king's outburst. "Whoa, who're you talking to?"

Ganondorf frowned. "Didn't you say something just now?"

"Nope, ain't me," the Star Wolf leader said. "Why?"

"I'm sure I heard someone just now, though…"

_"Ahem. Up here."_

The two Smashers looked up. "Where?"

_"Here on the balcony."_

They looked towards the balcony to see a familiar blue-furred, bipedal Pokémon waving at them.

_"See me now?"_ asked Lucario.

"Yeah, we see you, alright," Ganondorf said, knowing that Lucario could hear him even at this distance. "What's going on?"

_"I had to reach you with telepathy because everyone's so loud_… _Tell everyone to shut up. I have an announcement to make."_

Wolf grinned. "Oh, sure. I'm really good at making everyone shut up."

Ganondorf took a step back. "For some reason, I think it's a good time for me to slowly back away."

_"Yeah, I think that's a great idea,"_ Lucario agreed.

Wolf jumped into the crowd of unaware Smashers.

_Boom!_

At the sound of the explosion, a Smasher in a gray camouflage suit rushed onto the balcony.

"Was that a C3? Where the hell did you get that C3?"

Wolf grinned as he reemerged from the crowd, which had suddenly dispersed and fallen silent with slight shock. "From your room, of course!"

On the balcony, Snake shook his fist at the other Smasher, then threw down a small object.

"Have a little mouthful of C4, you bastard!"

There was a flash, and the C4 lay on the ground in two clean halves.

Marth sheathed Falchion. "I don't approve of explosives. Also, Easter should be a peaceful day."

Lucario snapped his fingers. "That's right. Everyone, please shut up and look up here!"

All eyes turned to the Aura Pokémon.

"Thank you," he said. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that the egg hunt will be beginning in a few minutes. Thanks to Snake, the rules and concept of the game have been modified into something a little more…uh…" He looked at Snake. "Is 'rowdy' enough to describe it?"

"Nah," said the mercenary. "'Cataclysmic' is better."

"It's not going to be _that_ bad…"

"Fine. How about 'explosive'?"

"That'll do." Lucario turned back to the Smashers. "As I was saying, the game has been modified into something a little more…explosive. I think you all have an idea of what I mean."

Mario glanced at Snake and noticed that he was grinning.

"And because the game has become more explosive, I'm asking all of you to stay out of the Smash Mansion if you value your lives."

"Oh, of _course_ I do!" King Dedede declared. "My life's the most valuable one there is!"

Zelda and Red elbowed him in the stomach and requested him to close his mouth and be quiet.

"Since Peach is the referee, she's allowed to hang out here," said Snake, gesturing to the balcony. "And she can invite one Smasher up with her. Zelda, come up here when we're done talking, okay?"

The Hylian princess looked surprised. "Oh—all right." _So Peach invited me? How nice. Thank you, Peach._

"And I believe that's all," Lucario concluded. "Thanks for listening! Stay out of the mansion! Don't get killed! Come on, Zelda!" As he and Snake ran back inside, the Smashers could hear Snake announcing…

-ooo-

"…Get your teams assembled!"

The fourteen participants—excluding Peach, who was the referee—quickly paired themselves up into the teams they had formed just moments before.

For obvious reasons, Lucario and Snake were a team. Their team name was SiAura.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Lucario asked.

Snake nodded. "In the military, they have a code word for each letter. For example, _alpha_ is the code word for the letter A, and the code word for B is _bravo_. The code word for S, which is the first letter of my code name, is _sierra_, and if you combine that with 'aura,' which refers to your powers, you get _SiAura_. Cool, eh?"

Because they were close siblings, Popo and Nana stuck with each other. Their team name was Summit.

"We love to climb to the peak of every mountain, that's why!" they explained together.

Surprisingly, Kirby and Meta Knight were not together. Instead, Kirby was with Lucas, and their team name was Dream.

"Because I'm from Dream Land and I'm awesome!" Kirby boasted.

"Because we couldn't think of another name and that sucks," Lucas moaned.

Meta Knight was with Samus, and their team name was Galaxy.

"Because his sword is called Galaxia and I'm a bounty hunter who searches through entire galaxies for Space Pirates," said Samus.

"Because we, too, could not think of another more decent name," Meta Knight corrected her.

"I honestly think it's a pretty good name," said Samus, frowning.

Toon Link and Sonic's team name was SonicBoom.

"It's pretty obvious, you know," said Sonic.

"We're Team SonicBoom because Sonic goes at super_sonic_ speeds and my bombs go _BOOM_!" Toon Link yelled. "Like Snake's C4 and stolen C3! Except my bombs have a bigger _BOOM_ than Snake's C4 and stolen C3!" He did not catch Snake's deathly glare.

Pit and Ike, of course, were a team. Their team name was Blade.

"Well, you see," Pit began to explain, "we both have weapons with blades, and…"

"And we, like Team Dream and Team Galaxy, couldn't think of a better name," Ike finished for him. "_That's_ the real reason."

The final team consisted of Darkrai and Mewtwo, whose team name was Legend.

"Even when we're wearing these goofy bunny ears, we're Legendary Pokémon," Mewtwo said.

"Need we say more?" Darkrai asked. "No. We don't."

"But you just did," Mewtwo pointed out matter-of-factly.

Darkrai knocked him down.

After each contestant received a ladle and one raw egg per team, the seven teams lined up in the hallway outside the Ice Climber's room. Peach held up a flag.

"When the flag goes down, you go out," she said. "On your marks…"

"We aren't racing, Peach!" said Meta Knight exasperatedly.

"But that's how contests always begin," she replied. "Get set…"

Snake quickly passed the egg to Lucario. "You're a lot more agile than me, so I think you oughta hold onto it."

"Sure, sure."

Peach's flag went down.

_"Go!"_

-ooo-

Team Dream was already off and running when Lucas skidded to a stop. "Wait a minute! I forgot my stick!"

Kirby groaned as he carefully carried the egg in his ladle. "Why do you have to get it _now_?"

"It's a vital weapon!" Lucas replied.

"That doesn't matter! I have my Cutter Sword!"

"But that's really dangerous! You could accidentally crack our own egg—"

_Crack._

At the same time, Kirby and Lucas looked at their egg, which now had a crack running straight through it.

"…Hey, what was Snake's second rule again?" Lucas asked after a brief pause."

Kirby thought about it. "I think it went like…'If your team's egg is cracked in any way—I repeat, in _any_ way—your team is disqualified.'"

They looked at their egg again. Then they looked at the crack.

"…AW, JEEZ!"

Team Dream was disqualified.

-ooo-

"Speak of the devil…" Ike mused, running down a corridor. "Their egg got cracked."

Pit grinned as he flew alongside his teammate. "Yeah, we really got them."

"And that was a great shot, Pit," Ike praised the angel. "You threw those two out of the game within the first thirty seconds."

Pit shrugged, blushing slightly. "But the arrow went off by several degrees. It only grazed their egg. In a way, I missed the target."

Ike laughed. "Oh, please. You're always so modest."

Then Pit noticed a tiny movement in the corner of his left eye. He glanced to his left, just in time to see the tip of a small brown boot and green hat disappear into a corner.

"Ike," he said, "which Smasher wears small brown boots and a green hat?"

"Link," the Crimean soldier said instantly.

Pit sighed. "Which Smasher wears _small_ brown boots and a green hat?"

"Oh, _small_!" Ike exclaimed. "That'd be Toon Link, then."

"Well, I saw Toon turning a corner just now," Pit told him. "Want to go after Team SonicBoom now?"

"Of course," Ike agreed. "On the way, we may catch sight of the egg. Let's keep our eyes open."

Team Blade entered the other hallway in pursuit of Toon Link. Little did they know that they were running right into the midst of a trap…

-ooo-

Meanwhile with Team SiAura…

Snake poked Lucario. "Hey, Lucario. I just got an idea."

The Pokémon looked at him. "What is it?"

The mercenary sat down and leaned against the wall. "Let's just warm the bench here on the fourth floor until most of the teams have gotten blown up by random explosives. Maybe we can avoid most of the damage and keep our egg safe that way."

Lucario nodded as he closed his eyes. "That's a wonderful idea."

-ooo-

In the meantime…

Nana pointed at a tall bookshelf. "Popo, let's check this one. I don't think we did the Star Fox section yet, did we?"

"No, we didn't," Popo answered. "I'll throw you up there."

The brother took out a long rope and tied it around his sister's waist. Then he took a flying leap and pulled Nana upwards, sending her even higher than his height. While Nana was in the air, she quickly inspected the top of the Star Fox bookshelf.

"Nope, nothing," she announced when she was back on the ground. "But I did find _this_ egg—"

"It's not the right one, sorry." Popo looked at another bookshelf. "How 'bout the Metal Gear bookshelf?"

"Huh. Let's check it out."

This time, it was Popo who was tossed up by Nana. He, too, confirmed that there was no winner's egg on that bookshelf, either, except for two cute flower-patterned eggs that Nana insisted on keeping.

Popo was annoyed. "Then where could that egg be?"

The Ice Climbers heard the _clunk-clunk-clunk_ of a pair of boots walking towards the library.

"Quick!" hissed Popo. "Hide!"

Team Summit dived into the Metal Gear bookshelf. Thanks to their small size, Popo and Nana were both able to squeeze into the space between some Metal Gear books.

The owner of the boots entered the library, followed by someone wearing something that sounded like sneakers. "What do you think of this place, then?"

The Ice Climbers' stomachs lurched. It was Team Legend.

"Nope. I don't think so."

"Really? At least check it… I see a bunch of eggs in the bookshelves."

"None of them are the right ones. Let's go to the Brawl Room."

Nana chose that moment to look at the cover of the book next to her. The title read _Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance_ and depicted a rather aggressive-looking man wielding a sword surrounded by blue sparks. The man looked like he was partially human and mostly robotic, and he had wild grayish-white hair and red eyes that blazed like a raging fire. The eye patch that covered his left eye only made him look more dangerous and insane. And—_was he slicing a person in half?_

"Oh, my GOSH!" Nana shrieked, terrified.

_"Nana!"_ Popo whispered sharply, but it was already too late.

"Team Summit, do you have any explanation as to why you're wedged into the Metal Gear bookshelf?" Mewtwo called out suddenly. He was looking straight at the Ice Climbers.

Popo and Nana tumbled out of the shelf, bringing down several books and eggs with them. When _Revengeance_ landed next to Nana, she took one look at it and quickly ducked behind Popo.

"Nana!" scolded the brother. "You gave us away!"

"I'm sorry, but that book cover freaked me out!" the sister tried to explain. "Why didn't you jump into the Game & Watch section or something? Why did you have to pick Metal Gear?"

"I'm sorry, but that was the nearest bookshelf!"

"Don't you know that all the Metal Gear games as of now are rated M?"

"But that's just a book cover!"

"But, but, but _that_ book cover showed some creepy white-haired guy slicing some other guy _in half_! And Mr. Crazy-Looking White-Haired Guy looked totally _insane_ while he was cutting through Mr. Sliced-In-Half Guy with his electrified sword!"

Popo jumped with surprise. "…Then I guess I really did pick the wrongest bookshelf ever."

"'Wrongest' isn't a word, Popo," Mewtwo reminded the boy.

Darkrai raised his hand. "Um, by 'Mr. Crazy-Looking White-Haired Guy,' do you mean me?"

"NO!" the Ice Climbers shouted. "AND YOU'RE STILL PAYING FOR THE WINDOW!"

The Dark-type Legend put a hand to his forehead like he was frustrated. "Arceus, don't remind me. Am I paying in Poké?"

"NO! YOU'RE PAYING IN U.S. DOLLARS!"

Darkrai sighed. "Oh, _please_… I can't find that anywhere near here. I'll have to go to the human world for that kind of money."

"THEN _GO_!"

"W-wait! How about Smash dollars?"

"NO! YOU MUST PAY IN U.S. DOLLARS! …ACTUALLY, YES! YOU MUST PAY IN SMASH DOLLARS! U.S. DOLLARS ARE USELESS HERE!"

Mewtwo tapped on his partner's shoulder. "Can we please get back to business now?"

"Oh! That's right!" Darkrai held out his hand. "You'd better surrender that egg of yours or you're subject to a very painful defeat! …And a broken egg," he added after a moment of thought.

Nana protectively held her ladle with Team Summit's egg. "No, way! We're gonna break _yours_ first!"

Darkrai smirked. "Oh, yeah? You have to catch me and my egg first."

With that, the Legend went zipping out of the library. Nana, still clutching onto her ladle with the egg, dashed after him.

"Are you going easy? You're so slow today!"

"If I went at my fullest, I'd be at the balcony by now!"

"Liar!"

"Want me to prove it?"

"…NO!"

"Just as I thought. See ya."

"COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!"

Mewtwo and Popo watched as their partners made the chase all the more insane.

"So are we just gonna sit back here and watch?" Popo asked.

"Yes," Mewtwo said. "It's a really bad idea to interfere."

Now Nana was being chased, but Darkrai still went easy. Nana took this to her advantage and stuck out her foot. Darkrai tripped over it and smacked onto the ground. He lay there, unmoving.

Nana gasped with horror. "Oh, no! I didn't mean to trip him up _that_ badly!" She knelt down to feel for a pulse. "Darkrai! Are you okay? Say something, Darkrai!"

_Smash._

The Legend's left hand was raised in the air, covered with egg yolk and bits of white eggshell. "Arceus…you are _so_ vulnerable, Nana."

Popo blinked with astonishment when he saw Team Legend's egg in Mewtwo's ladle. "How… How in the world did your team's egg end up in _your_ ladle?"

Mewtwo waved it tauntingly in front of the Ice Climber's face. "Right before Darkrai tripped, he threw the egg at me. I did the obvious thing."

It took Nana quite a while to put things together. When she did, she was outraged.

"AAGHHHH!" she shouted, stomping on the ground. "YOU _TRICKSTERS_!"

Darkrai brought himself back onto his feet. He looked perfectly fine, except now he had a hand covered in bright yellow egg yolk. "Next time, Ice Climbers, don't immediately rush to someone's aid, even if it's a friend. C'mon, Mewtwo," he then said to the Genetic Pokémon, "let's go look for more teams and that egg. But first, let me wash off this…stuff. It's freaking me out."

Mewtwo scratched his head, confused. "How's that?"

Darkrai shuddered as he looked at the dripping yolk. "Well…it's just that it…makes me think that I'd smashed a Pokémon Egg… It's horrendous…"

Mewtwo was faintly amused. "Haha, very funny. I didn't know you had such strong feelings towards Eggs. Let's go to the bathroom and clean you up. Our job here is done."

Team Summit was disqualified.

-ooo-

Team Blade was still tailing Toon Link, taking care not to let the other Smasher see either of them. Unfortunately, _they_ were the ones who were being tailed.

_Bonk._

Ike looked down. "Hey, what's this?" The swordsman picked up something. "It's an egg!"

Pit became excited. "Is it the winner's egg?"

Ike turned it over in his hands and examined it. Then he shook his head. "Nothing. It's just a regular Easter egg. Let's keep it, though; I like the design."

That was when Pit saw a spark running along a string that poked through the egg's shell.

"Uh, Ike…?"

The swordsman looked at the angel. "Yeah?"

Pit pointed at the egg in Ike's hand. "About that egg…

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Uh…it has a fuse."

"A _wha_—?"

_BOOM!_

-ooo-

Sonic and Toon Link high-fived each other.

"That was awesome!" Sonic said happily.

"I knew my Easter egg-disguised Bombchu would give us a lot of help!" Toon Link cheered. "We've kicked Pit and Ike out of the game!"

Team Blade was disqualified.

-ooo-

"Three teams down, four to go," Peach murmured to Zelda, watching the egg hunt from the balcony. "I wonder which team is next? Galaxy, SiAura, Legend, or SonicBoom?"

"There is no doubt that the next teams would be wiped out rather quickly," Zelda replied. "Look at how explosive things have gotten."

-ooo-

Team Galaxy had finished checking the Brawl Room and Brawl System room, not finding anything but about ten different eggs, which they decided to keep in a suitcase in Samus' room. Now they were on their way to the kitchen.

"It's very likely that Peach could've hidden the egg there," Meta Knight said to Samus as they pounded down the hallway. "After all, she works there most of the time."

"But the kitchen's not that small," said Samus. "Where do you think it is?"

"All we have to do is search," Meta Knight told her.

Within three minutes, the two Smashers reached the Smash Mansion's large kitchen. It was spotlessly clean and devoid of Koopas, Waddle Dees, and Waddle Doos.

"I guess Peach didn't want them to interfere with us, and us to interfere with them," Samus said.

They began searching from the highest places, poking at the tops of the cupboards and the refrigerator. They both found several Easter eggs, but none of them was the correct egg. Next, they tried the drawers. Nothing was to be found in them, either.

"When it's not up here, look down there," Meta Knight wisely suggested.

The two of them got on their knees and crawled along the kitchen floor, peering under cabinets and tables. It was not long before Samus let out an excited cry.

"I think I found it! It's under the oven!" She squeezed her hand into the small space. "Careful… Careful… All right, I got—"

_BOOM!_

The moment the bounty hunter's hand made contact with the Easter egg, it blew up, sending her, Meta Knight, their ladles, and their egg sailing out of the now-ruined kitchen and straight into a wall. Team Legend happened to be passing by at that moment, and Darkrai and Mewtwo each a huge step backwards to avoid crushing their own team's egg.

"Good Galaxia," Meta Knight moaned, his normally polished mask now covered in dust and soot, "what was _that_ for?"

Samus rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, her blackened hair in an interesting-looking formation. "I kind of forgot that I'd hidden some of my own eggs around the mansion after breakfast…and I'd put bombs in them…"

Darkrai looked at Team Galaxy's broken egg. It had flown into the wall with such force that bits of yolk and eggshell could be seen on the ground almost ten feet away from the area of impact. "Hey, seriously, who makes explosive eggs? Even Mewtwo isn't psychotic enough to do that kind of stuff."

Mewtwo poked him.

"But Samus is," Meta Knight said simply.

Samus hung her head. "I'm sorry."

Team Galaxy was disqualified.

-ooo-

Lucario's ears twitched when he heard an explosion from somewhere on the first floor. "Sounds like a bomb went off in the kitchen or something."

Snake just grinned. "I guess someone triggered my explosive eggs, eh?"

Lucario whirled towards him. "Explosive eggs? _Your_ explosive eggs?"

The mercenary nodded. "Yep. Samus _did_ hide some, but I'd already disabled all of them. All the exploding eggs you'll find are mine."

Lucario let out a huff. "How do you feel about your sneaky acts, David?"

_"Damn! Don't call me David!"_

-ooo-

Team SonicBoom had decided to split up. Sonic had gone off to look for more eggs, while Toon Link was in charge of getting other teams disqualified and guarding his team's egg. The cartoon Hero of Time was sure that he would get everyone out of the game within minutes.

"I have a whole arsenal of explosives at my disposal," he said to himself. "I bet even Snake doesn't have as many bombs as me!"

He stationed himself in front of a doorway and began to set his bombs around himself, forming a circle of high-power explosives. When he was done, he kicked back and relaxed.

"Now _no_ one can even get _near_ me!" he cackled. "They'll have to get blown up first! Muahahaha…haha…ha…um?"

Toon Link looked at the circle of bombs around him. Then he looked at their fuses.

All the fuses were lit.

And he was in the middle of all of them.

That was when he realized the fatal mistake he had just committed.

He did not even have enough time to scream.

"OH, C—"

-ooo-

Sonic came running back to the second floor, his blue fur all singed and sticking up. "Hey, Toon! I didn't find the special egg, but I did find a whole lot of other cool-looking eggs! Though, for some reason, one of them exploded on me—_Toon?_"

Toon Link lay spread-eagled on the ground, burned from head to toe, and the egg he was supposed to be guarding was all but vaporized.

Team SonicBoom was disqualified.

-ooo-

Now Team SiAura decided to start looking or it would be too late to get the victory. Like all the other teams, Lucario and Snake's attempts to find the special Easter egg were futile. The two of them had swept the entire fourth floor of the mansion, managing to find two armfuls of other eggs. They decided to drop them off in a cardboard box in Snake's room before going to the third floor.

"Let's take a peek inside everyone's rooms," Snake said to his partner. "Hey… It's not like some Smashers are in there!" he added quickly when he saw the look on Lucario's face. The Pokémon still seemed to be a little suspicious even after the mercenary's statement.

The two Smashers began to peer inside all the rooms, searching for any small objects with bright colors. Some rooms had thick curtains draped over the windows, so Team SiAura had no choice but to skip those.

The third floor, too, was empty. No winner's egg was to be found.

Lucario was getting more and more irritated by the minute. "How could one Easter egg be so hard to find? We're so close and yet so far! _Aargh!_" He punched the wall, the steel spike on the back of his paw making a small hole.

Snake pulled the Aura Pokémon aside before he could make another hole. "Whoa, there. Calm down. We'll find it eventually… None of the other teams have had any luck yet, you know. We're all on the same boat, which is good. Sort of."

Lucario breathed deeply as his heart rate subsided. "That's good to know… Let's move on."

-ooo-

Mewtwo caught sight of a colorful object lying under a small table near one of its legs. He hoped it was the winner's egg—no, it was not. It was exactly the same as the winner's egg except for one thing: this egg had multicolored spots instead of little Smash Balls. How practical of Peach.

"Well, what about it?"

"Nope, it's not this one, either," Mewtwo said, getting back up. "I think Peach was trying to trick us by painting this egg with spots while keeping the rest of it the same as the winner's egg. And by the way…" He glanced over his shoulder.

"…why are you so far away?"

Darkrai peeked out from behind the door to the room. The door was about twenty feet away from where Mewtwo was.

"Since I have our team's egg, I have to take extra precautions," the Dark-type Legend explained, showing his partner the egg in his ladle. So far, it was unscathed. "What if that egg in your hand had been one of Samus' exploding eggs?"

Mewtwo put a hand to his chin. "I see your logic there, but why must I be your shield?"

"Your Defense and Special Defense stats are much higher than mine," Darkrai stated.

Mewtwo glared at him. "Stop lying."

Darkrai laughed uneasily. "Fine, fine! Our Defense and Special Defense are the same. But overall, your stats are much higher than mine. That's not a lie."

Mewtwo groaned. "What, am I your bodyguard now?"

Darkrai tilted his head to the side and examined the Genetic Pokémon. "Yes, it seems so."

Mewtwo groaned again. "Great…"

-ooo-

Zelda glanced at the clock, seeing that it now read 3:57 PM. She turned to Peach and tapped her shoulder.

"The game has been going in for a really long time now," she said to the other princess, feeling a little nervous. "Are you sure they're all fine?"

Peach smiled and giggled. "Oh, no need to fret, Zelda! It's not like they're getting fatal injuries or something. Trust me, they'll be fine."

Zelda still looked concerned. "Are you sure?"

Peach patted the Hylian princess on the back. "I'm sure they're all strong enough to withstand an explosion. Though…" She grimaced. "Did you see what happened to Toon Link?"

Zelda slowly shook her head with sympathy. "Oh, yes. Surrounded by bombs… A very stupid idea, but I don't care about that. I just hope he's going to be okay."

"I think Sonic took him to the Smashville Hospital just a few moments ago," Zelda said. "Mario has gone there to treat him."

"Yes, it's Dr. Mario to the rescue," Peach remarked. "Toon Link will be fixed in no time. And look—two teams left. _Now_ the real Easter game begins."

-ooo-

Team SiAura strolled into the dining room that the Smashers ate in on Sundays. It was a relatively large and fancy room with a long table of smooth wood and a glass chandelier hanging above it. The chain that held up the chandelier looked so thin and fragile that if Jigglypuff punched it, it probably would have snapped. The table had a white tablecloth and a line of three glass vases of yellow flowers, the middle one being the largest. The white walls had electric lamps hanging on them, and two large windows with semitransparent curtains let in all the sunlight. A clean fireplace sat in the middle of the wall opposite to the wall with the door.

"Well, this is the last room," Lucario said as he and his partner entered the pristine room. "It's either here or elsewhere. If the egg isn't here, then we have no choice but to search the Smash Mansion from top to bottom all over again."

Snake nodded. "Let's keep our hopes up. This room is really big, so there are lots of places that Peach could've hidden that egg in." He went to the fireplace and poked around in it. "No, nothing here except _this_ egg… I'll keep it. Hey, Lucario, put all the eggs you find on the table. That way, we won't get confused."

His partner nodded as he crawled under the table to search for the winner's egg. He reemerged empty-handed, much to Snake's disappointment.

"It's Peach we're talking about here…" Lucario mused. "She wouldn't have put it in a very challenging place…"

Snake happened to glance upwards, and he jumped with astonishment. "…Um, Lucario…it seems you're wrong about that."

"Huh?"

Snake pulled the Pokémon over and pointed at the chandelier. "Look there."

Lucario did as he was told, and his jaw dropped. "WHA—?"

Nestled comfortably in the light bulb holders of one of the branches of the chandelier was an egg.

The egg had Smash Balls on it.

"There it is," Lucario whispered. "The winner's egg!"

Snake was still frozen with shock. "B-but… But how the hell did Peach manage to get that thing all the way up _there_?"

Lucario shrugged. "Well, knowing her and her varying personality…" With his telepathy, he showed Snake an image of Peach doing some crazy somersaults in midair and gently setting the winner's egg in the chandelier branch's light bulb holder.

Snake had his left brow raised when the vision was done. "I don't believe you."

"Then don't." Lucario looked up at the egg again. "So, should you get it, or should I get it?"

Snake thought about it for a while. "Meh… I'll give you the privilege of getting to touch the egg first. I don't know why, but…" He bowed to Lucario and motioned towards the egg. "It's all yours."

"Gee, thanks." Lucario prepared to jump up to the chandelier, but he suddenly stopped himself. "No, that won't do. If I jump, I'll probably break the winner's egg before I even touch it. He turned towards Snake. "Snake, do you think your Cypher can carry two Smashers at once?"

"…It should be," answered the mercenary after a brief moment. "But there's only one way to find out."

He exited the dining room and quickly returned with his reconnaissance camera. After checking for any malfunctions, he grabbed onto the handlebars with his right hand, his other hand holding his ladle, and slowly rose into the air, using the Cypher as some sort of miniature helicopter. When he was about five feet in the air, he shouted, "Grab my feet, Lucario!"

The Aura Pokémon obliged, taking a small hop upwards to take hold of his partner's boot. He was still clutching onto his ladle, which held Team SiAura's egg. Snake's Cypher went much slower than before because of the combined weight of Lucario and Snake.

When the Cypher had gone high enough, Snake said to Lucario, "All right, now see if you can reach it."

Lucario stretched out his foot, but he was unable to reach the egg. "A little closer."

Snake carefully inched towards the chandelier.

"Okay, I think that's good," Lucario called to Snake. He reached out again. "Now let's get this game over with—"

Something gleamed. Then a ladle hurtled into the dining room, flying straight towards Lucario.

Several things happened at once.

Lucario did not notice the incoming missile, but Snake did. His eyes widened, and he used his own ladle to block the makeshift projectile. Lucario, thrown off balance by Snake's sudden movement, jolted his foot and knocked the winner's Easter egg out of the chandelier's branch. At the same time, he dropped his ladle, which contained Team SiAura's egg. Snake caught Lucario's ladle and scooped up the egg as it fell before it could smash onto the hard dinner table. Then he let go of his Cypher, letting it fly off to who knows where, and slammed onto the top of the table, knocking over one of the flower vases and spilling its contents. Lucario was fortunately high enough to grab onto one of the branches of the chandelier with his left paw, and with his right he plucked the winner's egg out of the air.

"Great Legends, Snake!" Lucario yelped, dangling precariously on the chandelier by one paw. "Why did you let go of the Cypher?"

The mercenary did not answer; instead, he quickly assumed a defensive stance. "Huh. 'Great Legends,' Lucario? Speak of the devil…" He inclined his head towards the door. "It's _those_ two."

The ladle that Snake had thrown out of Lucario's way began to levitate, and it flew back to a pair of very familiar people.

People who were actually Legendary Pokémon.

Team Legend sauntered into the room. Mewtwo snatched his ladle out of the air. Darkrai had his team's egg in his ladle. Much to Team SiAura's disappointment, it did not show any signs of breaking soon.

"Jeez," Snake muttered, his black eyes closely watching the other team. "You could've killed Lucario with that spoon, y'know."

"Oh, we weren't aiming for the kill," Darkrai replied cheerfully. "We just wanted to knock your egg out of his ladle."

"Unfortunately, _you_ had to intervene," Mewtwo grumbled, pointing at Snake.

Snake managed to do a nonchalant shrug while holding his pose. "I was just doing what every soldier on the battlefield does when his friend's in need."

"Honestly, I think most soldiers on the battlefield would rather save their own skins than go help their friend," Darkrai said placidly as he tossed his team's egg into Mewtwo's ladle.

Snake made a growling sound. "Well, _this_ soldier here helps his friend, unlike you guys."

Then Mewtwo grinned sadistically. "Enough talk. We're taking that winner's egg!"

He lunged forward, only to be kicked back and onto the ground. He looked up to see Snake.

"If you want to take the egg, you gotta get past _me_ first," the Smasher said in a quiet but firm voice, his dark eyes shooting daggers at the Genetic Pokémon.

Mewtwo laughed. "I like your attitude, David. And that look on your face, as well."

_"Don't call me David, dammit!"_

There was a black blur. Lucario, who did not dare jump down and risk getting a broken leg by the flailing ladles, shouted out, "Snake, to your right!"

The mercenary whipped out his right hand, which had his own empty ladle; Lucario's ladle and the egg were in his left hand. There was a loud _clang_ and Darkrai suddenly appeared directly in front of Snake. He had used his ladle like a sword, which Snake had blocked with his own ladle.

Darkrai smirked. "Nice save. But can you take me on a second time?"

Snake grinned confidently. "Sheesh, I survived a microwave corridor some years ago, so what do you think? Of _course_ I can take you on! _Both_ of you!" He tauntingly beckoned the two Legends with his finger. "Bring it on!"

Now Mewtwo had Team Legend's egg, and he managed to do a slide-kick towards Snake without having the egg spill out of his ladle. The latter avoided it by doing a backflip. Darkrai homed in on the Smasher with Quick Attack; another yell from Lucario saved Snake from taking a beating and getting Team SiAura's egg broken.

Darkrai was pleased. "Your skills are worth praising, Snake. But are you _really_ sure you can keep yourself _and_ your egg safe from us?"_  
><em>

Snake swept him off his feet. "You asked that already. Shut up." He quickly leaned backwards to dodge a Swift attack from Mewtwo, and he retaliated by throwing a grenade at the Genetic Pokémon. The grenade was bumped out of the way by a forceful hit of Darkrai's ladle, and it ricocheted off the table twice before detonating with a loud _bang_.

Mewtwo stared at the egg in Snake's right-hand ladle, and his eyes began to glow with a blue light. This time, it was Snake who did not notice and Lucario who did.

"Hey!" the Aura Pokémon said sharply. "That's cheating!"

"Snake himself said we're 'allowed to attack another team's egg by any means necessary,'" Mewtwo recited, but he stopped the psychic attack anyway.

Darkrai whacked him over the head with his ladle. "Mewtwo! Why did you stop? We could've gotten them!"

Mewtwo shrugged. "I like to play fair. Besides, it's Snake versus both of us at once. Why don't we play with him for a while?"

Snake snarled at them and threw another grenade. It was easily deflected by Darkrai's hand.

"Oh, come on, David, I know you can do better than that!" the Pitch-Black Pokémon taunted.

_"GOD DAMMIT! DON'T CALL ME DAVID!"_

Lucario gritted his teeth. "Arceus, help us, please… Snake! Just attack them! Do whatever you can to break their egg!"

Snake rolled across the table just as Darkrai's Shadow Claw struck the place he had been standing at just a couple seconds ago. "Sorry, Lucario, but I can't! That's uncivilized!"

"Just do it, damn you!"

"No way! I'm sorry, but no way!"

"Arceus, Snake, can't you—"

"LUCARIO, WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT AND LOOK AT ME?"

The Aura Pokémon abruptly fell silent, taken aback by the mercenary's bellow. Snake saw his chance to make a telepathic connection with him, but Team Legend was in the way… And then he grinned.

_Well, then, I'll just use _this_!_

He pulled a small, ovular object from one of the many pockets on his camouflage suit. Before either Darkrai or Mewtwo could figure out what it was, Snake had already pulled out the pin with his teeth and thrown it at the two Pokémon's feet.

A thick cloud of smoke billowed out of the object, blinding Team Legend.

"Gah! What's this?"

"I think it's a smoke bomb!"

"Well, no, duh, Sherlock!"

"…That line doesn't go like that. It's actually like, 'No, sh—'"

"LANGUAGE, YOUNG MAN!"

Snake knew the smoke would not last for long, so he connected his mind to Lucario's as fast as he could.

_Damn… I knew I should've practiced when I had the chance… C'mon, Snake,_ c'mon… There was a tiny surge of telepathic energy. _Ah, there we go._

_"LUCARIO, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"_

Though the mercenary did not say anything, Lucario nearly lost his grip on the chandelier branch.

_"Arceus, Snake! There's no need to scream!"_

_"Uh, yeah, sorry. I just wanted to make sure you could hear me."_

_"Okay, okay. What's the news? Hurry up; my paw is burning and my other paw is going to drop the winner's egg _very_ soon!"_

Snake put a finger over his lips. _"Shhh. What if Mewtwo hacks into the_ _conversation?"_ He looked at the clock. It read 4:19:47._ "All right, Lucario. Give me ten seconds starting…"_

Lucario was confused. _"What? Ten seconds?"_

The clock now read 4:19:50.

_"…now."_

At that precise moment, the smoke bomb ran out, and Team Legend regained their sense of sight. Somehow, Mewtwo had managed to pass the egg to Darkrai in the midst of the thick smoke. Snake could easily see the anger and amusement burning in their eyes.

_Ten…_

"Now _that_ was a really dirty trick," Darkrai said in a mockingly stern tone.

_Nine…_

Snake pointed at Team SiAura's egg in one of his ladles. "I thought you wanted this?"

_Eight…_

He used his empty ladle to intercept a downwards swing of Mewtwo's ladle.

_Seven…_

"Hey! I'm not good at swordplay!" Snake snapped.

_Six…_

"Hurry up, Snake!" Lucario urged, his left paw now blazing with red-hot pain.

_Five…_

Darkrai jumped into the fray, passing the egg to Mewtwo before firing a Shadow Ball at Snake._  
><em>

_Four_…__

"I just love to toy around with Smashers!" the Legend laughed as the mercenary narrowly dodged the shadowy sphere of Ghost-type power.

_Three…_

"Dammit, you're high!" Snake snapped back, tossing a grenade at him.

_Two…_

"Oh, am I?" Darkrai's right hand was enveloped in shadows. "We'll see about that. This is…"

_One…_

"…the end!"

_CRACK._

All four Easter egg hunt participants—Lucario, Snake, Darkrai, and Mewtwo—looked towards the source of the sound. Lucario noticed that Snake had a faint smirk on his face.

_CRACK._

The sound was coming from Mewtwo's ladle.

_CRACK-CRACK._

A crack had appeared at the very top of the egg in Mewtwo's ladle.

"What…?" gasped Lucario, Darkrai, and Mewtwo.

A small beak poked through the egg's shell, and quiet chirping could be heard.

Then a chick, its yellow-colored down all wet and matted, emerged from the egg.

"Wha…"

_"Peep,"_ the chick twittered.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Darkrai screamed, gawking at the chick.

Snake smiled. "Well, then. It looks like a fertilized egg got mixed into the batch."

"WH-_WHAT_?"

Snake shrugged. "I'm sorry, but the rule clearly states that…'if your team's egg is cracked in any way—I repeat, in _any_ way—your team is disqualified.' And that means…"

"We lost," Mewtwo said simply, looking at the newly hatched chick. "Our egg broke." _Hmm. This chick is pretty cute._

Darkrai was stunned. "No…way…"

_"Peep,"_ the chick replied.

Team Legend was disqualified.

-ooo-

A moment later, after Snake made sure that his brawl with Darkrai and Mewtwo was one hundred percent over and done, he told Lucario to jump down from the chandelier. The Aura Pokémon landed clumsily on the table, his legs having fallen asleep while he was hanging from the chandelier—which, amazingly, was not damaged at all while all the chaos was happening.

"Phew." Lucario waved around his left paw to ease the pain. "Ouch. That took a long time."

Snake went over to the Pokémon and slapped him on the shoulder. "Good work, Lucario. We won the game."

Lucario nodded slowly, then frowned. "You set this up at the start, didn't you?"

Snake just beamed. "Well, if we lost, I wouldn't want to explain why, would I?"

Lucario sighed. "Ugh. How do you feel about your _second_ sneaky act, David?"

Snake's smile abruptly turned upside-down.

_"GOD FREAKING DAMMIT! DON'T CALL ME DAVID, YOU BASTARD!"_

It was Easter Sunday. The egg hunt was over. Team SiAura had claimed the victory. Team Legend had adopted a baby chick. Toon Link had recovered from his burns. Samus knew everything that Snake had done. And Snake had blown his top.

All was well.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you go. (Gee, that was a long chapter.)<strong>_

_**Yup, and there was our very first SPECIAL CHAPTER! Woohoo! I hope you enjoyed it, and sorry for taking so long to update! You see, I have school, and the teachers give me a lot of homework every day, and—**_

**Sonic:** Tch. Excuses, excuses.

_**H-hey! They're **_**legitimate_ excuses!_**

**Peach:** But excuses are excuses…!

_**Guys. Stop teaming up against me.**_

**Ike:** What if we don't stop?

**_Then I'll tell Snake to blow his top again._  
><strong>

**Snake:** _*grinning*_ Did someone just tell me to BLOW MY TOP?!

_**Please do. These guys are bothering me.**_

**Snake:** _*grinning even more sadistically*_ Oh, sure, I'll go blow my top now. _*starts raging at everyone*_ OI! QUIT GIVING THE AUTHOR A BAD TIME! AND STOP CALLING ME DAVID, DAMN YOU ALL! _GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARDS!_

**Sonic, Peach, and Ike:** _*running for their lives*_ AHHHHHHH!

**Crazy Hand:** Look at 'em, Mastah! Look at 'em go! It looks fun! Can I go?

**Master Hand:** You may chase after them after I do this.

**Crazy Hand:** Do wha—

**Master Hand:** Please do not ask that question again. It is getting irritating. _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**Thanks for reading **_**Life at the Mansion**_**'s first special chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time when Chapter 24 comes out…whenever that is. Probably a month later. Herp derp.**_

_**Credits to the Metal Gear wiki for "the man who makes the impossible possible" quote.**_

_**Remember to review!**_

**_And speaking of reviews…I'd like to give all of you a big "THANK YOU" for turning the number of reviews into a three-digit number! …Even though some of them were just requests to add more characters. And speaking of more characters, I am NOT accepting any more. There are _FIFTY-SIX_ Smashers living in the Smash Mansion right now, for crying out loud! So, all of you_**—I appreciate the offers, but I'm sorry to say that I'm not taking any more characters. Just**_…please. Stop asking. Thanks, though._****__  
><strong>

**__****_Again, remember to review!_****__**


	24. Metal Gear?

**_Don't worry, guys—I'm STILL ALIIIIIIIVE! *insert epic music here*_**

**_…Okay, that was pretty lame. Now let's get down to business!_**

**_Well, it's time to switch from the humorous chapters to the more, uh, "serious" ones. No more special chapters until the next major holiday. Which holidays do you think of as "important"? Definitely Halloween and Christmas and stuff…maybe Thanksgiving Day…_**

**_My summer vacation starts in two weeks! It's so close and yet so far!_**

**_Please note that this chapter doesn't contain as much funny stuff as the previous chapters… Speaking of which, I'm noticing that with each chapter of this fanfic, it all gets…darker. More serious, less laughter, shorter sentences, several cliffhangers—stuff like that. I must be reading too many "dark" books…like _****Lord of the Flies****_ and _****Fahrenheit 451****_. Oh, boy._**

**_Still, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones. Let's get started, shall we? …COMPLICATED STORY GETS MORE COMPLICATED. WHEE._**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything related to the Smash Brothers. I don't really like that. And by the way—the title is a reference to a quote that Snake often says in his games.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24: Metal Gear?!<strong>

* * *

><p><em>No… This is bad. Everything is going wrong.<em>

_What can I do? What should I do?_

_The only thing I can do right now is…hurry to the Smash Mansion…before things get worse…_

It ran on.

-ooo-

Mario certainly did not enjoy being tied to a post.

Unfortunately, he was currently in that situation, along with his friends.

Mario also certainly did not enjoy being tied to a post in the dark.

Unfortunately, he was also currently in that situation, along with his friends.

"…H-hey, bro."

Mario looked up, startled by the voice that shattered the ominous silence. "Wha… Luigi? Is that-a you?"

"Ohhh! Bro! You're okay-a!"

"I'm-a glad to see you okay, too-a," Mario replied, feeling a surge of relief. "So, uh…any idea where we are-a?"

The red-clad plumber heard a slight shuffling noise. "Nope-a. I don't even know what-a just happened to us-a. The last thing I remember is-a getting knocked out-a by that weird-a rainbow-colored-a fog-a."

Mario nodded, even though he knew Luigi could not see him in the darkness. "Mama mia, I remember that-a, too."

The two brothers were silent for a while. Then Luigi spoke up again.

"Hey, bro… Do you think that-a fog had a connection to the Subspace Army?"

"I dunno, little bro. Hard to tell-a." Mario paused. "It's-a really likely, though." Then he remembered something. "Luigi, how are the others-a?"

"Well, _I'm_ awake," another voice said. "This is Shadow the Hedgehog speaking. And I am definitely _not_ liking our little predicament!"

Mario cocked his ears towards Shadow's voice. "Hello, Shadow-a! It's nice to see another guy awake-a."

"Oi, Shadow," Luigi called, "how's Sonic-a doing?"

"Out like a light. The same goes to the other members of Team Sega. Damn those assailants to hell, how dare they tie up Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life-Form?" Mario could easily hear the hedgehog thrashing within his bonds.

"Wh-whoa, there, Shadow!" cried Luigi, panicking. "You aren't-a gonna blow this-a place up-a, are you?"

Shadow growled. "I sure _wish_ I could!"

"Eep!" Luigi squeaked with fear. "He's as scary as-a the ghosts in my mansion-a!"

Mario tried to let out a lighthearted laugh, but it was easy to tell that he was forcing it to be cheery. "Uh, hahaha… Nah, he's-a _wayyyyyy_ scarier… Haha…ha…" Mario's laughter faded into silence when neither Luigi nor Shadow made any reaction.

For a few minutes, the Smashers sat in the dark and quiet. Soon, Luigi could not bear the awkward silence any longer, so he broke it once again.

"Hey, g-guys…whaddya think will happen to us-a?"

Mario sighed, trying to think of an answer that would not scare his younger brother. "Well… I'm-a sure we'll be able to get out of this-a. After all-a, we're Smash-a Mansion residents, and it takes a lot to beat us-a!"

"_Yoshi._ I hope you're right, Mario!"

The Mario Bros. and Shadow looked towards the left. "Yoshi?"

Yoshi's tail thudded against the ground, indicating that he was awake. "Yup! I'm up, too!"

"That's-a great!" Luigi said enthusiastically.

There was a quiet thumping sound about twenty feet from Mario's position, and a familiar voice groaned. "Ughhh… My head…"

"…Sonic, am I right?" Shadow said after identifying the voice.

"Oh… Yo, Shads," Mario heard the blue hedgehog say weakly. "Good morning."

"How could you know if it's even morning?"

"Meh, never mind that, then. Where are we?"

"Oh, we're just hanging out in a room where there are no windows, no doors, no light, and no blithering way of telling us where the hell we are," Shadow said sarcastically. "In other words, _I don't know_!"

Sonic got the message and said quietly, "Hmm. We really got ourselves in a pickle this time. Too bad we can't blame it on Eggman 'cause I can see him right there, out cold. And we can't blame it on Bowser, either, 'cause that turtle's lying right on top of Egghead. Anyone else to blame?"

"How about…Metal Sonic?" Yoshi suggested.

Sonic was somehow able to snap his fingers, even though his arms and hands were bound by ropes. "Exactly. We'll blame it on him, then."

"Let's-a make sure first-a," Mario said quickly. In a daringly loud voice, he called out, "Hey! Metal Sonic-a!"

He, Luigi, Sonic, and Shadow strained their ears for any sound.

"The only thing I could hear is Mario's echo," Shadow remarked after about a minute.

"Ha, I got this." Sonic took a deep breath.

_Oh, boy,_ Luigi thought, freezing up.

"YO, METALHEAD! WAKE UP AND SAY SOMETHING!"

"Oh, hell!" Shadow cursed. "Shut up!"

Sonic tried to speak to the black hedgehog as innocently as he could. "What did I do wrong, Shads? I'm just trying to get Metal to say something and get caught up with our discussion."

"You're right," Shadow snarled. "You're gonna get us _caught_, that's what! Are you actually that stupid? Screaming your head off when you're all tied up and everything…" He spat on the ground. "Feh!"

"Well, since that didn't work, how about we just look for him?" Sonic then advised. "If one of us happens to be close to him, maybe we can kick some sense back into him."

"That's a good idea, Sonic-a," said Mario. "…I think-a," he added a couple seconds later.

The four Smashers wiggled around in the little space they had, struggling to find something—anything—that seemed to be made of cold metal.

_Clunk._

"Oh!" Luigi exclaimed. "I think I found him-a! Oh, no," he then moaned, "it's-a just a the wall. Looks like I was-a tied up near the wall, eh?"

They all searched some more, but to no avail.

"Aww," Yoshi whined. "Metal Sonic probably isn't even here!"

Sonic slumped down, dejected. "I guess our kidnappers took him while we were snoozing… He could be anywhere now. Not to mention what they could've done to him; after all, he's a robot, and one mean machine at that. Now what?"

Mario could easily feel his friends' frustration and discouragement. "I… We'll find him-a. And I'm-a sure we'll find a way. I just-a know we will-a!"

Shadow, always seeing the downside to everything, was quick to counter. "Sure, but _when_ exactly will we find that way?"

Mario closed his mouth. _I hate to admit it, but he has a point…_

Luigi tried to cheer everyone up. "Uh… It's okay, everyone-a… I'm sure my big bro's right-a! He… He always is!"

The red-clad plumber knew the green plumber could not see him, but he nodded with gratitude. "Gee, thanks-a, Luigi. That's-a really supportive of you."

Luigi felt himself blush. "Err…yeah…" He kicked out his legs to shake out some of the tenseness that had been building up within his body.

_Clunk._

"Mama mia! Maybe _that_ was-a Metal Sonic-a!"

Shadow sighed with exasperation. "Luigi, you just kicked a pipe."

"Oh, really? Okay, let's ignore that-a, then. Wait, did you say I just-a kicked a pipe-a?"

"Uh…yeah?"

Mario knew what Luigi was up to. "How big is it-a? Hey, Luigi, tap it again-a."

The green-clad plumber did so, striking the pipe with his shoe and allowing the sound to resonate through the air.

"…Judging from the sound, I'll have to say it has a circumference that is large enough to fit someone around Sonic's size with no problem," Shadow inferred after listening to the echo.

Sonic thought about this and said slowly, "And Metal Sonic is exactly three feet tall, just like me…sooooo…"

Suddenly, a bright flash blinded everyone for a few seconds.

"So let's go check this pipe out," a very familiar voice finished for Sonic.

Shadow looked towards the direction of the light and started spluttering. "B-B-_Blaze_?"

"Hi, guys," the lavender cat greeted happily, lighting up the room with a ball of fire in her right hand. "It's about time we woke up from our beauty sleep."

Yoshi gawked at the pyrokinetic cat. "But…but…but how in the Mushroom Kingdom did you get out of your ropes-a?"

Blaze laughed, forming another fireball in her left hand and tossing it into the air. The ball split into four smaller spheres, which zoomed to each Smasher and incinerated their ropes.

"This is ironic," Blaze commented, watching her friends stretch and loosen their limbs. "I have to thank our attackers for tying us up in ropes that aren't fireproof…"

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that we have a fiery feline on our side," Sonic said, running over to Blaze and patting her on the shoulder. "Thanks a lot, Blaze. You just got us out of our pickle." He then turned towards the pipe, now looking very obvious thanks to Blaze's fire. "And now, about that pipe…"

Amazingly, it was Shadow who was smiling from ear to ear.

"So," he said, still grinning, "have any of you Sega Olympians thought about when we could try something Super Mario-style?"

Mario was beaming, too.

"Finally," he said dramatically, "you get to see the importance of-a _Super Mario Bros._."

-ooo-

The Keyblades were locked.

"AntiSora…" Sora muttered, his sapphire eyes narrowed with anger. "I thought I destroyed you a long time ago…"

"Well, you thought wrong, Sora," AntiSora replied, his yellow eyes glowing with amusement. "I'm right in front of you."

Sora attempted to use Strike Raid, but AntiSora moved out of the way before he could throw his Keyblade.

"It's useless!" AntiSora crowed. "I'm not just your shadow now, you know!" He struck Sora with Payback Fang. Sora staggered back and he clutched his chest, wincing in pain.

"Ugh… What…?"

AntiSora then used Flash Step and suddenly appeared before Sora, who did not have time to block his opponent's blow and was thrown onto the ground.

"…AntiSora… Are you really the same AntiSora from before…?"

"The one and only." AntiSora swept Sora into the air with the flat of his black Keyblade. He went after the Smasher and used Aerial Dive, then ended it with Aerial Finish. Sora went flying into a wall, and he slammed into it with a sickening _crunch_.

AntiSora used Flash Step again and tossed Sora onto he floor. Sora's Keyblade clattered noisily onto the ground as he collapsed.

"Wow…" he whispered weakly. "What've you been doing all this time? Training?"

AntiSora shrugged. "Maybe."

"What're you here for? What's with the random attack?"

"Let's just say we came here to…retrieve something."

Sora breathed heavily. "To retrieve something, huh… And what might that be…?"

AntiSora just laughed. Sora gritted his teeth.

_I'll get you…AntiSora…_

His eyes closed, and he drifted into unconsciousness.

AntiSora smirked before tucking away his own shadowy Keyblade. "That was too easy," he said softly. "Thanks to Master Tabuu, you're on a totally different level, Sora…a much lower level. You're down there while I'm way up here. You should've escaped instead of fight me… Well, serves you right for doing the opposite." He turned to face a small group of Sword Primids that had come along just moments ago. "All right," he said to them. "You know what to do. Now get those three and lure them into that room. If you fail, I'll have your heads. Understand?"

The Sword Primids nodded quickly.

AntiSora handed an object to one of the Primids. "You'll be needing this. It's essential."

The Primids nodded again and raced off to do their duty.

AntiSora smiled to himself. "Meanwhile, I'll just sit back and enjoy the show."

-ooo-

It was still running.

_…Ugh… Almost there… Almost there… I hope I will not fall apart quickly…but I really feel like it…_

It shook these thoughts out of its head.

_No! I must not think that way. After all, they are depending on me!_

It sped up its pace.

_Please endure a little more, everyone… Above all, please stay safe…_

-ooo-

Somewhere on the first floor, a certain mercenary was yelling.

"Where the hell did the cartoon guys go?!"

-ooo-

"No! That's not true! That… That just _can't_ be true!"

James McCloud—or whoever he really was—nodded. "But it _is_ true. You actually can't believe it?"

Fox's knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the ground. "All this time," he moaned. "All this time, I'd been thinking that I had finally found my dad…my long-lost dad… And then…!" He punched the wall with so much force that his fist went right through the plaster and wood. Ignoring the blood that began to trickle down his knuckles, he screamed, _"And then it all turns out to be a _lie_!"_ The Star Fox pilot knelt on the ground, crying tears of rage. "Damn! Damn it all!"

James did not say anything.

"…I've been tricked again," Fox sobbed, lifting his tear-streaked face. "It's just one trick after another, isn't it? One trick after another…" He punched the wall again. "And it's all my fault! _Damn!_"

James folded his arms. "True, it's your fault."

Fox glared at him, trying his best to shoot daggers out of his green eyes. "Shut up."

"Perhaps you don't deserve the title of 'Team Star Fox leader'…"

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" Fox roared, whipping out his Blaster and pressing the trigger three times. Three small blasts of energy shot out of the Blaster and zoomed towards James, who took an object out of his pocket and held it in front of him.

_Crap!_ Fox thought when he saw three flaming energy blasts rushing back at him. _I can't dodge it! And—what th—?_

The blue and white-colored shots hit their marks dead on, throwing the Star Fox pilot into the wall. Spitting out the dust and bits of rubble that got into his mouth, he glowered at James. _What kind of Reflector is that? I swear it made my shots several times stronger!_

James casually examined the Reflector in his hand. "Slippy Toad made me a Reflector using the latest Reflector technology," he said as if he had read Fox's mind. "The material used here makes a reflected projectile three times faster and five times more powerful. If the projectile's original speed is very fast and it gets reflected from my Reflector, the projectile gains a layer of fire…_blue_ fire. It's amazing how much technology can help us, isn't it?"

Fox just gritted his teeth as he cautiously pulled himself out of the wall. _Damn… No wonder he was so eager to get a new Reflector and Blaster that day…_ The Star Fox pilot brushed off the powdery remains of the wall on his clothes and took a small step forward.

"…I have two questions for you, imposter," he muttered slowly, lifting two fingers to show his point. "Who are you and what have you come here for?"

The other fox simply shrugged. "I told you already: I am here to eliminate the members of the Smash Mansion. And nothing is about to stop me from completing my mission."

Fox put one finger down. "One question down, one more to go. _Who are you?_"

James bent down to retrieve the sunglasses he had dropped only a few minutes ago, and he put them over his eyes. "Who am I, you ask? I'm just a secret agent… Well, I'm kind of just an _agent_, now that you know my identity."

There was a lightning-fast movement. James blinked and suddenly found a Blaster held up against his chin.

"No, I don't," snapped Fox. He had used Fox Illusion and drawn his Blaster while moving. "And you're being too brief. I'm ready to press the trigger anytime."

The imposter sighed loudly and threw up his hands in mock frustration; to Fox's rage, the gesture was the same thing his father would do when he was exasperated. "All right, fine! I'm an agent working for my master, who wanted to find a way inside the Smash Mansion while avoiding any suspicion. I was able to find an opening, which was by using you." He grinned. "And, fortunately for my master, the Olympian Smashers were leaving the mansion only a few days later…"

Fox gasped. "_That's_ why… I should've suspected something…!"

"You were too blind to suspect anything," James said simply. "When the Olympians left, I told my master that the best time to strike was…now. I allowed some of my comrades to enter the mansion through the library—"

Fox made a mental note: _So _he_ was the one who made the hole in the library, huh._

"—but first, someone had to take care of a certain rodent in there."

_So he was the one who made the hole, as well as the one who knocked out Pikachu?_ thought Fox.

"And so we did. But it was someone else who got him."

Fox could not help but say, "…So it…_wasn't_ you?"

The imposter's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm warning you, Fox… It's not just me and a bunch of shadow bugs trailing around the Smash Mansion." He paused. "There is another person currently on the second floor, about to launch an attack on three of your friends."

The Blaster shook in Fox's hands. "Tell me, who are these friends?" he demanded.

James' red eyes flashed. He smirked slyly and calmly pushed the Star Fox pilot's Blaster away from his face. "You'll see…you'll see… And I'm nice enough to give you a warning."

Fox's green eyes narrowed as he waited.

The imposter poked at the Smasher's chest with his finger. "You won't be seeing those Smasher friends anytime soon—wherever you go."

Fox was shaking.

-ooo-

A group that consisted of a certain cartoon Hero of Time, female pirate, and wind sorcerer was chasing a group of Sword Primids.

"Come back here!"

"Only cowards run from a fight!"

"I have no idea what is going on…"

The Primid at the end tossed its sword over its shoulder. Toon Link batted it out of the way with his own sword, scowling.

"You're even starting to do _that_ kind of attack?"

"Idiots! Come back here!"

"I still have no idea what is going on…"

Suddenly, the Primid line veered off to the right, causing Toon Link to slam into a wall. Then Tetra slammed into him, and Vaati slammed into her.

"What the… Oh, no! Where'd they go?"

"I saw them turn right… Let's check out all the rooms on our right?"

"I _still_ have no idea what is—"

"SHUT UP!" Toon Link and Tetra bellowed at Vaati.

The Smashers then found the room the Primids had disappeared into.

"Okay… They went to the Brawl Room?" They dashed into the room, just in time to see the last Primid of the bunch vanish in a flash of light.

"They wanna do a brawl now?" asked Tetra.

Toon Link looked at the television screen. "And they just _had_ to pick the newest, untested stage: Glitch City!"

Glitch City was a pixel-based stage where glitches were common. The main part of the stage was made up of multiple glitch lines as well as the numbers 8, 9, 0, and 1. Four thin platforms, two on the left and two on the right, hovered above the main stage. Lines of static sizzled in the air. In the background, random pools of water, houses, trees, staircases, and patches of tall grass could be seen. This stage was truly the strangest stage Toon Link had ever seen.

Miraculously, Lucario and Snake were able to complete the making of the Glitch City stage within a matter of hours, probably because they did not have to clean up all the glitches and mistakes. They had not announced it to all the Smashers yet, but they did tell the three cartoon Smashers because the duo happened to be passing them by at that moment.

_"Oh, good news, Toon," Lucario told the three Smashers. "We've made another new stage. Introducing…Glitch City!"_

_"It's a stage where glitches are supposed to happen," Snake explained. "Multiple Smashers can use their Final Smashes at the same time. Kirby causes earthquakes. Jigglypuff gets big."_

_"Luigi's head gets stuck in the wall," Lucario added. "Warp Stars go through pillars. Snake's name automatically changes to David."_

_The glare that Snake gave to the Aura Pokémon was enough to make even Vaati tremble with fright. "Did you really put that in?"_

_Lucario grinned sheepishly in reply. "I think I should go now…"_

_Snake blew his top._

_"GOD DAMMIT, YOU BASTARD! GET BACK HERE!"_

Toon Link quickly shook these thoughts out of his head and proceeded towards the remote control, which lay on the ground. Tetra and Vaati followed him closely.

"We'll need to take this with us, since there's no one out there to teleport us back out," Toon Link told them.

He picked up the remote and pressed a button, teleporting himself and his friends onto the Glitch City stage.

"ATAAAAACK!"

Tetra grabbed the hem of Toon Link's tunic. "Hold on, Toon! The Primids aren't here!"

Vaati looked around, feeling very confused. "That's true. How odd." He looked at his friends. "…They _did_ go this way, did they?"

"I'm sure they entered the Glitch City stage," Toon Link said, but he did not sound so sure. This worried Tetra.

"…Well, since it looks like they aren't here, I guess the only thing we could do is to get outta here. This place gives me the creeps." Tetra pressed a button on the remote control.

Nothing happened.

"I guess I didn't press it hard enough." She pushed it down with more force than before.

Nothing happened.

Toon Link frowned. "Wha…?"

Vaati snatched the remote out of Tetra's hand. "Let me try."

He mashed his thumb into the button several times, stopping when he was sure that the remote control would be broken by now.

The three Smashers were still in Glitch City.

Tetra gulped. "This doesn't look good…"

Toon Link knelt down and set down his sword, then pulled the cover off the remote control and removed the batteries, noticing that they looked in good condition.

"If it's not the batteries, what could be preventing us from getting out of here?" Vaati asked.

Toon Link cleaned the batteries as well as he could and carefully placed them into their compartments. After he put the cover back on, he gave the remote control a couple gentle whacks against his leg and pressed a button.

Nothing happened.

Toon Link threw down the remote, angered. "You're kidding me! You just _had_ to break down! You just _had_ to!" Blinded by rage and frustration, he grabbed for his Master Sword to cleave the remote control in two.

"Toon! Don't—!" Tetra began, reaching out to stop the cartoon Hero of Time.

There was no need to, because the sword was not there.

"…Wha…?" Toon Link stood up, feeling confused. "Where'd it go?"

Just then, his left hand began to feel numb. He glanced down at it.

His face went white.

"No way."

His left hand was dissolving into a mass of pixels. His left arm and leg soon followed.

"No…way…" Tetra whispered, watching her foot melting away.

When the tip of Vaati's hat began to disappear, the three cartoon Smashers ran.

They ran for their lives just as a line of pixilated words appeared near the top of the stage.

_"S3nt2Su8spaC3 has been activated."_

-ooo-

The group of Sword Primids looked at each other, feeling satisfied. One of the Primids glanced at the remote control in its hand, remembering how it had taken this one and replaced it with the fake remote that AntiSora had given to it earlier. The fake remote looked exactly the same as the real one except for one crucial part—the button that allowed people to teleport into and out of the Brawl System's stages was actually a button that could only let someone teleport _into_ a stage. In other words, it was impossible for someone to return to the real world if they only had the fake remote.

The Primid with the real remote control felt a tap on its shoulder. It looked up to see another Primid point at the remote in its hand, then at the television screen. The first Primid nodded and pressed a button on the remote, making the list of stages appear on the television screen. A third Primid walked up to the screen and pointed at one of the icons near the bottom. The first Primid gave an affirmative gurgle before pressing the teleporting button. All the Sword Primids vanished in a flash of bright light.

Their next stop was the Shadow Moses Island stage.

-ooo-

Three members of Team Nintendo and three members of Team Sega made their way through the dark and damp pipe. Other than the fireball in Mario and Blaze's hands, there was no source of light. Yoshi noticed that Luigi was trembling with terror, so he kindly offered him his back. The green-clad plumber was very grateful and relieved and hurriedly climbed onto the dinosaur's red shell.

Mario and Blaze were leading the group, since they were the only ones who could produce light. At the moment, Luigi was too scared to do anything other than cower on Yoshi's back, so he did not bother to lend a helping hand. Yoshi knew Luigi wanted to be very close to the light, so he placed himself right behind Mario. Sonic was walking at an unusually slow pace, probably because of the puddles at the bottom of the wide pipe, so Shadow "helped" by pushing the blue hedgehog forward each time he hesitated.

Yoshi sniffed the air and made a face. "_Yoshi_, this place smells. What is this, a sewer?"

Mario moved his hand to avoid the water that dripped from the top of the pipe. "I hope not-a."

"I think it is." A droplet of water landed on Sonic's nose. "Eww."

Shadow poked him. "Just keep walking."

Blaze looked around the pipe before grumbling, "Tch, what a mess this place is."

"And boy, what a mess we've gotten ourselves into!" Sonic exclaimed loudly and indignantly. "We were just gonna have a great time in London and have some competitions…maybe even go on a tour of the place or something…and then all _this_ happens!" He gestured to his surroundings with a wide sweep of his arm. "We get attacked by some unknown baddies and now we're walking around in a pipe with no idea as to where we are. Gee, are we even in London?"

"Would a kidnapper keep his hostages in the same place as the hostages' destination?" Shadow asked.

"…Probably not," Yoshi answered after a moment of thought. "Most kidnappers would want to confuse their hostages as much as they could. I think our kidnapper's done a great job on that."

Just then, Blaze stopped walking. "Hold on."

Luigi peeked at her, afraid to look into the darkness of the pipe. "Wh-what is it-a, Blaze?"

The lavender cat narrowed her gold eyes. "The pipe splits here."

Sonic was surprised. "What? It splits?"

"Yes." Blaze made her fire a little bigger to see better. "Luckily, it splits into two pipes, no more than that."

"Well, that's a relief," Shadow said in a sarcastic tone. "Now how do we know which one's the right one?"

The six Olympians first looked at the pipe on the left, then at the one on the right. Then Yoshi declared, "I say we go right! Because 'right' is a _great_ word!"

"The last time we went-a right, it-a led us to a room with-a three Armanks and four Nagagogs-a," Mario stated blandly, recalling the horrible beating he and a few of his friends received during that incident. "Why not-a go left for a change-a?"

Yoshi shook his head stubbornly. "No, let's stick with the right pipe. It's gotta be _right_. Get it?"

Mario scowled. "Yoshi, now's not-a the time-a for jokes-a!"

"But Mario!" the dinosaur protested. "Why can't you listen to _me_ just for once? I'm always following _you_ around; why don't _you_ follow _me_ just for now? What if it turns out that I'm _right_, after all?"

"How do you know you're right-a?"

"My stomach says so!"

"I think-a your stomach is-a too hungry to be thinking properly! Let's-a go left!"

"No, right!"

"Left-a!"

"Right!"

"LEFT-a!"

"RIGHT!"

"STOP FIGHTING!" Luigi yelled, tired of all the yelling. "I thought-a we were friends-a! Partners-a! We need-a to pull through this together! We're the Smash Brothers-a! We don't-a fight alone-a, we give-a each other a hand-a! Why don't-a we work together to figure out-a which pipe is the correct-a pipe? One team-a working as six won't-a get anywhere, but-a six people working as-a one will definitely get something-a."

Mario and Yoshi glanced at each other. Sonic applauded.

"Wise words, Luigi, wise words," the blue hedgehog said approvingly. "You're right. We need to stick together. We're a team."

"…Well. Sorry, buddy," Yoshi said a little nervously to Mario. "I guess I lost it."

"I'm-a sorry, too," Mario told him. "I think I was a bit-a too bossy towards-a you just now."

The plumber and dinosaur settled things with a shake of their hands. Then Shadow shoved them apart.

"All right, that's enough," he said irately. "Now let's actually work together instead of talk about it. Left or right?"

Sonic carefully made his way around the puddles and to the left pipe. His ears twitched as he concentrated on the sounds he heard. "Hmm…" He then went to the right pipe and was motionless for a minute. "I can't tell…"

"Here, let me try." Shadow stepped forward and listened to each pipe. "…I swear I could hear beeping coming from the left pipe…"

"…and beeping usually means robots…" Blaze continued.

"…and in our case, that robot could be Metal Sonic!" Yoshi finished, his sapphire-blue eyes shining through the darkness with glee.

"Then I guess-a we got to go left-a," Mario said. He could not help but feel a little triumphant as he gave Yoshi a fleeting look. Thankfully, the dinosaur did not catch the red plumber's glance.

"Left it is," Shadow agreed. "Let's go. Lead the way, Mario and Blaze."

-ooo-

"So what are you going to do now, huh?" Fox said in a shaky but brave voice. He still had James in a headlock. "Knock me out? Take me to Tabuu? Maybe even kill me?"

The imposter held up his hands. "Whoa, there, boy. I'm not about to go _that_ far."

"You act like you will," Fox retorted, smiling a little despite himself.

James smiled back, his fangs glinting. "Is that so?"

Fox held his Blaster closer to his opponent's chin. "I won't let you go that far."

"Have fun trying to succeed, then," James said dryly.

With lightning speed, he brought his hands up and wrenched Fox's right arm away from his neck. Before Fox could react, James flipped him over his shoulder and onto the ground, making the Star Fox pilot land painfully on his back. "Now that hurt," he complained.

James shrugged. "You asked for it."

Fox aimed his Blaster and pressed the trigger three times. James took out his Reflector and threw the three shots back at Fox. The Smasher remembered the ordeal just moments before and was able to just barely dodge the shots by rolling to the side. He stayed on one knee and then used Fox Illusion, launching himself forward. James performed a precise axe kick that struck Fox on the forehead and threw him into the wall.

"Attacking me head-on won't work, boy!" James called out as Fox reemerged from the dust. The Smasher rubbed away the thin trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his right hand and grinned weakly.

"Not bad…not bad," he said, staggering upright. "Not many guys could hit me while I'm using Fox Illusion… Good job…" The Smasher prepared another Fox Illusion.

James laughed. "Didn't I just tell you that attacking me head-on…"

Fox was bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and floor with impossible speed, a mere orange and white blur. James' smile faded.

"…won't…"

Fox suddenly appeared behind James and threw his fist forward, landing a hard punch on the latter's back.

"…work?"

James flew head first into a wall. "…Wha… What the…?" _Crash._

"Yes, you did just tell me that," Fox said calmly, staying low in a defensive stance as he waited for James to regain his balance. "So I tried another way."

"Tch. You little backstabber." Somehow, James looked relatively unscathed as he faced Fox. "You still haven't realized that I haven't brought out one of my weapons, have you?"

Fox frowned. "…Excuse me?"

James coolly reached into his pocket and brought out a large gun. Fox took one good look at it and realized that it was a Blaster—similar to his, but still very…different.

"My Reflector uses the latest Reflector technology. Well, then, what about my Blaster?"

_Oh, son of a…_ "Then that means…"

"Yes." James aimed his Blaster straight at Fox's pale face. "Unfortunately…"

He squeezed the trigger.

"…you're right."

-ooo-

"What in Din's name is this?"

It was as dark as night.

"This place seems to give off some pretty bad vibes…"

Black and purple clouds hung in the sky.

"I… I think some of us…have been here before."

The clouds were made of 0's and 1's.

Toon Link, Tetra, and Vaati cautiously trudged over the dirty glass-like ground. The air was completely still, and there was no sound except the echo of their footsteps as they walked across the empty plain.

"Well, heck," Toon Link said. "We're in cyberspatial Subspace."

"You mean…that place where Pit and Snake and Olimar and…?" Tetra's voice faded as her large eyes widened even further.

Toon Link nodded gravely.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Vaati said, looking confused. "What is cyberspatial Subspace?"

"We'll, y'see, there are all sorts of worlds," Toon Link explained as they traveled on. "The computer world is called cyberspace. It's where computer communication occurs. It's also the world we do our brawls in. This place," he said, waving to the scene, "is sort of like a corrupted cyberspace. It's been corrupted by Subspace, which is this dimension where it's always dark and evil and stuff. Since this is a computerized Subspace, it's called cyberspatial Subspace. You get it?"

Vaati still looked slightly bewildered, but he said, "Yeah, I get it. Well, sort of."

"'Sort of' is good enough," Tetra decided. "Let's go, guys. Hopefully, we'll find some clues as to how the heck we're gonna get out of here."

"_Hopefully_, huh," Toon Link muttered.

"Don't be so negative," Vaati told him. "We _will_ find a way. Hopefully."

"Yeah, _hopefully_. Very helpful."

The threesome continued onwards and eventually reached a hill.

"…Beautiful," Vaati commented humorlessly.

The land below them was devoid of sound, smell, movement—devoid of life. The only thing that could be seen was the darkness, emptiness, and purplish glass-like floor that went on for miles. The sky was still black with clouds of 0's and 1's.

"Ha… This is even worse than Zant's place," Tetra remarked, laughing weakly.

Toon Link turned to her. "How do you know about Zant? He was from Link's place, not ours."

"I just know," the pirate replied, shrugging.

Vaati tapped Toon Link's arm and pointed. "Toon, look there."

The Hero of Time looked towards where Vaati was pointing to. "Yeah, what?"

"I have a funny feeling that we're not alone."

Tetra took out a pair of binoculars and peered through them. "…Who's _that_?"

"What?" asked Toon Link. "Lemme see." He took the binoculars from Tetra and looked. "…I see."

He sounded angry.

"We got company, alright."

Vaati cocked his head. "And…?"

"And this company goes by the name of Dark Link."

-ooo-

It continued to run.

It knew it could not stop until it reached its destination…

…the Smash Mansion.

_Just a…few more miles…_

-ooo-

The Metal Gear were easily dealt with.

Now it was time to put them to good use.

-ooo-

They continued to walk.

"How much longer?" Yoshi whined for perhaps the sixty-fourth time.

"Just a bit," Blaze replied for perhaps the sixty-fourth time.

They walked just a bit more.

"How much—"

"Don't you get started!" Sonic snapped grumpily, still being pushed by Shadow.

"But we've been walking for, like, _forever_!" Yoshi groaned. "I'm _tireeeeeeeed_!"

"Fine-a, we'll take a break-a here," Mario announced, much to Yoshi's happiness and relief.

The group of six found a dry spot in the pipe and sat down, stretching their limbs and yawning. Blaze decided to keep walking for a bit so she can estimate how much more they would have to go.

Yoshi slumped onto the ground and moaned loudly, "I'm _huuungryyyyyy_!"

Blaze threw a fireball at him. The dinosaur was left wailing because of the fire on his tail. The lavender cat snickered and said, "You look like a green Charmander with boots and a shell… Haha! Well, I should go now." She then left the other five Olympians.

Luigi slid off Yoshi's back and landed loudly on the cold, metal bottom of the pipe. "Mama mia, that was-a scary!" he declared, his voice shaking.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "How? You were covering your face the entire time up till now!"

Luigi was unable to answer the black hedgehog's question. "Um…" was all he could manage.

"Never mind," Shadow said, crossing his arms turning away from the green plumber.

Meanwhile, Mario and Sonic were playing a Pokémon game to pass time. The goal of the game was to name a Pokémon whose first letter started with the last letter of the opponent's Pokémon within three seconds.

"Froakie."

"Eelektrik-a."

"Klink."

"Kyurem-a."

"Mareep."

"Pansage-a."

"Entei."

"Igglybuff-a."

"Flygon."

"N…aargh-a…"

"Time's up!" Sonic announced as Mario racked his brains for a Pokémon whose name started with an _N_. "How about Natu? Nuzleaf? Ninetails? Nidorina and Nidor—"

"All right, all right, I get-a the point-a!" Mario hollered. "Stop-a showing off-a!"

"Gee, fine… Giratina."

"Absol-a."

"Loudred."

"Diglett-a."

"Terrakion."

"Noctowl-a."

"Lucario."

"Octillery-a."

"Y…darn it…"

"Haha!" Mario whooped as Sonic racked his brains for a Pokémon whose name started with a _Y_. "How about-a Yamask-a? Yveltal? Yanma and-a Yan—"

"Okay, I get it!" Sonic shouted, feeling irritated. "Sheesh, did I just hear an echo?"

"Uh, no," Yoshi lied.

"Good. Let's keep it up. Xerneas."

"Sandile-a."

"Electivire."

"Eletrike-a."

"Elekid."

"Thank-a you, no more _E_'s… Darkrai-a."

"Ivysaur."

"Um-a—Rayquaza."

"Wait, wait—Arceus."

"Suicune-a."

"Excadrill."

"Latios-a."

"Skar—"

_"AHHHHHH!"_

Simultaneously, Mario and Sonic leaped up. "BLAZE!" they shouted.

Shadow whipped his head around, his red eyes wide with shock. "That was Blaze?"

Yoshi was on his feet in a flash. "_Yoshi!_ That had to be her!"

"Well, mama mia!" Luigi exclaimed, feeling scared again. "Wh-what-a could've happened to her-a?"

"Instead of asking questions, how about we actually _do_ something?" asked Sonic impatiently, tapping his foot rapidly. "C'mon, let's _go_, darn it!"

The five Smashers rushed through the pipe, not thinking about all the noise they were making.

"Faster, faster!"

"I hope we won't have to run a lot!"

"…Damn it! The pipe forks into _three_ pipes here!"

"Th-three?!"

"We don't have time to go listening to each pipe's sounds!"

"_Yoshi!_ Look at that!"

"Where?"

Yoshi pointed. "There, in the rightmost pipe."

"A…trail of fire…?"

Mario knew what it meant. "She's-a showing us-a her trail-a…"

The group of five ran through the rightmost pipe as fast as they could.

"Jeez, they oughta improve the lighting here!"

"Well, that's-a what you get-a when you're running through a pipe-a, Sonic."

Eventually, the pipe ended and they reached a large room. It had metal walls with wires and electric currents running through them like veins. It was very bright, so it took the Smashers a bit of time to get accustomed to the light.

"It looks like some secret underground lab," Shadow remarked, blinking.

"That's-a probably because it _is_ a secret underground-a lab," Luigi told him.

_"HELP ME!"_

Yoshi pointed to the left. "Over there!"

They went that way and came upon a horrible sight.

"Mama mia!" shouted Mario. "It's-a Metal Sonic!"

Blaze suddenly appeared before him, covered with bruised and scratches. "C-careful," she panted, clutching her left arm, which was bent at a strange angle. "Metal Sonic… He's not himself. I… I think he's been—"

A kick from behind knocked her onto the cold metal floor with a loud _bang_. Facedown, she twitched once and then was still.

"BLAZE!" Sonic screamed, running to the fallen cat's side.

Shadow turned on Metal Sonic, his red eyes flashing with outrage. "METAL SONIC! You will PAY!" He sprang onto the robotic hedgehog with a Chaos Spear in his hand. Metal Sonic made a buzzing sound and quickly jumped to the side to avoid the Chaos attack that flew right past his face. Then he curled into a ball and zoomed towards Shadow with a Homing Attack, who retaliated with his own Homing Attack. The two hedgehogs slammed into each other with great force, each one struggling to push his opponent out of the way.

While Shadow was taking care of Metal Sonic, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi went to Sonic, who was holding up Blaze. "How is-a she?" asked Luigi in a tight voice.

Sonic shook his head sadly. "Out like a light…again. But she's badly hurt. I think her left arm is broken."

Mario snapped his fingers and made a sound of frustration. "Aargh! I don't-a have my first-aid kit-a!"

"L-l-let's just drag her out of the battle for now," Yoshi said shakily.

Mario and Luigi carefully carried Blaze to the farthest corner of the room, followed by Sonic and Yoshi. Shadow was still fighting Metal Sonic.

"Metal Sonic!" he growled. "What's gotten into you? First you sneak off without any warning, and then you attack Blaze like that! Are you insane?"

Metal Sonic buzzed furiously and used Ring Spark Field. Shadow snarled and used Chaos Blast. The explosion of Chaos energy slammed into the powerful electrical discharge, and they canceled each other out.

Mario put his hand on Blaze's forehead. "The good-a thing is, she doesn't-a have a fever or anything-a. But the bad-a thing is-a, she has a broken left arm-a. We must-a set it as-a soon as possible."

"But do we have any supplies required to set a broken bone?" Sonic demanded.

Mario shook his head. Sonic smashed his fist into the wall, making a sharp _bang_ as his hand made contact.

"Why? Why is this happening to us? Why?!"

Luigi tapped his shoulder. "Um, keep-a your quills on, Sonic-a," he said timidly. "There's-a still hope-a! Look-a there…it's a table with all sorts of-a things on it-a."

Yoshi trotted over to the said table and grinned. "Hey, you're right! Look, it even has some cloth we can use." He took the cloth and brought them to Mario, who took them and quickly tied Blaze's arm to her body.

"Perfect-a," the red plumber declared after standing back to survey his work. "It'll do for now-a."

Just then, Shadow appeared at Sonic's side. He was breathing heavily and had a nasty gash on his right shoulder. Sonic suddenly remembered something about the black hedgehog getting a wound at the same exact place not too long ago.

"I think I know what Blaze was about to say," Shadow said in a low voice. "Metal Sonic's been reprogrammed."

"Reprogrammed!" the other Smashers exclaimed.

"So you're saying that someone rewired Metal Sonic into his former self? The one that tries to defeat Sonic?" asked Yoshi.

Shadow nodded. "The only difference is that this one wants to defeat _all_ of us."

Silence.

"…Then, all we have-a to do is wire him-a back, right-a?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna be that easy, Luigi," Sonic replied. "First we'll have to knock around Metal so he'll sit still. Then we'll have to figure out how the heck we're gonna wire him back—_without_ Tails' help."

"Oh, yeah…"

Metal Sonic came flying in and attempted to hit Mario with a Spin Dash. A fireball that flew out of the red plumber's hand threw the metal hedgehog away.

"We should-a start knocking him around-a now!" he stated. "Let's-a go!"

The five Smashers gently put Blaze in a sitting position and made her lean against the wall. Then they all charged at Metal Sonic.

-ooo-

"…It's really creepy when you're walking through the halls right after a Primid attack, huh?"

"Mm-hm. Master Hand ought to put up more lamps here. It's a bit too dark for my liking."

Lucario and Snake quietly walked through one of the many corridors of the Smash Mansion. Each time they reached a corner, Lucario used his Aura Sight to make sure there were no enemies hiding somewhere. Because they had to stop so many times, their progress through the corridor was quite slow.

"And I still haven't seen any of the cartoon guys… Oh, hell…"

"Hey, Snake, have you seen Darkrai anywhere?"

Snake shrugged. "No. I haven't seen him since the beginning of the attack."

Lucario twiddled his thumbs nervously. "I'm scared. It's not like him to suddenly disappear, even though he's, well, _Darkrai_."

"I guess he's one of those guys who like to come and go as they please," Snake suggested.

"I dunno…"

As they walked, their footsteps echoed off the walls.

_Tap…clunk…tap…clunk…tap…CRUNCH…tap…clunk…_

Snake stopped. "Hey, Lucario… When you walk, do your feet go _crunch_?"

Lucario looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Uh, no. Why?"

Snake put his right hand to his chin, looking thoughtful. "So if my footsteps don't sound like that, either…"

_CRUNCH…CRUNCH…CRUNCH—SMASH!_

Something came crashing through the wall. Clouds of dust were thrown into the air and the two Smashers were swept off their feet. A loud _CRUNCH_ sounded as the thing came closer towards them.

_"RAAAHHHHH!"_

An enormous being emerged from the dust. Metal and mechanical parts easily gave away the fact that it was a robot, but it looked more like a monster than a robot. It was so colossal that Lucario and Snake could see only the top half of it. The thing had a triangular "head" with two eye-like spheres and an open cockpit that formed the "mouth." A huge rail gun rested on its right shoulder while its left shoulder had a radome. Lucario peeked down and saw two massive legs with knife-like "toes."

"…then that crunching sound must've been Metal Gear REX smashing through the Smash Mansion's walls," Snake concluded.

"You could've told me that _before_ this Metal Gear REX went smashing through the Smash Mansion's walls!" Lucario groaned with exasperation.

Metal Gear REX roared again.

"Wait a minute," Snake said suddenly. "I thought REX needed an operator. Who's controlling this thing?"

He received the answer from Lucario, who was using his Aura Sight. "…I can see the aura of a single Primid sitting in the pilot's seat."

"What! A Primid?"

Lucario snapped his eyes open. "Here come some more!"

There was another _SMASH_, and more of the wall tumbled down. Lucario and Snake jumped back just as a second Metal Gear made its destructive entrance. This one was just as large as REX but had a more streamlined shape. Its head—or rather, cockpit—was smaller and sleeker and had a bright blue light on each side—like the glaring eyes of a ferocious beast. It had a wing-like structure on each side of its slim body. A long tail thrashed behind it.

Now it was Snake's turn to groan. "Damn! They got RAY, too! What's next, some Gekko?"

Three smaller, identical robots jumped onto the two Smashers' floor. The shape of their bodies was very similar to REX's, but their legs looked fleshy and very flexible. There was a machine gun on either side of their heads, and on top was a dome-shaped sensor. Sitting on each of the robots were two Sword Primids.

"Oh, please! They really _did_ go off and get three Gekko!" shouted Snake, shaking his head with annoyance.

"So that makes a total of…five Metal Gear!" Lucario yelled.

Snake paused. "…Technically, it's _two_ Metal Gear and three bipedal tanks. But now isn't the time to be talking about that, so…yeah, that makes a total of five Metal Gear!" he yelped. "Time to _haul ass_!"

The two Smashers made a mad dash for any sort of exit. The only way to escape was by jumping from the second floor to the first, so that was exactly what they did. Upon landing, they were immediately greeted by Cloud Strife and Neku Sakuraba. "Hey! So what's with the robot rampage?" asked Cloud.

"It's a long story," Lucario told him. "For now, can you help us knock those Primids off the robots?"

"Sure, sure," said Neku, sounding a bit bored. "Let's do this."

Lucario was the most agile one, so he jumped up and ran along Metal Gear REX's body, reaching the open cockpit with the Primid—and then the cockpit closed.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" Lucario raged, using Force Palm on the side of REX's "head" and not even making a dent. "Come out and fight, you coward!"

"Lucario, simple punches and kicks aren't enough to take down REX," Snake called up to the Pokémon. "You gotta use some heavy artillery…like this!"

The mercenary brought out a Stinger missile launcher and aimed it at REX. After locking on to his target, he pressed the trigger and fired.

_BAM! BAM!_ Two missiles shot out of the Stinger's caliber and struck REX's cockpit, causing a large explosion. The Metal Gear reeled back from the impact, almost stepping on Cloud.

"Yo, watch where you're stepping, REX!" the swordsman snapped while striking the Metal Gear's foot with a Climhazzard attack that barely did anything.

"My turn," said Neku. He reached into a pocket of his shorts and took out something that looked like a black, purple, and red badge. He held it between his fingers and brought back his arm. Then, after running up to REX and shouting, _"Mitama!"_ he performed a rapid spinning slash.

REX did not look fazed.

"Well." Neku snorted. "I guess pins don't do much."

"This damn thing is tough!" Cloud complained after slashing at REX's foot several times and not even making a scratch.

"Kid, do you have any idea what we're dealing with?" Snake said impatiently. "This is a Metal Gear. This is a _nuclear-armed bipedal tank capable of launching nuclear missiles to any place in the world without being tracked by radar_!"

Lucario frowned as Snake ranted on about the Metal Gear's abilities. "Um, guys…did you forget about RAY and the Gekko?"

Snake calmed down and glanced at his friend. "Oops." He shot two missiles at RAY, making it stagger backwards and destroy another wall. The three Gekko were able to dodge the attack by leaping up at the right time and coming back down when all traces of the missiles were gone.

"Damn, those Primids are a lot smarter than I thought," Snake admitted. "And wait just a second—Gekko are AI-controlled. What's with this bunch and the Primids?"

Lucario quickly discovered the truth. "Those Gekko have some kind of metallic…thing on their sensors."

Snake hit himself in the head. "Damn it! So Tabuu's mind-controlling devices can control machines as well as living beings? What the hell is going on here?!"

Lucario charged at RAY and gave it a strong kick. The Primid that was piloting RAY countered by attempting to stomp down on him. The Smasher avoided the attack by rolling out of the way. "Arceus, is there any way we can make a dent in this thing without using Snake's weapon?"

"Yeah, you'd better find a way, and fast," Snake shouted as he let out another missile at RAY. "I'm not about to do all the work!"

"It's perfectly fine if you can't find a way."

Cloud whirled around. "Who said that? Show yourself!"

"Hahaha…" the voice laughed. "Shouldn't you pay attention to what's behind you?"

"What the—" The moment Cloud looked over his shoulder, he was kicked in the stomach by one of the Gekko. The force of the blow was enough to send the swordsman flying. He landed in a pile of rubble about thirty feet away.

The voice sniggered again. "That was a weak kick, actually. I wonder what would happen if the Gekko kicked you with all its power…"

Neku's eyes widened. "Hold on… You sound very familiar. Like…like…" He clenched his fist. "…like Sora!"

Lucario was astonished. "Sora? What?"

"…You're half right," the voice admitted. "I guess there's no point in hiding now."

A pure black figure leaped out of the shadows and landed directly in front of Lucario, Snake, and Neku.

Lucario raised a brow. "You look kind of familiar. Are you Reversal-Sora?"

"No, I'm something else…" the black-clad boy said mysteriously as he grinned.

Neku gasped. "Hey! I think I've heard of you. Your name starts with an _A_…"

"Yeah. I'm…AntiSora! The shadow and opposite of your friend here!" AntiSora threw someone onto the ground, not bothering to be gentle.

Neku let out a cry of shock. "N-no! Sora!" He ran to his friend's side and knelt down. "Sora? Sora! Answer me!"

"He's not going to answer you for a pretty long time," AntiSora sneered, "thanks to me."

Snake quickly backed up when he saw Neku's face. _"Why, you…"_ the boy began to say, dashing towards AntiSora.

A loud _crash_ interrupted them.

"Hi! Need some help?"

Amaterasu, Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Flamedramon, Renamon, R.O.B, Mr. Game & Watch, Link, Ganondorf, Pit, and Samus rushed in. Half of them immediately launched themselves towards the Metal Gear while the rest went to Lucario, Snake, Neku, and the unconscious Sora. Then Colette noticed Cloud lying in a heap of rubble, so she quickly went to heal him.

"We heard all the noise, so we decided to investigate," R.O.B. explained, seeing the wondering looks on Lucario and Snake's faces.

"Yeah, and the next thing we knew, the entire wall had come down!" laughed Link. "And then there were those Metal Gear…"

"In the Brawl Room, I found the remote control for the Brawl Sustem lying in pieces," said Samus, "and the TV screen was displaying the Shadow Moses Island stage. The wall at the back of the stage had broken down, but there were no Metal Gear. So I'm thinking that the Primids went to the stage to take control of the Metal Gear, which they brought out to the real world.

"So that's where they came from. That makes sense," Snake said, nodding.

"But what exactly did they bring these things out for?" Amaterasu asked. "It can't just be for destroying the mansion."

Then AntiSora spoke. "You're right. Destroying the Smash Mansion isn't part of our plan. But if you want the real part of the plan…" He winked and stuck out his tongue. "Sorry, can't tell ya. Nyahhhh!"

Metal Gear RAY let out an earsplitting screech and almost stomped on R.O.B. The robot looked pretty freaked out at the thought of how close he was to getting flattened into a robotic pancake and would have gotten stepped in again if it hadn't been for Pit. The angel swooped down and pushed R.O.B. out of the way just as a Gekko smashed at the place where R.O.B was just moments before. He quickly recovered and entered the battle with the other Smashers. Colette was still sitting next to the heavily injured Cloud, trying to heal his wounds as fast as her abilities would allow.

Flamedramon sprang onto a Gekko's head and landed next to its Sword Primid controllers. He swiped at one of them with his metal claws, and the Primid intercepted with a slash of its green sword.

"Ha! You're goin' down, Primids! _Flaming Fist!_" The Digimon drove his fire-enveloped fist at the Primids, who blocked his jabs with some complicated parries and thrusts of their swords.

"I have to say…you're pretty good!" Flamedramon said with grudging respect. Then something slammed into the side of his face and sent him toppling off the Gekko.

"What the…!"

"Oh, yeah!" Snake shouted. "I forgot to mention that the Gekko's legs are capable of turning a full circle! Which means their legs can hit you hit you in the face even when your sitting on their heads!"

"You should've told me that _before_ its leg hit me in the face!" raged Flamedramon as he flew head first into a pile of plaster and wood.

Meanwhile, Lloyd, Amaterasu, Link, and Ganondorf were dealing with Metal Gear REX. Amaterasu ran up to REX's head and began to pummel it with a barrage of her devout beads. Lloyd struck its right foot with Demon Fang, while Link took care of the other foot with his Spinning Slash attacks. Ganondorf jumped as high as he could and punched the bottom of REX's cockpit with Warlock Punch. Even after all these moves, the Metal Gear did not look too damaged, but Ganondorf's Warlock Punch appeared to have some effect.

Lucario, Snake, Renamon, and Mr. Game & Watch were up against Metal Gear RAY. Lucario threw out one Aura Sphere after another in quick succession, and Snake backed him up with missiles launched from his Stinger. Renamon jumped all around RAY while using Diamond Storm on its legs. Mr. Game & Watch took out a two-dimensional trampoline and bounced off of it, eventually at level with RAY's cockpit. Then he whacked at the Metal Gear with a two-dimensional diving helmet, managing to make a couple very shallow dents.

Pit, Samus, and R.O.B. were each battling one of the three Gekko. Pit was able to easily evade his Gekko's attacks, thanks to his wings. Samus, however, was not as lucky, and she was kicked into a wall by her Gekko. The impact of her hard landing was enough to shatter her Power Suit, and she reappeared from the dust as Zero Suit Samus. She suddenly noticed that the Primids sitting on top of her Gekko were gazing fondly at—

"My God!" Samus exclaimed with disgust, blushing furiously as she shot at the perverted Primids with her plasma gun. The Primids snapped out of their daydream and narrowly avoided the plasma bullet by hopping to the side. "Everybody these days! What's with them?"

R.O.B. blasts his rockets and stayed in midair. "I hope I'll be able to take you down before my fuel runs out… Hm." He let out a powerful laser that did only minimal damage to his Gekko. "Really! What are these guys made of, steel?"

"No," Snake answered as he prepared to launch another missile at Metal Gear RAY. "I think it's something harder than steel."

"Really, now!"

Then AntiSora appeared before R.O.B., and with his Keyblade, he struck the robot. R.O.B.'s rockets spluttered and died, and he landed on top of Lucario, who was knocked out. _"Ohhh!"_ R.O.B groaned.

"I think we've had enough fun," said AntiSora cheerfully. "Time to go! Oh, wait—" He teleported to Neku and pushed him out of the way, then grabbed Sora. "I'll be taking him with me."

"Don't you _dare_—!" Neku started, only to he interrupted by AntiSora.

"Relax, Sakuraba," the shadow of Sora said nonchalantly. "We won't be doing anything to him…that is, unless Master Tabuu says so."

"Ah! So you're in league with that mastermind, eh?" Cloud said, sitting upright. "An alliance of villains… Heh…"

AntiSora grinned at the Smashers. "Let's have fun again when we meet, shall we? Hahaha!" He hoisted Sora onto his shoulder, then melted into the ground as a shadow and was gone within seconds. REX, RAY, and the three Gekko trampled after the shadow, wrecking more parts of the Smash Mansion in the process. A wide black and purple portal came into existence, and the Primids guided the Metal Gear into the portal.

"NO! SORA!" Neku tried to follow the Metal Gear, but he was held back by Cloud, who blocked him with his Fusion Sword.

"Neku." The swordsman's voice was deadly serious. "Listen to me. They _want_ you to follow him. It's a trap. Don't fall for it, Neku. We _will_ rescue Sora, I promise.

Samus was looking at the darkening sky when Snake tapped her shoulder. "Hey."

"Oh, hi, Snake." She glanced at him and smiled. "Today was pretty hectic, huh?"

"Uh… I don't know if 'pretty hectic' is enough to describe it," Snake said, scratching the back of his head. "How about 'unexpectedly catastrophic'?"

"Oh, please. That's an exaggeration."

"Not."

"Is."

"Not."

"…Yeah. Not."

The mercenary and bounty hunter laughed. Then Snake set his mouth in a straight line.

"Hey, Samus," he said. "I think I know what those guys came here for. They weren't only here to cause trouble."

"Go on," said Samus.

Snake stared into Samus' blue-green eyes. "I have a feeling that those guys took our Metal Gear…to use them as references for a Metal Gear of their own."

"Oh, God, are you serious?"

"It's a possibility."

The two Smashers walked back to the ruins of the mansion.

-ooo-

Dark Link heard a shuffling noise. He looked up to see a sword pointed straight at his face.

"Dark Link," said Toon Link in a low voice. Tetra and Vaati stood silently behind him. "What are you doing here?"

Dark Link smiled wryly in reply. "Oh," he said, "so S3nt2Su8aC3 got you, too, eh?"

"Wait… S3nt2Su8aC3 got us…_too_? You mean…?"

Dark Link nodded slowly.

"Before we draw our swords, let's have a little talk."

-ooo-

A lone figure gazed at the black sky. There were no stars, and there was no moon.

"A new moon, huh…"

He let out a little sigh before turning to a window.

"I wonder what Master Hand will say when he wakes up to see this mess. Ha!"

He looked at his reflection in the window and smiled sadly.

"Just as I suspected… It's getting worse."

He sighed again.

"The curse of the space-time distortions must be making a return. Now things are getting a bit…difficult."

There was a flash of cyan, and then a flash of crimson. The figure left the window and went on his way.

-ooo-

A fox was walking through a grassy field. He had an unconscious figure slumped over his shoulder.

"You're coming with me," James whispered to Fox. "We're going to see Tabuu."

A portal appeared.

"…Yes. Just a simple 'Tabuu' works. None of that 'Master Tabuu' nonsense."

James quietly stepped through the portal and disappeared with Fox McCloud.

-ooo-

A single Primid stood at the peak of a tall hill.

"Oh, no… I came too late…"

There was a gleam of silver.

"Stay…very…still," Marth whispered.

The Primid froze.

"Now slowly turn around to face me. Slowly."

The Primid did as it was told.

"Tell me," said Marth, keeping Falchion in place, "what are you doing here?"

The Primid gathered up its courage and spoke in the language of the Smashers, shocking Marth.

"My name is Primid 0001. I'm on your side."

The silence of the night droned on.

* * *

><p><strong><em>DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNN! That was such a suspenseful chapter! So many cliffhangers… Ughhh…<em>**

**_What will the Olympian Smashers do to Metal Sonic?_**

**Sonic:** _*hysterically*_ I dunno! We're still trying to knock him out so we can rewire him! Now go away and let us do our business!

**_What will the cartoon Smashers do to Dark Link?_**

**Toon Link:** _*shrugging*_ Uhh…listen to his story and kill him later?

**Tetra:** _*angrily*_ Oi! Be a little merciful, Toon!

**Vaati:** _*thinking*_ Strange… He's acting like he's _not_ on the bad guys' side…

**_What will the Smashers do about the Metal Gear?_**

**Snake:** Nothing… We can't really do anything about it right now.

**Lucario:** _*in pain*_ Ughhhhh…

**_What will Samus do to the perverted Primids?_**

**Samus:** _*a little shocked*_ H-huh?! What?! Kill them, of course!

**_"None of that 'Master Tabuu' nonsense," says James McCloud. What could he mean by that?_**

**Fox:** _*totally silent*_ …

**_And will Marth do to Primid 0001?_**

**Marth:** Don't ask. I don't know yet.

_**Where are Master Hand and Crazy Hand?**_

**Crazy Hand:**_*attempts to sneak out of the chapter*_

**Master Hand:** _*reproachfully*_ Ah, ah, _ah_! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_The _****Metal Gear_ craze must be getting to me… I watched walkthroughs for _The Twin Snakes_, _Sons of Liberty_, _Snake Eater_, _Guns of the Patriots_,_ Portable Ops_, _Peace Walker_,__ and _Revengeance_ in two weeks, in fact! I guess that's one of the reasons why this chapter took two months to write._**

**_Credits to the Metal Gear wiki, The World Ends With You wiki, the Kingdom Hearts wiki, and the Sonic wiki for information about Metal Gear, Neku's pins, Sora's moves, and Metal Sonic's moves! Speaking of which, this is the first time I wrote something about Neku and Sora fighting… I'm fairly sure I made Neku completely OOC here, but—oh, well. And I think my knowledge of guns and other firearms is increasing, thanks to Snake and his series._**

**Snake:** You're welcome.

**_And that's all for now. Anyway, see you next time in Chapter 25, and remember to review! Expect to see a lot of Metal Gear-themed stuff in the upcoming chapters because…well, you know._**

**_AND REMEMBER TO VOTE! THERE IS A POLL ON MY PROFILE PAGE!_**


	25. BONUS — SiAura's Message

**_Look! Someone has a message for you._**

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own anyone.**

* * *

><p><strong>BONUS − Chapter 25: SiAura's Message<strong>

* * *

><p>The sound of a helicopter can be heard, rapidly approaching the reader. A rope ladder descends from its open doors with two familiar figures clinging onto it.<p>

One is a man who appears to be in his mid-forties. He is wearing a gray Sneaking Suit with all sorts of gear on it. There is a handgun in a holster strapped to his right leg. He is also wearing his signature bandana.

The other is a Pokémon. He looks like a bipedal jackal with red eyes and blue, black, and tan fur. Four appendages hang on the back of his head. There is a steel spike on the back of each hand and in the center of his chest.

The man grins and does a salute. "This is Team SiAura, reporting for duty!"

The Pokémon just groans. "You didn't have to pull me out of bed at three in the morning just to do _this_, Snake… And are you seriously using the team name we used for the Easter game?"

"Look, Lucario, this is urgent business, and SiAura' has a nice ring to it, so I'm using it," Snake says before looking back to the confused reader. "All right, so here's the deal. Storm Aurastar has an important request to make."

"You see, he's planning to make the next chapter a sort of Q&A kind of thing," says Lucario. "He thinks he should clear some things up before continuing with the story. So ask any question you want—about the Smashers, Master Hand, the Assist Trophies, the mansion, the Legendary Pokémon, the fanfic itself—you name it!"

"For example—does the Smash World follow the real world's time?" Snake says. "Why are we speaking in present tense? What is Ganondorf's biggest pet peeve? How many chapters will Life at the Mansion have? Why exactly does Darkrai like to annoy Cresselia? What do the Assist Trophies do on an average day at the mansion? Does Jigglypuff really like Lucario?"

"Storm will discuss these things in the next chapter," says Lucario, glaring at Snake because of the last question. "So ask whatever question—or questions—you want, and put it in your review."

Snake holds up a finger. "However, please refrain from asking stupid questions, and don't even get started with _this_ one: 'Can you put—_insert character name here_—in your story?'"

"That's right!" Lucario says. "Storm is no longer accepting character requests, so please—stop asking. Wait a minute—" He pokes Snake. "What about those newly announced guys for the fourth _Super Smash Bros._ game?"

"You mean _Super Smash Bros. U_?"

Lucario nods.

"Storm will discuss that in the next chapter," says Snake.

"Okay, then." Lucario relaxes.

"Storm wants to answer lots of questions, so make sure you _REVIEW A LOT_!" Snake hollers so loudly that the pilot of the helicopter threatens to cut the rope ladder with the two Smashers still on it. "Review twice if you must! Or three times…though I guess that would be considered spamming…"

Then Lucario whispers to Snake, "Could Storm also be doing this to get more reviews?"

"It's possible," Snake whispers back. "After all, he _does_ want more than just a hundred and seven reviews…"

"I think that's a lot already."

"This is _his_ fanfic, though. We're just two of the characters, so we can't really do anything about it."

The two Smashers suddenly notice that the reader is trying to hear what they are saying. "Hey! We didn't say anything!" Lucario yelps. He elbows Snake. "_Right_, Snake?!"

"Um! Yeah! All right, then!" Snake points at the reader, Uncle Sam-style. "We want YOU to review and ask questions! Or else…" He takes his handgun out of his leg holster and aims it at the surprised reader. "…I'll use my SOCOM!"

Lucario tugs at Snake's arm. "Uh, Snake, we'd better get going now… Master Hand will start wonder where we went."

"Oh, yeah, we never told him anything about this trip… All right, we're done here!" Snake yells at the pilot.

As the helicopter flies away, the reader could hear Lucario saying:

"You always have your gun, and yet you never use it. Funny, right?"

_Smack._

"Shut up."

* * *

><p><em><strong>You heard 'em! Now start asking those questions!<strong>_


	26. BONUS — Questions and Answers, Round 1

_**(If you see any stupid spelling mistakes here, sorry. I was typing on an iPad.)**_

_**All right! Time for some Q&A! We have a lot of great questions to answer!**_

_**Since there was a question about Klonoa, he'll be the only non-original Smasher appearing in this chapter. (Or not…)**_

_**And there's a poll on my profile page! Check it out!**_

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing here belongs to me!**

* * *

><p><strong>BONUS – Chapter 26: Questions and Answers, Round 1<strong>

* * *

><p>A green pipe appears from the ground, and a familiar red-clad plumber jumps out of it. He lands neatly on both feet and fixes his red hat, which has an <em>M<em> on it. "Hello, there-a!" he says to the reader. "It's-a me, Mario! Welcome to our first-a _BONUS CHAPTER_! What's a bonus chapter, you say? It's a chapter where we Smashers-a directly talk-a to you readers-a!" Then he looks confused. "Hey, where's-a Luigi?"

There is a high-pitched scream, and a green-clad plumber explodes from another pipe. Unlike his brother, he lands on his head.

"S-s-sorry, bro!" he gasps as he stands up. "I took-a the wrong-a pipe and-a went to Luigi's Mansion-a…"

Mario shakes his head with disbelief. "Mama mia, you're scared of a mansion that you've-a been to _twice_?"

Luigi does not answer, for at that moment he falls flat on his face and faints.

Mario shakes his head. "Mama mia…" He shrugs and looks at the reader. "Anyway, welcome-a to Storm Aurastar's-a Q&A chapter. Thank you for reviewing and asking all those-a questions! Now we have a lot of things-a to discuss-a! Let's-a get started, shall we?" He looks around. "…Where is everyone-a?"

Just then, a gentle breeze kicks up, gradually increasing to a tornado. It suddenly disappears, and someone crash-lands right next to Mario. The newcomer raises his right hand, which has a golden ring with a green gem on it. "Hi! Klonoa's here!"

A volcano pops out of nowhere, spewing out a lot of lava and a rather large Koopa. At the same time, a yellow motorbike rumbles into view, carrying a rather flabby man in a leather jacket and yellow cap. The motorbike sputters, throwing the man off balance. He jumps off the bike, just as the Koopa comes down.

_CRASH._

"Bowser's here…"

"So's Wario… Heheh…"

A princess wearing a pink dress floats down with her pink and white parasol. She makes a light landing and daintily folds her parasol. "Hello, I'm Peach!"

_"Falcooooooooon…"_

A certain F-Zero pilot comes flying into view, right fist drawn back for his signature move. Instead of throwing out a punch enveloped in a falcon-shaped flame, however, he is too late and lands on his face.

_"…OWWWW!"_

Two figures, both wearing a green tunic, brown belt, and green hat, fall out of a whirlwind and land on their heads.

"Link, you never said anything about a hard landing!"

"Hey, I can't be that precise, Toon!"

A blue blur bounces off of each Hero of Time's head and comes to a stop. "Sonic's the name, speed's my game!" announces Sonic the Hedgehog, waggling his finger and winking. Then his face is slammed into the ground when a green dinosaur with a red shell bounces off of his head.

_"Yoshi!"_

Mario lets out a sigh of frustration. "Mama mia, what's-a with all the faceplants-a?!"

All the Smashers who made an entrance by faceplanting are now slowly staggering upright. "We were trying to make some epic entrances, but we kind of, uh…" Captain Falcon looks sheepish. "…Let's just say we messed up."

"Then-a practice your entrances a little more normal next time-a." Mario does a quick head count. "We're missing two people-a."

At that moment, a helicopter flies over the Smashers. A rope is thrown out the doors, and two familiar people slide down and jump onto the ground. One is a man wearing a bandanna and gray Sneaking Suit; the other is a Pokémon with blue, tan, and black fur.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Solid Snake grins. "Snake and Lucario, reporting for duty."

"Y'all are late!" Wario yells.

Snake just shrugs. "Better late than never."

Lucario groans. "Snake, are you telling me that you dragged me out of bed at _three_ so we could go to a Q&A thing at _nine_?!"

"The early bird catches the worm."

"Oooooh, proverbs. You sound just like Mei Ling."

_Smack._

"Shut up."

Mario clears his throat to catch everybody's attention. "Okay, let's-a get started-a. We're all here, right-a?"

"Except Luigi," Toon Link points out, glancing at the fainted plumber.

"Ouch, what happened?" asks Captain Falcon, wincing.

"I think he took a wrong turn and ended up in Luigi's Mansion," Bowser answers. "Coward…" he then snorts.

"Hey!" shouts Peach. "That's really mean!"

"He'll wake up soon-a," Mario reassures everybody. "This is the third-a time I'm-a saying this, but-a…LET'S-A GET STARTED-A!"

"Did you just say 'butter'?" asks Sonic.

"No, I said 'but-a.'"

"Butter?"

_"But-a!"_

"He said 'but' with an Italian accent!" Snake yells.

"Oh, I get it now!" Sonic exclaims, grinning. Then he says, "Wait a sec! He said 'butt' with an Italian accent?"

Bowser promptly uses Bowser Bomb on the hedgehog, squashing him.

"FOURTH TIME! _LET'S GET STARTED!_" Toon Link, Klonoa, and Link scream.

Mario takes out a paper from thin air. "Okay, then-a! First question-a, from an anonymous reviewer called _Guest_!" He reads the question. "Oh, it-a looks like Storm Aurastar already made-a some…_minor_ edits-a to the grammar. '**When Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Blaze, Shadow, and Yoshi escaped, what happens to the others? I'm scared of what would happen to them!'**" Mario frowns. "Sorry, but-a that'll be a spoiler for Chapter 27. Please-a wait until then-a. Thank-a you!"

"Hey, Mario, you said 'butter' again," Sonic says from under Bowser's bottom.

Wario promptly uses Wario Waft on the hedgehog, making him choke on the stench and faint a few seconds later.

"Next question," says Lucario, taking the paper from Mario. "This one's from _Prototron MJ Tornada_. '**This question is for Lucario and Snake. So, you two, do you guys have the same dream because of your link at random times, and do you occasionally answer a question asked to the other when they're on the other side of the mansion? That is all.'** That's actually a very good question," the Aura Pokémon says to the reader. "Not exactly the _same_ dream. Because of our telepathic link, occasionally we see one another's dreams when one of us isn't blocking his mind completely. Usually, it's Snake's mind that get broken into because he didn't have telepathic powers to start with. Sometimes, those dreams are rather…inappropriate." He grins. "Let's talk about one of those dreams, shall we?"

Snake blushes furiously and starts to protest, "H-hey, Lucario…!"

"But first, let's answer the second question. Snake, would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure, let me speak up before you go out and humiliate me." Snake coughs and looks at the reader. "Well, yes, we sometimes answer each other's thoughts if we think 'em clearly enough. For example, I was visiting R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch's room yesterday, and their room is the rightmost third-floor room of the Smash Mansion. Lucario was in the leftmost part of the basement, watching Fox and Falco make some repairs to their Arwings. And I was thinking, _'Damn, I'm having a conversation with a 2D guy… Seriously, what the hell?'_"

Lucario smiles and continues, "And I heard that thought pretty clearly because Snake wasn't keeping his mind shut very properly. I replied, '_You're being rude to G&W. Cut him some slack, will you?'_"

"Then I thought, _'Dammit, Lucario! Get the hell out of my head!'_"

"I said, _'Nope, I'm staying here until you put up a stronger wall around your mind.'_"

"Then I said, _'Merde…!'_"

"I replied, _'David, it's rude to curse, even in French.'_"

"And I said, _'How the hell do you know French?!'_"

"I just said, _'I guess you must've rubbed it off on me.'_"

"…And so on and so forth," Snake concludes, high-fiving Lucario.

"…Okay," says Klonoa.

"I think I threw out some more cuss words in Russian and Japanese after that," Snake admits, grinning while rubbing the back of his head.

"That's right, you said something like 'der'mo' and 'kuso' several times before I cut the connection," Lucario recalls, laughing. "All right, lets talk about that dream you had the other day…"

Snake immediately stops smiling.

"So it kind of went like this…"

Snake pulls out a cardboard box and ducks under it to hide his mortification.

"…Snake was sneaking around, hiding under his box…"

Everyone except the kids, Peach, and Luigi, who is still blacked out, eagerly leans forward.

"…and he reaches Samus' room…"

Toon Link makes a face while Wario says, "This is gettin' good…"

"…he opens the door and…"

Klonoa covers his ears. "My Dream Traveler instincts are telling me that this dream was very disturbing."

"…peeks through the holes of his box…"

Sonic tries to lift his head to listen to the story.

"…and he gazes fondly at—"

Something small and blue rams into the side of Lucario's head. He stops talking and crumples onto the floor, knocked out.

"Hey! Hey! Listen! That's _enough_!"

"Navi!" exclaims Link, surprised. "Since when did you get physical?"

"Since now," Navi replies curtly before flying back into the Hero of Time's hat.

There is an awkward pause.

"…Well, at-a least we now kind of-a know what Snake-a dreams about," says Mario, breaking the silence. "Moving onto the next-a question!"

"Can I come out now?" asks a quiet voice from within the cardboard box, sounding extremely embarrassed.

"Please do," answers Bowser.

Snake quietly reemerges from his box, looking absolutely mortified.

Peach carefully takes the paper of questions from the unconscious Lucario's hands. "The next question—or rather, _questions_—were from _SakuraDreamerz_. The first question is for Klonoa."

Klonoa blinks once. "For me? Cool!"

"The question goes, **'Who did you have your first team brawl with after you arrived at the mansion?'**"

"Oh, my first team brawl?" Klonoa puts a hand to his chin, trying to remember. Then he snaps his fingers. "Oh, yeah, I had my first Team Brawl after Gantz and Chipple arrived. I was in the Green Team, and my partner was Jigglyuff! She fought pretty…interestingly. But our strategy worked."

"Yeah, how'd it go?" Captain Falcon asks.

"Y'see, Jigglypuff would run up to the enemy—I think we were fighting the Red Team, which had Donkey Kong and Gantz—and quickly use Sing so the other guy would fall asleep. While he's asleep, I'd go up to him and use a smash attack. We did this when the opponent had a lot of damage, like up to a hundred percent or so." Then he looks angry and glares at the reader. "How can you guys think of Jigglypuff as _'useless'_?! So many people hate her… How can you?! You guys are so cruel! She's a _great_ Smasher!"

"Calm down, Klonoa," Toon Link says soothingly, pulling the enraged Dream Traveler away so he will not start beating up the reader. "Some guys love Jigglypuff, and Storm Aurastar likes her… Is that okay?"

"For now," says Klonoa with a huff.

"_SakuraDreamerz_'s second question is for Sonic," says Peach. "Actually, there are two questions."

With a loud groan, the blue hedgehog pulls himself out from under Bowser's heavy body and stands up. "Someone call me just now?"

"The first question goes, **'How did you get your shoes?'**"

Sonic raises a brow. "My shoes? Hmm… Lemme see." He taps his foot and looks up to the ceiling, thinking hard. "Oh, now I remember! Gather 'round, guys. You're in for a _looooong_story that goes a _looooong_ way back."

All the Smashers promptly make a circle around the hedgehog and sit down.

"At first, I was just a regular ol' Mobian hedgehog—brown, lots of quils, and slow. Well, still pretty fast compared to other hedgehogs. And I had this dingy pair of sneakers—smelly, dusty, and definitely not bright red.

"You all have heard of Dr. Eggman, right? Real name Dr. Ivo Robotnik? When I was a regular hedgehog, he was actually a good guy whose name was Dr. Ovi Kintobor. His goal was to seal off all the evil in the world within the seven Chaos Emeralds."

"Wait, wait, wait," interrupts Wario. "Eggman was a _good_ guy?!"

"Yeah, shocking, right?" Sonic replies. He continues. "One day, I popped up in his lab while he was in the middle of an experiment. He'd managed to find six of the Chaos Emeralds, but he couldn't find the last one. He saw me and couldn't resist carrying out some experiments into my sonic speed. He gave me a pair of friction-reducing sneakers that he called the_Power Sneakers_, and he told me to run around in his gyratoscope. Thanks to the friction-reducing abilities of the new shoes, I was able to run at the _speed of sound_!"

"Whoaaaaa!" yells Toon Link and Klonoa.

"Later, my good friend Tails the Fox tweaked up my shoes a bit so I could run at speeds even _faster_ than sound," says Sonic. "And that's the story of my shoes."

Everyone applauds. "Bravo!"

Peach reads the next question for Sonic. "**'And are you excited about Mega Man being a newcomer in the next Smash Tournament?'**"

Sonic gives a sudden start. "Who? Mega Man?!"

Someone screams. _"YEEEESSSSSSSS!"_

A boy wearing a blue suit appears, yelling happily while shooting random bullets into the air. Some of the Smashers attempt to take cover.

"YES! I MADE IT! I MADE IT! _WOOHOOOOO!_"

He runs off the stage.

Awkward silence.

"…Okay," says Captain Falcon.

"Did you see that arm cannon?" Link whispers. "I think Samus has a rival!"

"Or a friend," Yoshi says optimistically.

"Or a pint-sized foe," Snake says dryly.

Lucario suddenly wakes up and walks over to Snake.

_Smack._

"Shut up."

"That's my line," Snake says sadly, rubbing his cheek.

"_SakuraDreamerz_'s next question is for Link and Toon Link. **'Have you guys ever met the other Links yet (besides each other)? If so, who? If not, which Link would you have wanted to meet?'**"

Toon Link looks at Link. "'_Other_ Links'?"

"You know, from the other games," Link tells him.

Toon Link grins. "We've never met the other Links because we're all the descendants of a single Link. I met Link only because the Subspace Army invaded not one, but TWO _The Legend of Zelda_ dimensions and timelines."

"Now that was really weird!" Link laughs as he remembers that day. "It was like seeing yourself, but in another form. And we knew everything that each of us did—"

"—like when Link defeated Zant and net Midna—"

"—and Toon Link split into four Links when he held the Four Sword—"

"—and Link rode his red Loftwing—"

"—and Toon Link defeated Vaati!"

"I think we knew about each other because we'd read the legends of all the Links!" Toon Link says with a grin. "As for meeting other Links, I've never met another one before, but I'd like to meet Young Link!"

"That's right!" Link says. "He was my counterpart in _Super Smash Bros. Melee_, wasn't he? That was before Shigeru Miyamoto started making _The Legend of Zelda_ games where Link looks like Toon."

"I heard that some players missed him a lot and wanted him to come back in _Brawl_," says Toon Link. "But then, there'd be too many _The Legend of Zelda_ characters."

"Mm-hm," says Link with some disappointment.

"Final question," Peach says. "It's for Captain Falcon. **'I've been wondering about this for a while, but why do you say "FALCON PUNCH!" like there is a **_**w**_** in "Punch" (it sounds like "PAWNCH" in **_**Brawl**_**)?'**"

Captain Falcon scratches his head. "Really? I sound like that? Let's test it. Anyone willing to be a guinea pig?"

Everybody immediately takes a step back.

"Oh, come on!"

"Uh… There's a dummy right there," Snake says quickly.

"That's good." Captain Falcon grabs the random dummy and sets it up. Then he cracks his knuckles and draws back his fist.

_"Falcon…"_

Mario lets out a yelp. "Mama mia! That's-a no dummy! That's-a _Luigi_!"

Too late.

_"…PAWWWWWNCH!"_

Luigi goes flying off, squealing with pain. All the Smashers watch him disappear into a random cloud, Team Rocket-style.

"…Oops," says Captain Falcon.

"Oh, well," says Bowser, shrugging. "It's just Luigi."

Mario uses Super Jump Punch on the Koopa, blowing him out of the place.

"Funny, you really do sound like you put a _w_ in 'Punch,'" notes Sonic.

Captain Falcon grins. "I guess it's because 'PAWNCH' has the same _aw_ sound as 'AWESOME'!"

Peach groans quietly. "Oh, no…"

"I guess Storm writes it like _'PUUUUUUUUUUNCH!'_ because he likes to spell things correctly," Lucario hypothesizes.

"Next question! I'll read it!" Klonoa takes the paper from Peach. "This question is from an anonymous reviewer called _V-gamer_, who asks, **'Are you planning on doing something with the announced Smashers?'**"

"I'll answer for Storm Aurastar!" says Yoshi. "Yes, Storm is planning on adding Mega Man, the Wii Fit Trainer, and the Villager to Life at the Mansion! We don't when they're coming in, though."

"At least we know they'll be comin'!" says Wario.

Three people scream in unison.

_"YEEEESSSSSSSS!"_

A boy wearing a blue suit, a white-skinned and brown-haired woman wearing yoga clothes, and a little boy wearing a red-striped shirt suddenly appear out of nowhere, yelling happily and crazily. The first boy is still shooting random bullets into the air while the other boy is waving around a fishing pole with a blue whale on the end of the line. The woman is twirling gracefully across the floor, looking very triumphant.

"YES! WE MADE IT! WE MADE IT! _WOOHOOOOO!_"

They run off the stage.

Awkward silence.

"…Okay," says Captain Falcon.

Link pokes Toon Link. "Hey, Toon, I bet we all know what Snake is thinking…"

All the Smashers look at the mercenary, who is staring at the Wii Fit Trainer.

"Damn, she's hot…" he is muttering repeatedly.

Lucario sighs and shakes his head. "Oh, David…"

"Don't call me that. _Damn…_"

Everybody facepalms.

"I think Samus has _two_ rivals now," Link whispers.

"Yes, one for the arm cannon and one for beauty," says Peach.

Lucario slaps Snake. "Snap out of it, David!"

"Don't call me that!" Snake says crossly.

"NEXT QUESTION!" roars Bowser, who has randomly reappeared on the stage. He grabs the paper and reads it. "All right, so here's a question from someone called _Destiny Willowleaf_, who reviewed this fanfic a whopping thirteen times! First question goes, **'Are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, and Waluigi sleeping in the same room?'**"

Silence.

"…WHAT-A KIND OF-A QUESTION IS _THAT_-A?!" Mario demands loudly.

"Heh, looks like we got some curious readers here!" Wario says with a chuckle.

"Yes, the boys sleep in the same room," Peach tells the reader. "Of course, I don't sleep with them, since I'm a…" She blushes. "…you know."

"But-a we always make-a sure Wario and-a Waluigi are sleeping on the other side of the room-a," says Mario, warily eyeing Wario's rear.

"Hey, whenever I blow a fuse, it's an accident!" Wario tries to explain.

"Blow a fuse? What do you…" Klonoa suddenly realizes what the purple-clad plumber means. "…Ew. No. Please."

Yoshi raises his hand. "I also sleep in the Mario Bros.' room."

"Oh, he's-a really helpful!" Mario grins. "If Bowser or Wario or Waluigi are causing trouble-a…"

"…the next thing they know, they're stuck in some eggs!" Yoshi finishes happily.

Upon hearing this, Bowser and Wario quickly take a step back.

"Hey, I didn't say I was gonna eat you _now_!" whines Yoshi.

_CRASH!_

Luigi returns to the stage. "Uh… Hi… What'd I miss-a?"

Captain Falcon is incredulous. "You faint at the sight of a haunted mansion, and yet you're able to land on your feet after getting a Falcon Punch in the face? Go figure."

"Oh, speaking of Falcon Punches-a, I have-a to pay you back-a." Luigi runs up to the F-Zero pilot and uses a direct Super Jump Punch.

_"OOOHOOOHOOOOO…!" _Captain Falcon flies into the sky and disappears.

"NEXT!" bellows Bowser. "**'Does the title sequence for their game sound the same as the one you have?'**"

Link looks confused. "Game? What game?"

Snake steps forward. "I think that means the game Lucario, Lucas, Ness, and I made. You know, _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_."

"Oh! That!" Lucario nods. "Yes, the title sequence's music is the same… Some parts of the video, though, are different."

"Yeah, we gave some non-original Smashers cameo appearances," adds Snake. "Like Cloud Strife, Amaterasu, Tetra, Lloyd Irving, and Klonoa."

Toon Link folds his arms. "That's really not fair! Why'd you put Tetra in and not me?"

"Uh… I'll come back to that."

"NEXT QUESTION!" Bowser says. "WHOA, GOLLY GOOMBA GUMBALLS! _DESTINY WILLOWLEAF_ ASKED A WHOPPING _SEVEN_ QUESTIONS IN ONE REVIEW!"

"SHUT UP AND STOP SCREAMING!" screams Sonic.

"HOW 'BOUT _YOU_ SHUT UP AND STOP SCREAMING?!" screams Bowser.

"YOU'RE _BOTH_ SCREAMING!" screams the Animal Crossing Villager.

"Hey! Where'd _you_ come from?" asks Toon Link, surprised.

"I just decided to come back here and tell those two guys to shut up," explains the Villager. "By the way, my name's Arden!"

"Cool! Nice to meet you, Arden! I'm Toon Link!" The cartoon Hero of Time shakes hands with the Animal Crossing Villager. "Let's have fun together!"

"Yeah!"

The two boys run off.

"Looks like they're friends already," says Klonoa. "What's the next question?"

"Oh, yeah." Bowser clears his throat. "**'Where are all of the other Smashers for London?'**"

"You mean in _Chapter 24: Assault, Disappearance, and Metal Gear_?" says Sonic. "Still knocked out in that doohickey place. I hope they'll be okay."

"**'Why are there so many evil beings?'**"

"BECAUSE TABUU IS RECRUITING LOTS OF EVIL BEINGS!" screams Yoshi.

"STOP SCREAMING!" screams Arden the Villager.

"**'Who is your favorite character, Storm Aurastar?'**"

"I'll answer for him," says Lucario. "He says, 'That's a tough one. I have more than one favorite character. As of now, they are—in no particular order—Lucario, Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pikachu, and Kirby.'" Lucario looks proud as he continues, "'I like Lucario because he's one of my favorite Pokémon, and he has his "high risk, high return" ability, which usually helps in _The Subspace Emissary_. I like Snake because it's hard to get him knocked off the stage, even when he has lots of damage. Also, his history has a lot of meaning to it… It's so sad. I can't believe he had to go through all that."

Snake nods slowly, his mouth set in a straight line. "You got that right."

"Storm says, 'I like Sonic because he can run right past some stupid Subspace enemies without getting hit. Man, Primids are slow. I like Pikachu because he's pretty fast, and his Thunder Jolt move can blow up the motion-sensing bombs in _The Subspace Emissary_ from far away. Also, I can mash the Down and B buttons on the Wii Remote and defeat low-level CPUs with Pikachu's Thunder alone."

Someone cheers, "_Pika pi!_ Hooray!"

"'Lastly, I like Kirby because he can fly, use a gigantic hammer, copy everyone's standard special move, and turn into a rock.'"

_"Poyo!"_ exclaims a happy voice.

"'Also, he uses a pot of soup to kill people, which is awesome. _Bang-bang-bang._ Dinner's served! A main dish of oven-baked Falco with a side dish of Bowser soup and Pikmin. Mmm.'"

_"Poyoooo!"_

All of a sudden, Bowser looks a lot greener than usual.

"NEXT! **'Can you update soon?'**"

"Storm tries to update his chapters as fast as he can," says Wario. "Kinda fails at that, though. On average, he updates about once a month or once per month and a half. When he's got school, he'd update only once or twice during the entire school year."

"Man, he's slow!" Sonic complains.

A random iron frying pan flies out of nowhere and lands on his head. He faints.

"That's what you get for insulting the author," says Peach nervously. "And no, that was not me. I use stainless steel frying pans."

"NEXT QUESTION! **'How do the Smashers put up with sleeping with villains?'**"

"They're ex-villains now, so it's okay-a," says Luigi, giving Bowser a high five.

"We still don't feel really comfortable about sleeping in the same room as Ganondorf, though," Link and Toon Link say, frowning.

"**'Where are the Hands?'**"

"Anywhere," Mario says simply. "Usually, though, Master Hand is in his office, and-a Crazy Hand is busy wrecking the basement-a."

"**'Why didn't Master Hand drag Crazy Hand away?'**"

"In Chapter 24? That's because they were both knocked out, probably by James McCloud and AntiSora," says Yoshi, looking angry. "I'll get 'em when I get back from London!"

"FINALLY!" Bowser takes a deep breath. "I'M _DONE_!" He collapses with a grunt. "Hey, Snake, you wanna read?"

"No problem." Snake takes the paper and scans it. "All right, so an anonymous reviewer called _TongueTwisted_ asked several questions. **'What's the history between Lucario and…'**" He narrows his eyes. "This guy actually has the nerve to call me _David_…"

Lucario pats him on the back. "Calm down, Snake. It's just a name." He looks at the reader. "So, you want our history, huh? Okay, then. It all started when—"

Snake leaps at the Pokémon and pins him down.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" yells Lucario.

"You're about to give 'em a whole lot of spoilers, that's what!" Snake growls. "Storm is planning to put all that stuff in a later chapter!"

Lucario paused. "…Oh. Sorry."

"Apology accepted." Snake gets up and dusts himself, then reads the next question. "**'Why is "Sent to Subspace" in leet?'**" Snake grins. "Nice, you can read leet. Storm figured that he names of glitches would be in leet, so he named this one S3nt2Su8aC3. More information about it in Chapter 27."

"Poop, we have to wait." Wario pouts.

"Next question. **'What the HELL is with Dark Link? Will he be a Smasher?'**"

Sonic peeks at the paper. "Looks like _TongueTwisted_ hopes he will be."

"I hope not," Link says flatly.

"Well, all I can say is, Dark Link will _not_ be a Smasher, but he'll be a major character for the next few chapters," answers Peach.

"Next. **'Does Jigglypuff really like Lucario?'** Hey, I asked that in the previous chapter…"

Lucario starts spluttering. "Uh—what—I don't even—" He turns red. "_Okay_, she likes me, yes, but not like…well…" He pulls on his ears in frustration. "You know…!"

Yoshi starts laughing. "Looks like Lucario's em-_barrrrr_-rassed!"

Lucario punches him.

_"Owowowowow!"_

"Enough of that," Snake says sternly. "Now… **'Why does Darkrai like to piss Cresselia off so much? Does he realize he'll get destroyed by her Psycho Cut?'**"

"He knows," answers Lucario. "He's just too stupid to realize that one day he will get destroyed by one of he Psycho Cuts."

"I heard that!" says an indignant voice that seems to be coming from a disembodied shadow on the ground.

"Get out of here, Darkrai," Lucario says crossly. "Smashers only."

Darkrai grumbles something about unfairness and Legendary Pokémon as he zips away.

"Who was that?" asks Mega Man, who has randomly appeared.

"One of the more annoying Legendary Pokémon at the Smash Mansion," says Klonoa with a frown.

"I heard that, too!"

Lucario throws an Aura Sphere in the direction of the voice.

"All right, all right, I'm going!"

"I guess he likes to annoy her because he's her counterpart and all," says Peach. "It's similar to the way siblings like to annoy each other."

Snake looks at the paper. "…And that was _TongueTwisted_'s last question. Link, you want to have a go?"

"Of course." Link takes the paper. "Let's see… An anonymous reviewer called _SuperSmasher_ asks, **'Can you make Zoroark a female?'**"

Awkward silence.

"…Say what-a?" says Luigi.

"_SuperSmasher_'s other question is, **'Do you like the Pokémon pairing of Lucario and Zoroark?'**"

Awkward silence again.

Snake pokes Lucario. "This person really wants you to have a girlfriend."

Lucario remains quiet. At last, he says:

"I'm not that good with girls…"

Yoshi looks up. "Ooooh, I hear Storm Aurastar! He says, 'I'm not that good at writing things about shippings and all, so I'm afraid Zoroark will have to stay as a male. Sorry about that. And I'm okay with Lucario and Zoroark.'"

"_SuperSmasher_'s gonna be pretty disappointed," says Sonic, shrugging.

"Final question! I'll read it," says Link. "It's from _Anthony627AA_. **'How many chapters do you plan on making, and how often do you update your stories?'**"

"I already said, on average Storm updates his fics about once a month or so," says Wario. "Longer than that if he's got school and all his other shenanigans."

"As of now, Storm doesn't really know how many chapters Life at the Mansion will have," Peach confesses. "He believes there will be at least forty, though. Maybe even more than fifty."

"Wow, he's gonna be really busy!" shouts Captain Falcon as he returns to the stage.

"Yes, that sounds like a really big project," remarks the Wii Fit Trainer, who has randomly decided to join the conversation even though this chapter is coming to an end.

Mario claps his hands. "All righty-a! That's all for our Q&A chapter-a! We hope-a we were able to answer your many questions-a! Thank-a you for reading, and-a…"

"SEE YOU IN CHAPTER 27 OF LIFE AT THE MANSION!" everyone says together, waving at the reader as two Waddle Dees pull down the curtains. "REMEMBER TO _REVIEW_!"

"Hey, Snake, you still didn't get a chance to use your gun…"

_Smack._

"Shut up."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thank you, everyone! Again, hopefully I was able to answer your (many) questions! Remember to review!<em>**


	27. Twelve Hours

**_Let's get going! Chapter 27 is up! Once again, blame it on my iPad if you catch any dumb spelling errors. (Why does it replace words when I backspace… *cries*)_**

**_By the way, PLEASE VOTE! THERE'S A POLL! YAYYYY!_**

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing here belongs to me! Just the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 27: Twelve Hours<strong>

* * *

><p>In the basement, Master Hand was amused.<p>

_"I was not expecting to see so much of the mansion destroyed when I woke up…"_

He twitched his fingers a little before turning to Crazy Hand, who was lying flat on the ground.

_"Crazy Hand, wake up."_

The left hand was silent. Master Hand sighed and prodded him with his index finger.

_"I know you are faking, Crazy Hand…"_

_"Okay, okay, you got me!" _Crazy Hand slowly levitated from the ground and shook himself. _"Whoa, what happened?"_

_"I do not know. We were both knocked unconscious by a certain villain from Sora's world, were we not?"_

_"Oh, yeah, and then the mansion, like…" _Crazy Hand looked around. _"…got blown up, I think."_

Master Hand began to float towards the stairs. _"Perhaps. Come, we must ask the Smashers what happened during our absence."_

-ooo-

_"Feh!"_

Shadow spat on the ground before he threw out five Chaos Spears, three of which struck Metal Sonic in rapid succession. "Why won't you just _get knocked out already_?!"

The metallic blue hedgehog buzzed and beeped before Spin Dashing towards Sonic.

"Watch out-a!" shouted Mario, diving towards Metal Sonic with a fireball in each hand. Luigi joined him and launched two green fireballs just as Mario tossed his. Four fireballs flew at Metal Sonic, who blocked them by using Ring Spark Field.

"I think he's slowing down!" yelled Yoshi, whacking the robotic hedgehog with his tail. "C'mon, a few more hits should do it!"

Shadow snarled and used Chaos Blast, taking Metal Sonic by surprise. He was thrown into a wall, landing on it with a loud and painful _CRUNCH_. His red eyes were momentarily replaced with lines of static as he struggled to regain his senses.

Sonic stretched his legs. "All righty-o! This oughta finish it!" He took several steps back and lunged forward, traveling through the air at a speed of seven hundred sixty miles per hour. _"Homing Attack!"_

_BAM! _A thick cloud of dust enveloped Metal Sonic.

Sonic backflipped several times through the air and landed gently on his feet. "Aw, yeah!" he cheered. "Knockout!"

A strong wind suddenly stirred up, blowing the dust all over the Olympian Smashers. They all shut their eyes and coughed uncontrollably, trying to get all the stuff out of their mouths.

"_Cough_—Sonic-a—_cough_," Mario tried to yell. "Since-a when—_cough_—did-a Metal Sonic-a learn—_cough_—Whirlwind-a?"

"That's from Pokémon—_cough_—you idiot!" Sonic shouted back. "And he can't—learn anything air-based—_cough-cough_—"

"The dust's clearing!" Shadow suddenly exclaimed. "_Cough-cough_—damn this dust—"

As the last traces of the dust cloud dispersed, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, and Shadow found a familiar foe standing before them—rather, flying before them.

Razor-sharp claws.

A tail made for stabbing.

Fangs pointier than the pointiest of daggers.

Huge, membranous wings.

A body that looked skeletal.

Blood-red eyes that blazed with malice.

Yoshi groaned. "Not you again, Ridley!"

Ridley grinned, his wings flapping powerfully. With each beat, a gust of wind blew into the Smashers' faces. "Yep, it's me again!"

"The last time we saw him, he had a mind-controlling device on him," said Shadow. He checked the dragon's head. "Yeah, still there."

Mario balled his fists. "Ridley! What are you doing here-a?"

The leader of the Space Pirates shrugged. "Nothing… It's not like I'm here to fight you." He pointed at Metal Sonic, who was instantly at his side. "I came to…_retrieve_ your robot friend."

Luigi's eyes widened. "W-w-wait a minute-a! Were _you_ the one-a who reprogrammed-a Metal Sonic-a?!"

Ridley let out a rumbling cackle, making the green-clad plumber shiver with fear. "What do you think, you cowardly little plumber?"

"Hey-a!" shouted Mario, forming a fireball in his right hand. "My bro isn't a coward-a!"

Shadow dashed towards Ridley and Metal Sonic, his hands glowing with Chaos power. "We won't let you get away with this! _Chaos—_eh?"

The black hedgehog suddenly found Metal Sonic face-to-face with him, holding his right hand within his own metallic hands.

"Metal Sonic!" growled Shadow, his red eyes meeting Metal Sonic's dull ones. "Snap out of it!"

He was suddenly wrenched forward and off his feet. Metal Sonic whirled him around like a lasso, then let him fly into a wall. Shadow had good reflexes, however, and rotated in midair so his feet slammed into the wall instead. He pushed himself off the wall, curled into a tight ball, and spun rapidly. Metal Sonic's eyes glowed for a second, and he used Ring Spark Field. The electricity that discharged from his body crackled and surrounded Shadow, electrifying him. He stopped his Spin Dash attack and howled with pain as the electricity shocked his body.

"SHADOW!" Sonic dived into the storm of lightning, allowing himself to get fried. With a loud yell, he was able to pull Shadow out of the electricity before Metal Sonic could deal further damage. One after another, the two hedgehogs thudded onto the ground, badly burned and breathing heavily.

Ridley nodded with approval. "Good work, Metal Sonic. Let's get going."

Metal Sonic obediently climbed onto the dragon's bony back. Ridley flapped his wings several times to gain altitude. "_Hasta la vista_, Smashers!"

Mario ran after the fleeing dragon. "Quick-a, Luigi and-a Yoshi! Jump-a combo!"

"You got it-a, bro!"

"Okay!"

The Mario Bros. quickly hopped onto Yoshi's back. Yoshi bent his legs and leaped as high as he could; with his Flutter Jump ability, he was able to go a couple feet higher. Mario and Luigi launched themselves from Yoshi's shell. When they were high enough, Luigi used a powerful Super Jump Punch on his brother, launching the red-clad plumber even higher. Mario zoomed after Ridley and Metal Sonic and caught up with them in no time. Right before he could fall, he grabbed onto Metal Sonic, who buzzed with surprise.

"Metal Sonic!" yelled Mario with determination. "You're not-a going with Ridley!"

Ridley roared and began to toss and turn in the air. Mario refused to let go of Metal Sonic, who was practically latched onto Ridley's neck now, trying not to get himself thrown off.

"Ridley, if-a Metal Sonic falls-a, that's the end of him-a!" Mario told the bucking dragon.

"Ah, so _that's_ how it is, eh?!" Ridley reluctantly stopped dancing around. "Hmm… You're a smart one, little plumber. But…are you smart enough to avoid _this_?"

Mario heard a whooshing sound. He flattened himself against Metal Sonic's cold body just as Ridley's tail whizzed past his head. The knife-like point of the dragon's tail attempted to skewer Mario again and again, but he managed to dodge it every time it came for him.

"Ah, so you can avoid it!" Ridley said with grudging admiration. "But…"

"Mama mia, not another 'but'-a!" Mario groaned.

"Hey, Mario, did you just say 'butter'?" Sonic called from down below.

"MAMA MIA, SONIC-A! NOW'S-A NOT THE TIME-A!"

"As I was saying," interrupted Ridley, "_but_…did you just forget who you were holding onto?"

Metal Sonic beeped and, with a sudden movement, threw Mario overboard.

"_Now_ we can go," said Ridley with satisfaction. He opened his mouth and shot a massive fireball at a wall, creating a hole large enough for him to fly through. And that was exactly what he did.

"Oh, no!" Yoshi cried. "He got away with Metal Sonic!"

Luigi slapped him. "_Focus!_ My BROTHER is-a falling towards the ground-a right now-a!"

Shadow staggered upright, ignoring his burns. "I got him." He rushed towards Mario and allowed the plumber to fall into his arms. "Other than being unconscious, he's perfectly f—" He stopped. "What's that noise?"

Something was slamming repeatedly into the building from the outside.

"Shoot!" Sonic suddenly realized what was going on. "Ridley's planning to bash down the walls and trap us in here!"

"Then we gotta get outta here _right now_!" Yoshi shrieked.

Luigi helped Shadow hoist the unconscious Mario onto Yoshi's back, and Luigi placed himself on a spot behind his brother. "Don't worry, bro… We're going to escape-a. Everything's going to be okay, I hope-a."

The first cracks began to appear.

"Dammit, the wall's gonna come down any time now! HURRY!" Shadow urged.

"Hold on, I gotta get Blaze!" Sonic gently picked up the insensible cat and placed her on Yoshi's back. "I hope you can carry four."

"H-hey…no problem…" Yoshi wheezed.

Sonic and Shadow grabbed each of Yoshi's hands and, despite their injuries, were able to run at about four hundred miles an hour. The Smashers were out of the room just as the first parts of the wall tumbled down.

-ooo-

On the first floor, Link was sweating.

"Damn it… Someone get me some coffee… Gotta calm my nerves…"

"That'll only hype you up even more," replied Diddy Kong. "Let's just stick with water."

"Sure… Whatever…"

Colette quickly went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. Link took it and drained the glass with one gulp.

"Where could Toon have gone off to?" he moaned with distress. "And Tetra and Vaati?"

"I know, right? They just…_disappeared _right in the middle of the battle," said Renamon, unable to find a better word to describe it.

"I'm pretty sure I last saw them on the second floor, chasing a group of Sword Primids," Kirby supplied.

At that moment, two people jumped down from one of the mansion's upper floors. It was Sheik and Gantz.

"Pikachu's at the hospital, and we couldn't find the cartoon guys anywhere," Gantz stated, much to Link's dismay.

"Another thing," Sheik added. "Fox isn't here, either, as well his dad."

"James?" said Falco, frowning. "That's weird. Why does the Subspace Army need him?"

Wolf nodded. "Yeah. Since he's just a guest at the Smash Mansion, he doesn't know too much about the Smashers and all. And he hasn't been here too long, so he shouldn't know…" He sounded a little unsure of himself. "Unless Fox told him a lot of stuff…"

"But then, Fox could only tell him what _he _knows," said Kratos, sliding his sword back into its simple brown sheath. "Then the enemy might as well just kidnap Fox and leave James. They don't know James, do they?"

Several Smashers shook their heads.

Two hands quickly entered the entrance room. _"Hi, what'd we miss?" _asked Crazy Hand.

Pit could not help but let out a noisy sigh of relief. "_There _you are! Thank the heavens you're both okay!"

"What did you miss?" said Neku flatly. "Well, AntiSora and some Primids stole five Metal Gear and made off with them after destroying, like…a third of the mansion. Oh, and they took Sora with them."

_"Do not worry, I will start patching up the mansion right now," _said Master Hand, flying out of the room. Crazy Hand followed him to prove that he had the ability to repair things as well as destroy them.

"That makes a total of…seven guys missing," said Ness after counting his fingers. "Six Smashers and one guest. Pikachu's at the hospital, so technically he's not missing. But still…" He shrugged. "…this isn't looking good."

"You're missing someone else."

Everyone turned to Snake, who was looking quite grim.

"Earlier, Lucario told me that Darkrai was gone, too," he said. He glanced at Lucario, whom Amaterasu was healing. "Apparently, he hadn't seen him since the start of the fight."

"What do they need Darkrai for?" wondered Chipple. "He's just one of the Legendary Pokémon here. I thought Tabuu wanted Smashers."

"Eight people gone," said Meta Knight, which did not help much.

"Hey," said Ike suddenly. "Where's Marth?"

As if on cue, there was a knock on the front door.

"I got it," said Klonoa, pulling on the handle.

Marth rushed into the room, smacking Klonoa in the face with his cape. "Oh, sorry, Klonoa… Didn't see you there. Anyway, look who I—"

A Primid poked its head into the room.

There was a noisy clatter as everyone went into a battle stance or got hold of some sort of weapon.

"What the _hell_," Snake said loudly as he took off the safety of his SOCOM, "is a freaking _Primid _doing here?"

"I thought we'd destroyed them all, except for the bunch that stole the Metal Gear!" exclaimed R.O.B., charging up his laser.

Pit brandished his bow, which he had separated into two curved swords. "Let's finish off that Primid and get it over with!" He, Ike, Link, Lloyd, Kratos, and Cloud all charged at the surprised Primid.

_Shing!_

The six swordsmen stopped with astonishment.

Marth had drawn Falchion and was holding it before himself, blocking the Primid. "Hold on! Let me explain!"

"Explain what?" snarled Lloyd, gripping his Material Swords.

"That's a Primid you're defending, Marth!" said Ike. "What, are you in league with the Subspace Army or something?"

"No, no, no!" Marth yelped, astonished. "Of course not! I'm not in league with anyone!"

"Then why—" Kratos began.

Marth finally lost his temper. "LISTEN TO ME! This Primid says he's on our side!"

Everybody was quiet.

"…This Primid _says_?!" asked Lucas, sounding a little freaked out.

Marth turned his head to look at the cowering Primid. He did not sheath Falchion in case the other Smashers decided to attack. "All right, 0001. Come on in and tell them your story."

The Primid looked uncertain.

"It's okay, I've got your back," said Marth helpfully. "I'll stop them from trying to attack you."

Still looking a bit uneasy, the Primid stepped out from behind the doors and quietly entered the room. No one allowed his or her eyes to drift from the Primid. As it approached the Smashers, some people cautiously backed away, still keeping out their weapons or staying in a defensive pose.

"Er…" The Primid glanced around nervously. "Uh, hello, my name is—"

Lucas went nuts. "OH, MY GOSH! IT _TALKS_!"

Ness and Snake grabbed each of the psychic boy's arms and dragged him off to the kitchen, telling him to keep calm and carry on.

The Smashers watched as the flailing Lucas was pulled away. Then they turned back to the Primid, who shifted its weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all, _Marth thought as he grasped Falchion tightly.

"Er… As I was saying, my name is Primid 0001," the Primid said again. "Yes, it's pretty obvious that I'm a member of the Subspace Army—your biggest enemy—but I've come to help you in your fight against Tabuu and his minions."

"Aren't _you _one of his minions?" asked Red.

"No," answered Primid 0001. "I'm a traitor."

Cloud did not move his Fusion Swords, and he mentally cursed at the stiffness of his body. "How can we trust you? You could just be another spy." He grunted. "I've had enough of you damn spies. I swear I'll decapitate the next one that comes along." He glared at Primid 0001, his blue eyes glowing intensely. "It's probably you."

Marth stepped closer to Primid 0001. "You haven't heard his story yet, and you're already preparing to slice his head off?"

Cloud let out an annoyed huff as he looked away from Marth's piercing blue eyes.

"Go ahead," Marth murmured encouragingly to Primid 0001.

The Primid paused for a moment before it continued to speak. "There's a reason why I'm willing to leave my fellow Primids to help the Smashers." It pointed to itself. "First of all, do any of you know why I'm called Primid _0001_?" It emphasized the number.

Flamedramon narrowed his eyes. "…You mean you guys are ID'd or something?"

"Yes, but that's not all. There's something special about my number."

"Oh…oh…oh…one," said Olimar, slowly sounding out each numeral. "_One_, eh… Are you the first of something?"

The Primid nodded. "To be more exact, I'm the first Primid that ever came into being."

Zoroark tilted his head to the side. "How's that important?"

Mr. Game & Watch jerked so violently that he slammed into R.O.B.'s side. "OF COURSE!" he shrieked, not bothering to apologize to the groaning R.O.B. "If what he says is true—you know, him being the very first Primid ever—then that means he's the first Primid to… He's one of the handful of Primids that actually…" He paced around the room, his mind racing. "Ha… It all makes sense!"

Jigglypuff was getting impatient. "_What _all makes sense?"

Mr. Game & Watch turned towards her. "He just said he's the first Primid, right? That means he was the first Primid _I _made with the shadow bugs within my body… Even though I had no sense of 'good' and 'bad' back then, I guess I was still intent on creating something 'good'…" He began to pace around again. "…which means the first Primid I made had a 'good' heart! I think I made a few more Primids after that…but the majority of the Subspace Army's Primids are just _clones _of the Primids I made—clones that were created with twisted minds that instructed them to follow Tabuu's orders, no matter what. _Those _guys had no willpower. But the ones I made, they were able to think on their own and act on their own…and…" The two-dimensional Smasher stared at Primid 0001. "Are you telling me that you guys were pretending to be Tabuu's followers _all this time_?"

The Primid nodded. "I was hoping for a day when I could escape and be free…" If it had a mouth, it would have been grinning broadly right now. "I guess I was lucky this time."

Mr. Game & Watch tripped over Ike's cape and crashed onto the ground. He was too dazed to stand back up. "You never lost your will, huh…"

Some Smashers relaxed, but most of them were still feeling cautious and distrustful of the Primid.

"G&W… Are you _positively _sure that we can trust this guy?" asked Ganondorf, his hands still pulsating with dark magic.

"Yes, I'm _positively _sure," replied the flat Smasher.

"Me, too," said Marth, carefully putting Falchion back into its sheath. "If Primid 0001 was bad, he could've just taken over my body with his shadow bugs when he had the chance."

"Yes, that's probably what those poor clones would've done if you caught one and treated it the way you treated me," agreed Primid 0001 with a small snort. Mr. Game & Watch and Marth laughed along. Upon seeing the two Smashers chuckle with the Primid, the rest of the Smashers looked at each other, nodded, and tucked away their weapons or abandoned their battle stances.

"Well, then, Primid 0001," said Samus, setting down her plasma gun, "let's hear you out."

"Boy, I wonder what it's got to say," Captain Falcon said to Popo and Nana.

But Primid 0001 was not finished yet. "And one more thing. When referring to me, please call me a _he_. _It_ makes me feel like I'm just another worthless object. My friends and I are not like those clones."

-ooo-

In the hospital, Pikachu was lying in a bed with white sheets. The room had white walls and was brightly lit.

_Is… Is this the hospital? Why am I here? Oh, yeah… Someone knocked me out in the library…_

"Excuse me."

A Pokémon entered the room. It had blue eyes and a pink- and cream-colored body. There was a feeler on the bottom of each floppy ear, and its tail was soft and white. It did not take Pikachu very long to identify the Pokémon's species. "…Audino…"

Audino smiled. "Good, you're awake. It looks like you feel okay…" She frowned. "…despite all those injuries you sustained."

Pikachu looked at himself. He had bandages wrapped around his head and wrists, and he had a bad headache. "Ugh. The guy beat me up _that_ badly?"

"I could've just used my Heal Bell move, but they wouldn't let me," said Audino, pouting a little. "I think the reason is that you have some small broken bones, but Heal Bell cannot heal bones…only burns, poison, paralysis, and frostbite. You'll have to stay here for maybe a day or two, then." She went over to Pikachu and handed him a small envelope. "Also, I was sent up here to deliver this to you."

Pikachu inspected the envelope. It was very simple and had his name written on it. "What's this?"

Audino shrugged. "A fan letter, perhaps. I'll let you read it privately, okay?" She giggled and went to the door. "Just call my name if you need anything."

"All right, thanks."

The door closed, and Pikachu tore the envelope open. The paper that fell out was just as plain as the envelope—white with no details. Pikachu turned it over and over in his hands.

_What kind of fan sends me a letter with absolutely no details?_ Pikachu wondered. _At least draw some flowers or something on it…_

He unfolded the letter and began to read it.

His fur turned pale.

"…No. No way."

He wanted to tear up the paper right then and there, but he could not stop reading it.

"No! This must be a bad dream!"

Horrified, he read it second time.

_Greetings, Pikachu._

_We are holding **Taki** hostage. If you do not join the Subspace Army within **twelve (12) hours**, we will…_discard_ him. I hope I made my point very clear to you, Pikachu—or should I say, **Zane**._

Pikachu's heart pounded. _Zane? Taki?!_

_So, Zane…I'll be seeing you within twelve hours, then. If you ignore this message, you will regret it._

Pikachu quickly scanned the rest of the paper, then scrunched it up and tossed it into a trash can. It let out a sharp _clang_ as it hit the rim.

He was off and running in the next minute, the message echoing tauntingly within his head.

_We shall rendezvous at a **base to the east of your current location, on an island that is part of a large archipelago**. The base is hidden within the **ruins of King Dedede's castle**, which you ought to remember. It is quite easy to find. Once you reach the base, I will do the rest. And since I'm feeling nice, I'm keeping Taki right here at the base! You'll get to reunite with him the moment you join us! Generous, don't you think?_

_So, Zane, what will it be? Will you save your own hide and allow Taki to die? Or will you join the Subspace Army and let him live? It's your choice._

_See you around, Zane._

_~ A.S._

-ooo-

Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze burst through another wall and safely made it outside. The moment they left the pipe they had been running through, the wall collapsed behind them.

"Whew!" Yoshi said with relief. "We would've been trapped in there if we were just a couple seconds late!"

Sonic grunted and sat down. The pain from his burns was slowly diminishing. "Yeah…but thanks to my speed, we made it," he said smugly.

Shadow just looked slightly irritated.

"But-a we had to leave our friends-a behind-a," Luigi said mournfully.

Yoshi patted Luigi comfortingly. "I'm sure, they're going to be okay. Remember, we're the Super Smash Brothers!"

"Yeah, but with-a Ridley and an evil Metal Sonic on the loose-a…"

"I'm sure they'll be okay," Yoshi repeated firmly. "Worrying about them will only make things worse."

"In any case," Shadow cut in, "where are we?"

The four Olympian Smashers who were not unconscious looked around. They were standing in an area with many tall trees and various types of plants. Large and medium-sized rocks dotted the place. Thick masses of green moss drooped down from the trees' branches. The quiet calling of mockingbirds and thrushes could be heard within the foliage.

"I'll climb a tree and see what it's like," said Shadow, running up a tree and disappearing into its leaves.

Sonic let out a whistle. "Okay, so we're in some kind of forest now. Are we doing a replay of The Forest in _The Subspace Emissary_?"

"No, I'm pretty sure this isn't the same forest as the one Link and I went through," replied Yoshi, who put Mario and Blaze on the ground.

"If this isn't the same forest as before, then how can you explain _that_?" the Smashers heard Shadow say from somewhere above them.

Luigi looked at Yoshi and Sonic. "Come on-a, let's-a check it out-a!"

The three Smashers made sure there were no enemies around them before leaving Mario and Blaze and hopping up the branches of Shadow's tree.

"Wow, the moss is so thick that it makes pretty good platforms!" Sonic remarked, stamping his foot on a branch.

Yoshi shrugged as he jumped upwards. "Moss is amazing."

"I wonder how long it-a took for it to grow this nicely-a," Luigi mused, leaping from one branch to another.

Within a minute, they reached the very top of the tree and found Shadow peering into the distance. He noticed them and pointed at something a few miles away.

"That building over there. What is it?"

Up ahead, the forest abruptly ended and became a barren wasteland, which in turn suddenly ended with a cliff. A tall mountain with a spear-like point sat near the cliff. Situated on the left side of the mountain's base was the building that Shadow was referring to—the crumbling ruins of a large, gray castle. It had eye-like holes on the front, which was the side that faced the Smashers. It looked like something very large had smashed through the roof a long time ago.

Yoshi was dumbstruck with terror. "_Y-y-yoshi!_ Is… Is that…_King Dedede's castle_?!"

Luigi gawked at him. "Wha—? The place I woke up in with-a Ness and-a King Dedede?!"

"Hey, I thought that Subspace Bomb destroyed it!" Sonic said with surprise. "Guess not…"

Shadow looked at the three Smashers. "…You guys _know_ this place?"

"Sure we do-a!" Luigi answered. "It's-a where King Dedede stuck-a those reviving badges on-a me and-a Ness as-a himself! You see, King Dedede somehow knew what-a was going to happen in the future-a, so he made-a those badges-a. Thanks-a to him, we were able to take another stand against-a Tabuu!"

"I remember how shocked Kirby and Meta Knight were when they learned of the penguin's kindness," Sonic commented, laughing.

"And now we're back at his castle," said Yoshi, looking at the ruins. "More accurately, what's left of it."

"That hole over there was-a where Bowser and-a his minions broke-a through," said Luigi, pointing at the roof. "That-a was when-a he was still a bad-a guy."

Shadow glanced at the desolate castle. "Something tells me that we're going to explore it."

"Hey, that's exactly what I was thinking, Shads!" Sonic exclaimed, giving the black hedgehog a pat on the back.

Luigi raised his hand timidly. "U-um, let's-a wait for Mario and-a Blaze to wake up-a first. A team of-a six is better than a team of-a four, y'know, and I don't want to just-a leave them here. Ridley can-a come back anytime and-a kidnap them-a."

"Great timing," said Yoshi. "They're waking up right now. I'll tell them what we're gonna do." He jumped from the branch and landed next to Mario and Blaze. Both of them were rubbing their eyes and heads.

"Ugh…" Blaze muttered. "The back of my head is throbbing…and so is my—" She snapped awake. "Why is my arm in a sling?"

"Hi! You're awake!"

"Mama mia… Is that-a you, Yoshi?" asked Mario, slowly opening his eyes.

"About time you guys woke up from your beauty sleep," Yoshi said cheerfully, "'cause we're going on a mission."

"Oh, great! I have to go on a mission right after I'm given a broken arm and a nice kick in the head by a berserk robot!" Blaze complained. "Speaking of which, where is Metal Sonic? I'd _love_ to give him a taste of his own medicine right now…!"

"Sorry, but that'll have to wait," Yoshi said apologetically. "Ridley kidnapped him."

"What? _Ridley_ was here?!"

"The last-a thing I remember was-a falling towards the ground after getting thrown off by Metal Sonic-a," Mario said. "Then I blacked out-a… Where are we-a?"

"In a forest that's a few miles away from what's left of King Dedede's castle," Yoshi told him. "We're back in the same forest where me and Link met you and Pit!"

"Oh, and we almost-a started fighting because of that-a Peach trophy," Mario said, smiling at the memory. "It-a was a fake-a, though. Guess I jumped-a to the wrong-a conclusion too quickly."

Blaze stood up shakily and brushed off the dirt and dust that clung to her violet coat. She did her best not to move her broken arm too much. "Well, then, I guess we'd best be going now. Lets try avoid the dangers before they find us first."

At that moment, Luigi, Sonic, and Shadow rejoined Mario, Yoshi, and Blaze.

"Good, you're awake," said Sonic. "Let's get going! I wanna be home in time for dinner."

Everyone groaned. "That's just not possible, Sonic…"

The blue hedgehog winked. "Everything's possible when you've got…"

He was somehow able to grab everyone's hands at the same time.

"…SONIC SPEED!"

_Whoosh._

-ooo-

After Master Hand finished repairing the Smash Mansion, he returned to the entrance room to find the Smashers chatting with a Primid. There were a few minutes of confusion and badly aimed missiles before Mr. Game & Watch was finally able to explain why the Primid was here. Master Hand was still a little suspicious, but after Lucario checked Primid 0001's mind and confirmed that it had good intentions, the hand agreed to accept the Primid as an ally.

Lucas finally calmed down about the fact that Primid 0001 was no ordinary Primid, and he, Ness, and Snake rejoined the Smashers.

Now Primid 0001 and the Smashers were in the Brawl Room. Primid 0001 had the Brawl System's remote control in his hand.

"So here's what I learned after eavesdropping AntiSora and Tabuu's many discussions," he said. "About seventy Primids were to mess around with the Smashers and lead them away from the Brawl Room. Meanwhile, a small group would go to the Brawl Room, use this remote control to teleport onto the Shadow Moses Island stage…" He pressed a button on the remote, displaying the stage on the television screen behind him. "…and wait there until the Metal Gear comes out. When the MG appears, they would take control of it and teleport back to the real world with it. Then they'd teleport onto the stage two more times to collect the other MGs." He pointed at Shadow Moses Island's empty background. "That's where the MGs should be, no? After the MGs were taken care of, those Primids were to report to AntiSora, and together they'd escape into a portal that would lead them to Subspace." He looked at the Smashers. "Unfortunately, they were successful."

"Yes, very unfortunate," grumbled Amaterasu.

"I thought I had enough of a head start to warn you all, but in the end, I was too late…" Primid 0001 drooped his head, looking crestfallen. "And I allowed AntiSora and the Primids to steal your Metal Gear, which was the first step to the Subspace Army's next big project."

Samus blinked.

"There's a reason as to why Tabuu wanted REX, RAY, and the Gekko," said Primid 0001. "He wants to analyze their structures and their armaments. You see, he has plans to develop a Metal Gear of his own—a machine that would aid him in his goal of taking over the Smash World."

Snake growled. "I knew it!"

"With those MGs, he can use them for his MG," continued the Primid. "And then…he'll be _unstoppable_."

No one spoke for about a minute. Then Snake cleared his throat.

"'Unstoppable' describes it well," he said mirthlessly. "We'll be up against a nuclear-equipped walking death mobile. What fun. Hey, Primid, any info on this Metal Gear yet?"

Primid 0001 shrugged. "If there _is_ any information at all, it's highly classified. Tabuu isn't stupid enough have a discussion about the new MG in front of everyone, especially the Primids."

Snake cursed. "Dammit!"

"However," the Primid went on, "I _do_ know where the blueprints of the MG and its references are being kept."

Everyone was startled. _"Really?!"_

"What do you mean, 'its references'?" asked Ganondorf.

"Like the blueprints for REX, RAY, et cetera," Primid 0001 explained. "Blueprints of the MGs that are being used as references for the Subspace Army's MG."

Snake was shocked. "How the hell did you guys get your hands on those blueprints?! Even _I_ never saw any of them before!"

Primid 0001 shrugged again. "I guess some Primids were able to steal those blueprints from your world or something…"

"Tell us where the blueprints are kept," Gantz demanded.

Primid 0001 turned around to face the television screen and clicked around so rapidly that none of the Smashers could keep up with him. All of a sudden, the Shadow Moses Island stage was replaced with a map.

"Hey," said Chipple, "how the heck did you get a map of the whole world with the major cities and everything? …Even the Smash Mansion's on it!"

"I 'borrowed' it from some other Primids," Primid 0001 said simply. "Anyway, this is a Mercator projection of the entire Smash World. As you can see, all the major cities and landmarks have been labeled…" He zoomed in. "…including important Subspace-related locations.

"From what I've heard, the blueprints are kept in a base that isn't on this continent." The map zoomed in some more, shifted towards the left, and stopped at a cluster of large islands. A red circle flashed around the archipelago. "It's on one of these islands."

"A base on an island in the middle of the ocean?" said Samus. "That's a pretty good location."

The map zoomed in even further until the Smashers could make out blurry green masses on most of the islands. "These islands are well known for their dense forests," said Primid 0001. "And here's something that might surprise you."

The map moved a little to the left.

"See that grayish blob on the rightmost island? That's the remnants of King Dedede's castle."

Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede jumped with surprise. "WHAAAAT?!"

"From the rumors I heard," said the Primid, "the base is somewhere inside the ruins. Probably underground."

King Dedede looked absolutely livid. "How _dare_ they use MY wonderful castle as a disguise for a SUBSPACE base?!"

"You want those blueprints before Tabuu or AntiSora gets a good look at them, no?" said Primid 0001. "Well, I'll need some Smashers to sneak into the base."

Almost every Smasher in the room raised his or her hand. Primid 0001 was astounded.

"My, my, you are all so eager!" he exclaimed. "Er… Sorry, but only six Smashers can go. And since I'm the only one who knows the most about the base, I'll have to choose the Smashers who'll be going."

The Smashers reluctantly dropped their hands.

Primid 0001 looked at each Smasher closely, examining him or her from head to toe. When he saw Snake, he gave a satisfied nod.

"Yes, yes… I'm definitely choosing you, Solid Snake. After all, you've spent almost your entire life infiltrating places and conducting stealth missions, no? And you were always successful."

Snake grinned. "You got that right. Thanks for picking me."

The Primid continued his examination. He stopped at Lucario.

"Lucario, the Aura Pokémon… Your abilities will surely come in handy during this mission. You can use your Aura Sight to see what's up ahead so you and your friends won't run into some unexpected trouble."

Lucario gave Snake a high-five. "All right! I'll do my best!"

Primid 0001 moved on and saw Sheik.

"Sheik, the alter ego of Princess Zelda… Yes, you will do nicely. With your agility, you can easily reach high places if your teammates can't. You can also serve as a distraction if there are many enemies chasing after you."

Sheik laughed loudly. "Oh, so I'm a ninja guinea pig, huh? Whatever. I'm in."

The Primid continued on, pausing when he reached Neku.

"I'm choosing you for some other reasons, Neku Sakuraba. Your friend Sora was taken away right before your eyes, wasn't he? It's a slim chance, but…" Primid 0001 pointed to the map and the islands. "…Sora _might_ be held prisoner in that base. Who knows? It's a possibility."

Neku was determined. "If it means seeing my friend, then count me in."

Primid 0001 nodded with approval, then looked at Lloyd.

"Hmm… Yes, let's include you, Lloyd Irving. In case of an emergency, you can fuse your Material Swords and teleport everyone the heck out of there."

"But then the mission would end in failure!" Lloyd protested.

He felt someone put a hand on his boulder, and he turned to see Snake. "Sometimes, your life is more important than the mission," the mercenary told him. "Better get your ass out of there before it gets the stuffing beaten out of it."

Primid 0001 put a hand to his chin. "That's five. We need one more." He looked around. "Who should I choose?"

"Choose… Choose me."

Pikachu stood at the doorway of the Brawl Room, breathing heavily.

"PIKACHU!" shouted Samus, running over to the Pokémon and scooping him into her arms. "You should be at the hospital!"

The Mouse Pokémon's head was wrapped in bandages, and so were his wrists. There was a red spot on the right side of his head, indicating that it had bled badly and probably still was. Pikachu just smiled and gave Samus a thumbs-up.

"Nothing can stop me from helping my friends," he said, "not even hospitals." He looked straight at Primid 0001. "I heard the whole story, so there's no need to explain. Please include me in the mission."

Primid 0001 pointed at Pikachu's injuries. "How can you go on a stealth mission when you're in _that_ sort of condition?!"

Pikachu waved off his concern. "Trust me, I won't slow you guys down. These little bruises are nothing. I've experienced things _way_ worse at the Research Facility."

Samus grimaced at the ugly memory. "Thank God I found you before you could've been _killed_…"

"Please, count me in!" Pikachu pleaded.

Samus shook him. "Look, Pikachu. With all those injuries, there's no way you can go. How about I take your place?"

"But—"

"Pikachu." Samus was serious. "Don't be so stubborn."

"Listen, I—"

"If you go, you'll only get yourself killed!"

"Wait, let me—"

"I'll go in your place! I'm not going to let you get—"

"SHUT UP!" Pikachu screamed, tears streaking down the sides of his face. "IT'S FOR PERSONAL REASONS!"

The silence that followed was deadly.

"…Personal reasons," repeated Samus.

Pikachu nodded. "Yes. Personal reasons."

Samus stared straight into his eyes. "What happened?"

Pikachu looked away. "I… I don't want to say it…"

"Look, if you don't tell us, how're we supposed to know about these 'personal reasons'?!" Samus yelled exasperatedly.

Pikachu sighed sadly. He then began speaking in a flat, monotone voice. The Smashers suddenly realized that he was reciting something he had just read…something he did not want to read.

_"We are holding _Taki_ hostage. If you do not join the Subspace Army within _twelve hours_, we will…_discard_ him. I hope I made it very clear to you, Pikachu—or should I say, _Zane_._

_"We shall rendezvous at a _base to the east of your current location, on an island that is part of a large archipelago_. The base is hidden within the _ruins of King Dedede's castle_, which you ought to remember. It is quite easy to find. Once you reach the base, I will do the rest. And since I'm feeling nice, I'm keeping Taki right here at the base! You'll get to reunite with him the moment you join us! Generous, don't you think?_

_"So, Zane, what will it be? Will you save your own hide and allow Taki to die? Or will you join the Subspace Army and let him live? It's your choice._

_"See you around, Zane. A.S."_

Everybody was quiet.

"So, in other words…they'll kill this Taki guy if you don't join them," said Pit.

"Oh, I see," Snake said, nodding. "Blackmail."

Pikachu bit his lip. "That's why I have to go. Taki's right there! And that happens to be the place where those Metal Gear blueprints are being kept, right? If we could steal those blueprints _and_ rescue Taki at the same time, we'd be killing two birds with one stone!"

"You know, he's got a point there," said Ike. "I think he should go."

"Yeah!" the Ice Climbers and Klonoa chimed in. "Let's go, Pikachu, let's go!"

"This is Pikachu's friend we're talking about here," said Lloyd. He held out his hand. "Pikachu, you're in!"

"R-really?! Thank you!" Pikachu scrambled up Lloyd's arm and sat on his shoulder. "Okay, guys, let's make this mission a successful one!"

Everyone cheered. "YEAHHHH!"

"But wait!" piped up Lucas. "Who's _Taki_? And why did this A.S. guy call you _Zane_?"

"Oh… I'll explain everything when we return home," Pikachu said apologetically. "It's been kept a secret for far too long. I think it's time to spit it out…"

"I wonder if A.S. stands for _AntiSora_," Neku mused. "If it does, I'd love to give him a great kick right now!"

"I think it's AntiSora, all right," Primid 0001 said. "If you ever do meet him, please slap him for me. He's such a jerk towards us Primids—me in particular."

Snake rubbed his hands, grinning maniacally. "All right, then… Commencing Operation MG and Operation Taki. We won't need many items…" He held up a finger. "But we _do_ need one vital thing."

Lucario raised his brow. "And what might this 'one vital thing' be?"

Sheik groaned. "I have a feeling that we're all going to find out very soon…"

Lloyd began to get impatient. "Come on, everyone! We only have twelve hours! Let's not waste time!"

-ooo-

"First of all…what the heck is S3nt2Su8spaC3?"

"A computer virus."

"A _what_?"

Toon Link, Tetra, and Vaati were sitting in front of Dark Link, who was talking.

"A computer virus," he said again. "Someone wrote a virus dubbed _S3nt2Su8spaC3_ and infected your Brawl System with it. Glitch City was the perfect place to hide the virus."

Toon Link gave his surroundings a look, wishing that those eerie clouds of 0's and 1's would just go away. "What's the purpose of the virus?"

"To trap its victims within this cyberspatial Subspace," Dark Link replied.

Tetra's jaw dropped. "You mean we're all stuck in here?!"

Dark Link just shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows? I'm still trying to find out."

"Hold on," Vaati said suddenly. "_You_ are still trying to find out? Aren't you with the Subspace Army?"

"That's right." Dark Link smiled. "That is, until they betrayed me."

This caught the three Smashers' interest. "Whoa! What happened?"

"Let me tell you the story of how I ended up in here," said Dark Link, folding his arms. "Once upon a time—"

"Oh, no!" groaned Tetra. "Not another 'once upon a time' story!"

"Deal with it," Dark Link told her. "Once upon a time, there was a young swordsman named Dark Link. He was one of the most skillful swordsmen throughout the land. He could defeat just about anybody—except for another swordsman named _Link_.

"Now, there was a day when Dark Link was thinking about how to defeat Link, and as if someone had been reading his mind, a fellow villain appeared. He introduced himself as AntiSora, and he said, 'Oh! So you want to defeat Link, huh? Well, if you join the Subspace Army, you'll be able to do just that.' Of course, Dark Link accepted the offer, and he became a new member of Tabuu's Subspace Army."

_Why am I even listening to this story?_ Toon Link thought.

"Then came a day when AntiSora had big news. 'Hey, Dark Link!' he exclaimed. 'Look at what we made!' What was this thing? It was a computer virus! AntiSora called it _S3nt2Su8spaC3_. Apparently, when you inserted it into the Super Smash Brothers' Brawl System, the next person to teleport onto a certain stage would be teleported into a cyberspatial Subspace instead. 'But,' said AntiSora, 'we aren't sure yet, so we'll be needing a guinea pig. It's gonna be a dangerous experiment.'

"A guinea pig!" said Dark Link, laughing. "Who else could be this guinea pig? Why, of course Dark Link volunteered! If it meant impressing Tabuu by surviving the experiment, then of course Dark Link was willing to do it. And so, late one night, AntiSora and Dark Link sneaked into the Smash Mansion and went to the room with the Brawl System. AntiSora uploaded the virus into the Brawl System, infecting it. Dark Link had a remote control that would teleport him out of the cyberspatial Subspace—well, that was what AntiSora _said_.

"'Okay,' said AntiSora to Dark Link. "I'm going to teleport you onto the Glitch City stage now. Ready?' With the push of a button on the Brawl System's remote control, Dark Link was sent to Glitch City. The virus did its work, and he appeared in the cyberspatial Subspace a moment later. The virus was a success!

"'It worked, AntiSora!' yelled Dark Link. 'I'm coming out now!' He pressed a button on his remote control. And what happened?"

"Nothing?" Vaati guessed.

"That's right!" Dark Link agreed. "Nothing! Dark Link was stranded! But what did AntiSora do?"

"Nothing?" Tetra guessed.

"Right again! Nothing! He left poor Dark Link in the cyberspatial Subspace, laughing the whole time.

"And so, that's the story of how I ended up here," Dark Link concluded.

Toon Link applauded. "That was a really, uh, _interesting_ story."

Dark Link looked mad. "That AntiSora! He's such a jerk! He thinks he's the best of all! He brags about being Tabuu's right-hand man and how much Tabuu trusts him." He made a sound of frustration and balled his fists. "Ugh! I can't wait to get him back!"

"…Um?" said Tetra awkwardly.

"If you want to beat up AntiSora that badly, we'll help you," Toon Link offered. "I know we're supposed to be enemies, but…" He offered his hand. "Maybe a temporary alliance…?"

"We're in the same boat right now," said Tetra. "Might as well team up for the time being, y'know. Fighting won't get any of us anywhere." She glared at Dark Link. "But if you do try to pull something, I _will_ send you to the moon with my bombs. Got it?"

Dark Link threw up his hands, then took Toon Link's. "Fine. Whatever. Temporary alliance."

Tetra did her signature wink. "Good."

Vaati stood up. "So, uh…where do we begin?"

Silence.

"Ask him."

"Ask _her_."

"Ask _him_!"

Vaati face-palmed. "Never mind."

-ooo-

"Of all the things we could disguise ourselves as, why does it have to be a _cardboard box_?!"

"Why not? I've been hiding under cardboard boxes my whole life and I'm still up and kicking. See?"

"But why does it have to be a cardboard box from _Amazon_?!"

"Because they're the only ones who have cardboard boxes large enough to fit four people and two Pokémon!"

"True, Amazon _is_ well known for their oversized boxes…"

"You could've just gotten six cardboard boxes, you know."

"That will look _very_ obvious. Besides, none of you guys knows how to properly use a cardboard box."

"This is starting to feel really stupid… I can't believe it actually works for you, Snake."

"Never doubt the power of a cardboard box."

"Uh, yeah, sure…"

"Anyway, let's walk a little more…"

"Gee, this forest must be incredibly dense or something, 'cause I can hardly see a thing!"

"That's probably because Lloyd's butt is in your face, Neku."

"Now _that_ was very rude, Pikachu."

"It's the truth, though."

"Huh? _Shhh!_ Primid up ahead!"

"A Primid? What kind?"

"Scope. Not good."

"Unfortunately, cardboard boxes can still get incinerated by bazooka shots…"

"Shut up, Lucario."

The Scope Primid came closer. Upon further inspection, the Smashers within the Amazon box were shocked to discover that this Primid was totally _not_ in the mood for guard duty.

"That Primid is _singing_!"

"Wow! That's funny! And weird, too."

"Hey, this one speaks English, just like Primid 0001! Maybe this guy is one of his friends."

"Would a _friend_ of his be armed and guarding the edge of the forest that leads to King Dedede's castle?"

"…Nope."

"Shhh! I wanna hear what he's singing!"

The Scope Primid was obviously feeling good today. _"I see treeeees of greeeeen,"_ it sang, _"and some gray roooocks…"_

"Hey, he got the lyrics wrong!"

"But it's fun to make up your own lyrics."

"Yeah, that's a good point."

_"There's nothing ellllllse,"_ the Primid went on, _"but a cardboard booooox…"_

"…Crap."

_"And I thiiiiink to myselllllf…"_ The Primid abruptly stopped. "What's this box doing here?"

"…Double crap. We need to get loud now."

The Scope Primid cautiously approached the Amazon box, pointing its bazooka at it. It circled the box several times, then knelt down and lifted it—

"GRENAAAADE!"

The Primid jumped back. "Wha—?!"

_BOOM._

When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the Scope Primid was a smoking pile of ashes and a bazooka.

"…Whew. All clear."

The Amazon box was thrown aside. Snake, Lucario, Pikachu, Sheik, Lloyd, and Neku stumbled out of it and fell on the ground.

"That was AWESOME!" cheered Pikachu. "Let's do it again on another Primid!"

Sheik's red eyes widened. "Oh, no. Please. Just…_no_."

Pikachu looked sad.

Snake eyed the remnants of the Scope Primid and frowned. "Too bad we had to resort to the grenade, though. I was starting to like that guy."

Neku just shrugged. "Whatever. We're almost at the castle. Let's go."

"_Must_ we have to hide under that box?" Lloyd complained.

"Yes," Snake said firmly. "Like I said, it's _vital_."

"Ughhhh…" Lucario groaned, shaking his head.

The six Smashers huddled together again, and Snake put the Amazon box over themselves. The cardboard box, with the Smashers hiding inside it, slowly moved on, getting closer and closer to their destination—the Subspace base within the ruins of King Dedede's castle.

"Honestly, Snake, I think this box is a little too conspicuous…"

_Smack._

"Shut up."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Yes. Never doubt the power of a cardboard box. (It's kind of obvious that I rushed the ending… Sorry about that.) And HEYYYY. I actually managed to write a chapter with less than 10,000 words! Woohoo!<em>**

**Blaze:** _*applauding*_ Congratulations!

**_Also, hooray for Dark Link OOC-ness!_**

**Toon Link:** You made him INCREDIBLY OOC over there, idiot!

**_Whatever. Will Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze be able to check out the ruins, save their friends, rescue Metal Sonic, and escape from wherever they are—and still be home in time for dinner?_**

**Sonic:** With sonic speed, YES!

**Yoshi:** Oh, really? What if we're on some planet that's a hundred miles away from the Smash World?

**Sonic:** Then…uh…NO! _*starts panicking*_ AHHHHHH!

**Mario:** _*grumbling*_ You're so stupid-a…

**_Did Primid 0001 make the right choices for Operation MG and Operation Taki?_**

**Snake:** Whenever I'm here, nothing goes wrong.

**Lucario:** I really hope you're right, Snake.

**Snake:** What? Are you doubting me?

**Lucario:** Well… The last time you said that, we ended up getting the entire kitchen blown up by a bunch of—

_*smack*_

**Snake:** Shut up.

**_Did Mario really say "butter"?_**

**Sonic:** _*nodding and grinning*_ Yup.

**Mario:** _*facepalm*_ OH, PLEASE-A!

**_Who exactly _****is_ Taki?_**

**Pikachu:** He's…a friend of mine. From my world. I'll explain more in the next chapter.

**_REX, RAY, Gekko, ZEKE, RAXA, EXCELSUS, Peace Walker, Shagohod… What could the code name for the Subspace Army's Metal Gear be?_**

**Lloyd:** It's an MG that belongs to the _Subspace_ Army, so…Metal Gear SUBSPACE?

**Sheik:** That's too long. How about…Metal Gear S? Short for "Subspace"?

**Lucario:** That's boring. Metal Gear END, maybe…since it could mean the end of the world…

**_Will the team of six hiding in that Amazon box manage to save Taki and Sora…if he's there?_**

**Neku:** _*angrily*_ STOP THAT! YOU'RE JINXING EVERYTHING!

**_Will Master Hand drag Crazy Hand away…even at a time of peril like this?!_**

**Crazy Hand:** NOOOOO!

**Master Hand:** YEEEEES! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_Credits to the Metal Gear wiki for some information on Metal Gear!_**

**_See you next time in Chapter 28 of _****Life at the Mansion_! Remember to REVIEW! Review TWICE if you must!_**

**Ness:** Remember to REVIEW! Review TWICE if you must!

**_Hey! Stop copying me!_**

**Ness:** Hey! Stop copying me!

**_Oh, I get it. You're repeating my words so it's like I'm saying them TWICE, and I told everyone to review TWICE. I get it._**

**Ness:** Oh, I get it. You're repeating my words so it's like I'm saying them TWICE, and I told everyone to review TWICE. I get it.

**_…I SMELL LIKE A MONKEY AND LOOK LIKE ONE, TOO!_**

**Ness:** YEAH, YOU DO!

**_*starts chasing Ness as he laughs his head off*_**** GET BACK HERE!**


	28. Battle in the Base

**_Rushed chapter is rushed._**

**_Here is Chapter 28! I promise you, some parts of this chapter are HILARIOUS… Well, that's my opinion. But I hope you'll find them funny enough._**

**_By the way, the chapter title is a reference to one of the songs that play on the Shadow Moses Island stage in _****SSBB_._**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything here—not even the guest character at the end of the chapter. (HINT: He belongs to Konami!)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 28: Battle in the Base<strong>

* * *

><p>The mockingbirds continued to sing their little tunes as they sat on their perches, completely oblivious to what was going on below them.<p>

_Whoosh!_

Two plumbers, a dinosaur, two hedgehogs, and a cat were still running through the thick forest, zigzagging around the tall trees and jumping over the ferns and shrubs. In actuality, the two hedgehogs were doing most of the work.

"Why do you guys always rely on us for speed?" Shadow said crossly as he dragged Yoshi along; the dinosaur was carrying Mario and Luigi, the former of which was still feeling a bit dazed from the fight with Ridley and Metal Sonic. "What will you do if we both got a broken leg or something?"

"Sorry, but we all wanna get to the castle as soon as possible, right?" Yoshi replied. "Just keep running!"

"Urghhhhhh…" growled Shadow.

Sonic gave the black hedgehog a little pat on the head. "Dude, _chill_! Let's not get noisy!"

"He's right," said Blaze, who was being carried by Sonic. "We're in some pretty dangerous territory. We'd better not get caught too soon."

Because they had some injured team members, Sonic and Shadow were running at an easy speed of thirty miles an hour. Earlier, Shadow had estimated the distance between their tree and King Dedede's castle to be about sixty miles, so it would take the Smashers about two hours to reach their destination.

"Man, I wish we could go faster!" Sonic complained. He glanced at the burns on his body. "Too bad we both got fried by Metal Sonic's Ring Spark Field, eh, Shadow?"

"Don't remind me," Shadow said to him.

Just then, Blaze pointed at something up ahead. "Look at that!"

Sonic and Shadow skidded to a stop. Blaze rolled out of Sonic's arms and went to a certain spot. "Come and look at this, guys!"

The other Smashers joined her, and she showed them an explosion mark on the dirt. It had a two-foot radius and looked fresh. "Someone else has been here recently," said the lavender cat.

"Yup, and-a whoever that guy was-a, he or she had explosives-a," Mario added, examining the mark.

"Explosives could only mean-a one thing-a," Luigi said. "There are enemies here-a."

Shadow peered through the thick trees and could barely make out the blurry shape of the ruins of King Dedede's castle. "I guess that would make sense… After all, that castle _did_ get attacked by Subspace forces during the Subspace Incident."

"But what kind of enemy could it have been?" asked Yoshi. "A Primid?"

Shadow nodded. "Probably. You can find them at just about any Subspace-related location. Let's keep moving so we can avoid them." He grabbed Yoshi's hand. At the same time, Sonic picked up Blaze, blushing as he looked at her. "Oh, boy… I hope Amy isn't secretly spying on us or something…"

"If she is, I think we can explain," Blaze said reassuringly. **_(1)_**

The six Smashers were off and running again.

-ooo-

"Just a…bit…more…" Snake muttered for the fifty-second time.

Lloyd slapped him. "Can you stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying that!" the swordsman said crossly. "It's already been the fifty-second time within an hour!"

Neku looked at Lloyd. "…You were actually keeping track?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Why not? There's nothing else to do in this box, anyway."

"Except crawl around," Pikachu said.

"Yes, except that," agreed Lloyd.

Lucario sighed. "Even after your fifty-second 'just a bit more'…we're still nowhere near Dedede's castle."

Snake peered through the front hole of the Amazon box. "We'll probably get there in half an hour or so if we pick up the pace."

"How are we supposed to pick up the pace when we're crawling around in a stupid _box_?" Neku said loudly.

Snake turned around to glare at the boy. "Watch your volume, kid! And if you continue to think that cardboard boxes are stupid, I'm going to kick you off the team this instant. Got it?"

Neku just let out a huff. "_Fine…_ Jeez…"

Snake was satisfied—at least, for the time being. "Good."

Half an hour of tactical espionage action later… **_(2)_**

"Whew!" Pikachu let out a sigh of relief as Snake finally removed the Amazon box disguise. "We finally made it to King Dedede's castle!"

"Yeah, and we managed to avoid trouble," Snake said, folding up the box for later use. "But that's only because some other person set off a mine and attracted all the Primids close by. Gotta thank that guy, then."

"I just hope our good luck will last until we complete the mission," Lloyd said quietly.

Sheik looked around, taking in her surroundings. Years of disuse and bad weather had left only a small fraction of King Dedede's once grand castle standing; even those parts looked like they were ready to fall any moment. She went to a wall and leaned against it, only to jump back with surprise when the gray bricks crumbled at her touch. "Everything is deteriorating, but I'm still amazed that some parts of this castle actually survived after all this time."

"The Subspace Army needs it to hide their base… That must be why they didn't just go ahead and demolish it," Lucario suggested. "Speaking of which, where's the entrance to the base?"

The six Smashers turned their heads this way and that. Neku even scaled the wall to see if there were any secret passages on the upper floors. But no one could find anything.

"What, did you expect there to be a giant door with a gold handle and a doormat that says _'Welcome!'_ on it?" Snake snorted. "The entrance must be at a very unusual spot."

Now the Smashers checked all the weirdest places they could think of. Pikachu went over to a large rock and poked under it. Then—

"AHHHHHHH! _SPIDERS!_"

Lucario, Snake, Sheik, and Neku chortled with amusement, while Lloyd looked faintly annoyed. "Pikachu…now isn't the time to be screaming about spiders."

"But, but, but…" Pikachu was practically sobbing with fright. "I h-h-_hate_ spiders… I had a bad experience with an angry Ariados once, and the fear of spiders just stuck with me ever since that day…"

Lloyd went over to the traumatized Pokémon and grabbed him by his lightning bolt-shaped tail. "If you're that scared of spiders, then leave that rock alone and come here!"

"Ow! You're hurting my rear! _Ow!_"

Just then, Lucario found something on the wall. It was a large wooden door with a gold handle, and in front of it was a doormat that proclaimed _"Welcome!_" in bright letters. Lucario grinned. "Hey, everyone! I think I found the entrance!"

The others went to Lucario and checked the door.

"Wow!" gasped Pikachu. "The entrance was so obvious that none of us noticed it until now!"

Snake examined the doormat. "…So I guess I was right about the mat, after all…" He bowed towards Sheik. "Ladies first?"

"Thank you, Snake." Sheik went to the door and, after all moment of contemplation, turned the handle and pulled the door open.

A blast of cold air blew into the six Smashers' faces. There was a flight of stairs, lit by nothing but a few dim torches, leading down…down…down…

Lucario stepped forward and made the brightest Aura Sphere he could, but even that was not enough to light up the entire corridor. "This must be a really long staircase, then," he said to his friends as he reabsorbed the Aura Sphere.

Pikachu clung to Sheik's leg. "It's so dark in there. I'm scared! But…" He swallowed and let go. "…I gotta be brave! I have to save Taki before the time limit gets us!"

"Don't forget Sora!" Lloyd reminded him.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Neku said impatiently. "Let's go!"

The six Smashers glanced behind themselves to get one final glimpse of warm sunlight. Then Snake shut the door behind them, and they were swallowed up by the darkness.

Slowly but surely, the team made its way down the steep stairs. Lucario and Neku were in the lead, using their powers to provide some light and comfort.

Lloyd wrinkled his nose. "This place smells like a sewer!"

"That's what you get for going underground," Snake replied matter-of-factly.

Pikachu's eyes quickly became accustomed to the darkness. "I think I can see the last step."

The Smashers hurried on and eventually reached the bottom of the staircase. They were now standing before a steel door with no handles, windows, or any sort of decoration. Lucario pushed against it as hard as he could, but it would not budge.

Snake saw something on the right side of the door. "This door needs a password," he said, pointing at a black keypad with a small screen. He pressed a random key, and the screen flickered to life.

_"Welcome,"_ said a soothing female voice with a British accent. _"Please insert the password."_

"Uh…" Snake looked at his teammates. "Any ideas?"

"Funny how AI voices always seem to be women," Pikachu whispered to Lloyd, making the swordsman chuckle.

"Try _Subspace_," Neku suggested.

Snake typed it in.

_"Incorrect,"_ said the voice, and the screen flashed red.

"That would've been too obvious. How about _Metal Gear_?" asked Lucario.

_"Incorrect."_

"Okay… _Primid_?" said Sheik.

_"Incorrect."_

Neku gnashed his teeth. "This is getting hard…"

"I'll try _La-li-lu-le-lo_," said Snake, typing it in.

The screen flashed red. _"Incorrect."_

Lucario slapped the mercenary. "You idiot! This isn't _Metal Gear Solid_!" **_(3)_**

"Put in _Tabuu_ and see what happens," Lloyd interrupted.

Snake did so.

_"Incorrect,"_ said the voice. _"You have inserted the incorrect password five times. This keypad has entered Alert Mode. If you insert the incorrect password five more times, the keypad will enter Intruder Mode, and you will be nothing but a pile of ashes. Thank you and have a nice day."_

Snake banged the keypad's screen with his fist. "WHAT?!"

_"I am sorry, but I was programmed to do this,"_ said the voice.

"Shut up, you blasted AI!" snarled the mercenary.

_"…You are a very rude man, you know."_

"Ooooo!" Pikachu said, his brown eyes sparkling with glee. "You just got PUNKED!"

"So you're getting all cheeky now, eh?" Snake said to the keypad. "Great!"

Lucario tugged at Snake's arm. "Uh, Snake, you look really stupid when you're arguing with an AI, you know."

"…Gee, thanks."

Lloyd tried to think of a password that sounded right. "Hey, Snake, type in _castle base_. We're in a base that's inside a castle, after all."

"Sounds way too obvious, but I'm kind of in a hurry, so…" Snake put it in.

_"Incorrect. You have four more chances to insert the correct password before this keypad enters Intruder Mode and you become nothing but a pile of ashes. Thank you and have a nice day."_

"Four more tries," said Sheik, starting to sweat. "Um… Let's give _conquer_ a try. After all, Tabuu wants to conquer the Smash World and the worlds beyond it."

"All right…" Snake pressed the keys.

_"Incorrect. You have three more chances to insert the correct password before this keypad enters Intruder Mode and you become nothing but a pile of ashes. Thank you and have a nice day."_

Snake cursed in French. _"Merde!"_

The British-accented voice spoke again. _"Please do not curse in front of the keypad in any language. Thank you."_

"You smart little…!"

"Okay!" Neku cried frantically. "Try _destruction_!"

_"Incorrect. You have two more chances to insert the correct password before this keypad enters Intruder Mode and you become nothing but a pile of ashes. Thank you and have a nice day."_

"Then try _world domination_!"

_"Incorrect. You have one more chance to insert the correct password before this keypad enters Intruder Mode and you become nothing but a pile of ashes. Thank you and have a nice day."_

Snake said something so dirty that the keypad made a censoring sound.

"Only one more try before we're blown to smithereens," Lucario muttered, feeling agitated. "What could it be… Oh, what could it be?!"

That was when Pikachu completely lost it. He stormed over to Snake, scrambled onto his arm, and started punching the keypad.

"What the hell are you typing?" Snake said furiously. "What the… _Pikachu is BOSS_? Really, now?! There's _no_ way that's gonna be—"

The screen on the keypad flashed green.

_"Correct. Access granted."_

With an echoing _clunk_ and a loud groan, the heavy steel door slowly swung open. Lucario, Snake, Sheik, Lloyd, and Neku gawked at Pikachu, who was smirking.

"Well?" said the Mouse Pokémon smugly. "Am I boss at this or _what_?!"

"…Obviously, we have a Pikachu fan inside this base," Neku concluded. "Maybe it was one of Primid 0001's friends."

Snake looked very sad and disappointed. "No one knows about me or _Metal Gear Solid_…" **_(4)_**

Lucario gave him a comforting pat. "It's okay, Snake. Let's just get on with the mission."

"Hmm…" Snake nodded. "…Yeah. We have work to do. Resuming Operation MG and Operation Taki."

He pulled the folded Amazon box out of nowhere and reconstructed it. The six Smashers ducked under it, and the box quietly went on its way.

-ooo-

"Boomerang on your left!"

Mario narrowly dodged the projectile as it whirled right past his right ear, made a U-turn, and returned to the hands of its Boom Primid owner. The Primid lifted to boomerang and held it above itself, preparing to throw it again. "That-a was close-a! Thanks, Sonic-a!"

Sonic flattened himself on the ground just as the glowing green blade of a Beam Sword hissed over his head. The Sword Primid made a sound of frustration. "Yeah… No problem!"

"Dammit, Yoshi!" shouted Shadow, running in circles to avoid some Scope Primids' bazooka shots. "You just _had_ to set off that mine!" He threw out a Chaos Lance that pierced through four Primids at the same time.

Yoshi squealed when a Boom Primid's boomerang nicked his tail. "_Wahhh!_ How was I supposed to know it was a bomb?!"

"It said, 'CAUTION! Explosive!' on it," Blaze pointed out before using Fire Claw on several Primids. "With this broken arm, it's so hard to fight! I'm not left-handed!"

"Hey! I didn't have enough time to read the label!" Yoshi wailed, tossing some eggs at three Sword Primids.

"How long does it take-a to read-a two words-a?" questioned Luigi. "Mama mia!" he cried when a bazooka shot just barely missed him.

"Just…" Yoshi looked irritated. "Be quiet, okay?! I don't wanna talk about it!"

Sonic used Spin Dash, knocking several Primids aside. "Guys! I just got a great idea!"

Mario let a fireball fly out of his hands and burn two Primids. "What-a?"

Sonic pointed at a thick redwood tree on the outskirts of the forest behind them. "Let's talk about it on that tree! Run!"

The six Smashers all left the battle and made a beeline for the tree. The Primids were momentarily confused before they realized that their opponents were escaping. One of the Boom Primids let out a loud gurgling sound, and all the Primids charged.

Blaze turned her head to see the pursuing Primids. "We have the whole lot on our tails!" she warned.

_"YOSHIIIIIII!"_ screamed Yoshi when an unusually fast Primid grabbed the dinosaur's tail.

Blaze sighed. "Uh… Pun not intended…"

Everyone reached the tree in no time. Team Nintendo jumped on the branches while Team Sega ran up the sturdy trunk. The Primids, who did not have the ability to climb such tall trees, were left behind, and like angry bees, they swarmed the base of the tree.

The two teams stopped when they were about a hundred fifty feet above the ground. "Okay, Sonic," said Shadow. "Make this quick. What's your great idea?"

"Chill, dude," Sonic told the restless black hedgehog. "Anyway, here's the thing. Did you notice how close we'd gotten to Dedede's castle?"

Everyone nodded.

"And the castle is sitting on a cliff. There's nothing below it except the big blue sea."

"Yes," said Luigi. "And-a?"

"So I was thinking," Sonic said, "and I wondered if we can use the cliff and the sea to our advantage."

"This is starting to sound good," Yoshi said.

Sonic made a bowl-like shape with his left hand. "Let's say this is a bowl of ice cream with sparkle toppings…" He pointed his right hand's index finger and stuck it into his left hand. "…and this is your spoon. Do you know what happens when you stick your spoon near the edge of the ice cream with the concave side facing outwards, and then you push the spoon down so that the convex side faces the ceiling and the concave side lies flat on the ice cream?" He demonstrated all this with his hands.

"Oh, yeah," said Mario. "That-a bit of ice cream on the edge-a falls off the main-a mass, along with the toppings on that-a little bit-a."

Sonic grinned. "Exactly! So what if we did the spoon thing on that cliff, using ourselves as the spoon?"

Shadow looked thoughtful. "So the cliff is the ice cream, we act as the spoon, and the toppings are the Primids…"

"Right," said Sonic, nodding. "Here's the real part of the plan. Shadow, Blaze, and I have moves that can carve out things, so we'll be the spoons. While we dig near the cliff, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi can distract the Primids. When Team Sega gives the signal, Team Nintendo lures the Primids to the bit of the cliff Team Sega carved out. The weight the Primids on that tiny little bit will cause it to break off from the cliff and fall into the big blue sea, along with the Primids. We'll be standing off to the side, watching the whole thing unfold."

"Sounds-a like a great-a plan," Luigi said, impressed by Sonic's great idea.

"Let's do this!" announced Blaze. "No broken arm is about to stop me now!"

Everyone high-fived each other. "YEAH!"

Sonic stood up on the branch. "All right, let's get going! Good luck, everyone! Now go! _Go!_"

Team Nintendo jumped out of the tree and landed right in the middle of the crowd of Primids, who stepped back with surprise.

"Ha!" Yoshi said loudly. "Those Primids are so dumb, I bet they couldn't tell the difference between a sleeping Feyesh and a rampaging Towtow!"

With angry gurgles, the Primids chased after the fleeing team of Nintendo mascots. Yoshi was quick to lash back with another insult.

"You guys are sooooo stupid that when you got a carton of concentrated orange juice the other day, you spent all day staring at it!"

Mario and Luigi just blew noisy raspberries at the furious Primids. "Wow, Yoshi, you're good-a."

"Hey, thanks. You're sooooo dumb that you almost died of starvation in the grocery store! _Nyaaaaa!_"

When Team Sega was sure that Team Nintendo—well, mostly Yoshi—had the Primids' full attention, they jumped out of the tree and made a rush for a weak-looking part of the cliff.

"Here's a good spot," said Shadow, tapping his foot on an area full of vein-like cracks. "Let's start digging."

"Remember, don't go too far or this bit of the cliff will fall before the Primids even get here!" Sonic reminded them.

Blaze nodded. "Okay. I'll use Burst Dash while you two use Spin Dash. Let's move quickly so Yoshi doesn't have to say any more insults. They're getting rather annoying."

"I'm not shutting up till the fat lady sings!" Yoshi's face suddenly turned into one of apology, although it was obvious he was faking it. He said to a bewildered Sword Primid, "Oh, I'm so sorry, pal, I didn't meant to…BRING YOUR MOM INTO THIS!"

Before the Sword Primid could do anything, Yoshi was off and running again.

"Now _that_ one was very annoying as well as disturbing," Shadow commented. "Let's get to work."

The two hedgehogs and the cat started spinning rapidly, using the speed and power of their moves to carve a line into the ground.

Meanwhile, Yoshi was having lots of fun.

"You're so dumb that you called me to get my number!"

"Yoshi, Primids-a don't have phones-a…" said Mario.

"You're so dumb that you tripped over a cordless phone!"

Luigi laughed. "I saw Captain Falcon do that once-a. It was hilarious-a."

"You're so fat that when you jumped, you got stuck in midair!"

Mario and Luigi stared at Yoshi. "…Whoa, there-a."

"You're so dumb that you thought _konnichiwa_ was 'good-bye' in English!"

"…What's-a _konnichiwa_?" asked Mario.

"STUPID! IT'S 'HELLO' IN JAPANESE!"

"Oh, okay-a."

"You're so stupid that when you missed Bus 44, you took Bus 22 twice!"

"I've-a heard of that-a one too many times-a…" said Luigi.

"You're so dumb that you tried to drive from California to Hawaii!"

"Ha!" said Mario, laughing. "I like-a that one!"

There was a high-pitched whistle. Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi glanced over their shoulders to see Sonic frantically waving at them.

"They must-a be done digging-a," Mario said. "Let's-a go! Yoshi, keep-a the Primids behind us-a!"

"Aye-aye!" Yoshi waggled his tongue at the Primids and shouted, "You're so stupid that you thought Mars Bars were from Mars and Mentos were from Sacramento!"

"Yeah, Yoshi!" cheered Sonic, jumping up and down. "Keep it up, buddy!"

"Hurry before this part of the cliff goes down without the Primids!" called Blaze.

Yoshi grinned and gave the blue hedgehog a thumbs-up, then turned back to the Primids and went on, "You're so dumb that you thought you could smash through an ice sheet with Icebreakers!"

The Primids, looking absolutely outraged now, continued to follow Team Nintendo…and they stepped on the bit of the cliff that Team Sega had quietly carved out…

Yoshi cackled maniacally as he spat out one final insult.

"You're so dumb…"

The Primids looked at the ground, which was rumbling.

"…that you thought…"

Blaze crossed her fingers. _Did it work?_

"…you could defeat…"

_RUMBLE!_

"…the SUPER SMASH BROTHERS!" Yoshi finished triumphantly.

_BOOM!_

The Primids stumbled as the ground beneath them shifted—and separated from the cliff.

_SPLASH!_

Team Nintendo and Team Sega cautiously poked their heads over the cliff. There was nothing left of the Primids except some foam and small clusters of shadow bugs.

"…You know, I feel like a murderer now-a," said Luigi a little nervously. "We kind of just-a killed a bunch of Primids-a…"

Shadow put a hand on the green-clad plumber's shoulder. "Toughen up and get used to it," he said calmly.

Mario fixed his hat and looked at the ruins of King Dedede's castle, which were now only about a mile away. "I guess we're done with our business-a here. Let's-a keep moving before those shadow bugs-a reform or something-a. I'm-a not in the mood-a for another fight-a."

The other five Smashers nodded in agreement, and they ran towards their destination.

-ooo-

"Good, we made it inside without getting caught by any surveillance cameras."

"How do you know if there _are_ any surveillance cameras in the first place?"

"Wouldn't it seem odd if you went into a secret base with no security?"

"Ah, yes, that's true…"

The Amazon box plodded on, still undetected. The six Smashers were starting to get used to the constricted feeling within the box, and much to Snake's relief, they stopped whining.

"Hey, let's park this box in that little alcove just ahead."

Snake guided everyone into the niche in the wall, tucking each corner of the box snugly into the small space. After the Smashers made sure that there were no enemies nearby, Snake removed the box.

"Ah!" Lloyd stood up, stretching. "Open space! Thank you!"

Snake peered out of the alcove. "If you want to loosen up your limbs, right now's the best time. We'll probably be spending the rest of our time here crawling."

Wisely taking the mercenary's advice, the other Smashers shook out all the cramps in their arms and legs. Lucario closed his eyes and scanned the area with his Aura Sight.

"I think this is the storage room," he said when he reopened his eyes. "See, there are all these crates and things stacked around us. There's a hallway that leads out of this room, and after thirty feet it forks into three hallways, each one leading to some other room."

"It forks?" said Neku. "That means we'll have to split up when we get to the beginning of the division."

"I hate splitting up," Pikachu complained.

"Let's make our three teams of two before heading out," suggested Sheik.

Lucario and Snake immediately stood next to each other. "Team SiAura, reporting for duty."

Pikachu groaned. "You're _still_ using that name…?"

Sheik glanced at Neku and Lloyd. "Do you want the accompaniment of an original Smasher?"

Neku shrugged. "Sure. I don't care."

Pikachu tapped Sheik's leg. "Hey, since you have a much better jump than me, you should go with Lloyd. No offense, but his jumping skills suck."

"I heard that!" the swordsman said indignantly.

"Okay," Sheik agreed. "That leaves you with Neku. I think we're ready."

The Smashers hid inside the cardboard box and shuffled over to the entrance of the hallway. Lucario was right—after around thirty feet, the corridor branched out into three smaller ones. The Smashers crawled out of the Amazon box and looked at each other.

"…Uh… I guess we all had better get going," said Lloyd after an awkward pause. "Sheik, let's take the rightmost hall."

"We'll take the left one," said Pikachu. "Left has always been my lucky side."

"Hold on." Snake took out two objects and gave one to each team. It was small and relatively flat and had a screen on it. "Soliton Radar," he explained. "My friend Mei Ling invented it in the 2000s. It detects electromagnetic waves from biological reactions and gives the user lot of information about the immediate area. It also uses electromagnetic waves to create a map of the area, a bit like echolocation. It's not affected by bad weather, but the signal is very fragile, so the radar jams easily in small spaces like vents or in areas with strong harmonic resonance."

Lucario poked Snake. "Since when did you get so smart?"

Snake poked the Pokémon back and said telepathically, _"I actually don't understand what I'm saying. I just memorized Mei Ling's words."_

Lucario smiled wryly. _"Very funny."_

"So, what's so interesting about this radar system?" asked Neku.

"The Soliton Radar is able to tell who's your friend and who's your foe," said Snake. "Friends are shown as white dots. Surveillance cameras are green. Enemies are red."

Lloyd glanced at his team's radar's screen and saw that the mercenary was right.

"Another thing that makes the Soliton Radar so useful," Snake went in, "is its ability to show you the direction of which a person or surveillance camera is facing. Allow me to demonstrate." He pointed at a dot on each team's radar. "That's me. See that green cone? That's my area of sight. If you're inside that cone, that means I can easily see you. Now, if I turn around…"

"Wow!" exclaimed Pikachu. "That green cone thing is showing us that your back is turned towards us. That's cool! How does it do that?"

Snake grinned sheepishly as he faced his friends again. "Uhhh… You'll have to ask Mei Ling about that."

"…Oh."

"One more thing. When an enemy's sight cone changes color, it means something. Blue means their feeling normal. Yellow means they're feeling suspicious. Red means they saw you, and you gotta get the hell out of there. With surveillance cameras, you only have two choices—get seen and shot by them or just avoid them altogether. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," the Smashers chorused.

"Good. Now get going!"

Lloyd and Sheik took the passage on the right, while Neku and Pikachu went to the left. Lucario pointed at the one in the middle. "That leaves this hallway to us, then."

"Yeah," said Snake as he took out a third Soliton Radar. "Want to use the box?"

Lucario thought about this for a moment before he answered, "Okay. I want to see how it's like to sneak around in a box."

Snake smiled and put the Amazon box over the two of them.

There was a voice.

"…to hang out in the storage room," it said.

"Why would the storage room need security?" asked another voice.

Lucario and Snake gulped. Lucario glanced at the radar's screen.

"Primids?" muttered Snake.

"Yeah, two of them," Lucario confirmed when he saw two red dots.

"Two, huh…"

Through the Amazon box's front handle hole, the two Smashers could see two Primids emerging from the middle hall. One of them had a green Beam Sword while the other carried a polished Super Scope.

"A Sword Primid and a Scope Primid," Snake mused. "Okay…"

The Primids stopped walking.

"Their sight cones turned yellow," whispered Lucario. "They're feeling suspicious."

"Hey, Primid 5931, I don't remember seeing this Amazon box here."

"Hold on, 2665. I just remembered something."

"What?"

Lucario and Snake held their breaths.

"The other day, 7990 and 0092 ordered a batch of brand new boomerangs from Amazon," said Primid 5931. "Maybe this is the delivery!"

Primid 2665 scratched its head. "Really? Then how did the Fed-Ex guy drop it off here without ringing the doorbell?"

Primid 5931 shrugged. "Beats me."

Lucario looked at Snake. _"There was a doorbell?"_

Snake just rolled his eyes.

"Well, let's do the thing that we always do to cardboard boxes," said Primid 2665.

"Which is?" Primid 5931 questioned.

Primid 2665 looked incredulous. "Why, open the box, of course!"

Primid 5931 slapped itself. "Oh, yeah, I forgot!"

"…Triple crap," Snake mumbled. "Time to get loud again."

The two Primids tugged at the corners of the Amazon box—

"GRENAAAADE!"

The two Primids leaped back when a spherical object landed on the ground near their feet with a sharp _clink_. "Ehh—?!"

_BOOM._

Snake cautiously poked his head out from under the Amazon box, pleased to see nothing remaining of the two Primids except a green Beam Sword, a not-so polished Super Scope, and some burned shadow bugs. "Whew. That was a close one."

Lucario smiled faintly with amusement. "Too bad Pikachu wasn't here…"

"Whatever. Onward. I'll steer the box while you watch the radar."

"Mm-hmm."

The Amazon box trudged on.

-ooo-

Fox couldn't see.

The wide strip of black cloth had been covering his eyes for several hours now—three? Seven? He could not make a guess. Somebody had removed his headset, which gave him the uncomfortable thought of being unable to contact anyone. Then the Star Fox pilot began to wonder what time of the day it was.

If it were morning, he would be in the Brawl Room, surrounded by fellow Smashers, watching the ongoing brawl on the television screen. Or maybe _he_ would be the one of the Smashers on the screen…

If it were noon, he would be in the cafeteria, laughing at some poor Smasher—preferably Wolf—who just got dumped into a pot of soup that Crazy Hand had stolen from Peach or Kirby.

If it were nighttime, he would be sitting in one of the lawn chairs on the back lawn, gazing at the twinkling stars and wondering how his friends on Sauria were doing. Maybe he would be polishing his Blaster at the same time, just in case some crazy Smashers decided to sneak up on him and throw him into the swimming pool.

But…he could not do any of those now.

Fox's stomach growled noisily. He suddenly remembered that he had not eaten anything for quite a while.

_Jeez… Even a stale slice of bread sounds good now,_ he thought.

There was no sound. Fox's consciousness slowly drifted away…

"Fox…"

_Might as well just take a nap so I have energy for later._

"Fox."

_I wonder where everyone else is…_

"Fox McCloud."

_Who's calling? Falco? Wolf? Anybo—_

The next thing he knew, he was drenched from head to toe in ice-cold water.

"What the—!" He coughed, spitting out water, and he shook his head to get as much of the liquid out of his ears. "Hey, what gives?!"

A cold voice answered him. "You're awake."

Fox's eyes snapped open.

A stranger was standing before him—a boy who was dressed in black from head to toe. Even his skin was black, and it was emitting shadows. His eyes, glowing like two little lights, were an eerie shade of yellow. Something was tied to the right side of his pants… It looked like a giant key, also completely black on color. Sitting next to him was an empty bucket.

The boy grinned. "Nice to meet you, Fox McCloud. You could've cleaned yourself up a little before meeting me, y'know."

Fox looked down to himself. His clothes were torn and burned in several places, and he could feel many bruises and cuts all over his body.

And then he remembered everything.

"James! Where is he?! I am going to _kill_ him when he comes—"

The boy put a finger over his lips. "Shhh. No need to shout. He's not here."

Fox glared at the boy. "You look a lot like Sora. Are you his Reversal or something?"

"Oh, that's right," the boy exclaimed with mock surprise. "You're the only Smasher—other than the Olympians, of course—who hasn't met me yet. My name is AntiSora, and I'm not Sora's Reversal." He winked. "I_am_ related to him, though. I think James mentioned me at some point."

Fox just growled. "Back at the mansion… Anyway, where am I?"

AntiSora shrugged. "Take a guess."

Fox looked around. The room he and AntiSora were in was relatively small. The walls and floor looked as though they were made of very delicate, cloudy, purple-colored glass. It was so quiet that Fox could hear his own heart fluttering like mad. When he sniffed the air, he wrinkled his nose at its staleness. He tried to rub his eyes but found that he couldn't—his wrists were chained to the cold wall behind him at a spot directly above his head. He looked down and saw shackles around his ankles; each one was connected to a chain that in turn was connected to the ground. Fox then looked at the wall on the opposite side, seeing a door with a familiar logo on it. It looked like a power button sign that was lying on its left side…

"…This is Subspace, isn't it?"

AntiSora grinned. "Fox earns ten points. Yes, this is Subspace…well, what's left of the original mass."

"Hmm." Fox shifted his weight a little, the chains clanking noisily. "We're on what used to be the Isle of the Ancients, right? That floating island marked by a giant glowing X?"

"Yeah," said AntiSora. "It's the last remaining bit of Subspace—" He paused. "—for now."

Fox grunted. "What am I doing here?"

"Maybe James should explain."

The other fox suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Did someone say my name?"

Fox tugged on his chains. "JAMES!"

AntiSora ignored the Smasher and faced James. "I'll let you deal with him."

James nodded, and the boy dissolved into the shadows. After making sure AntiSora was out of hearing range, James turned to Fox and smiled grimly. "Hello again, son."

"I'm not your son and you're not my father," Fox spat contemptuously.

James' right eyebrow twitched. "How do you know?"

Fox looked at James with an expression that said, "Are you stupid or just trolling around?"

"Ah, yes. I told that I was an agent working for Tabuu, didn't I?" James removed his sunglasses, revealing his crimson-colored eyes. The eyes, like little red fireflies, darted from right to left. "Are we alone?"

Fox was confused. "Uh… Yes?"

James went to the door on the other side of the room and opened it. He stuck his head out, looked all around, and quietly shut it again. "Yes, we're alone. That's…good."

"…What are you planning?"

James went over to Fox and showed him a small object in the palm of his hand. It was very simple in structure and was completely made of metal. "I was given orders to put this on you…"

Fox gave the thing a look, then immediately jerked back. Of course, the chains and the wall prevented him from moving much. "Is that a _mind-controlling device_?!"

James did not answer. He knew he did not have to.

"Don't you _dare_ put that thing on me," Fox said in a dangerous tone.

"Sorry, but I have to," James said apologetically. "But…" He glanced at the device. "…something within me… It's telling me not to put it on you…"

Fox blinked. "…Excuse me?"

James looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he shook his head.

"No… I was given orders. And I must follow my orders."

He approached Fox.

"Sorry, boy, but you'll have to wear this for quite a while."

He lunged forward and had the Smasher in a headlock. Fox struggled and gasped for air, but it was no use.

"Bedtime, Fox."

"NO! _YOU WON'T—HAVE YOUR WAY WITH—_"

The mind-controlling device clamped onto Fox's head, stopping him in mid-sentence.

James stepped back to survey his work.

"…Good morning, Fox. How are you feeling?"

The Smasher's head went up.

"I'm fine."

His once emerald-green eyes were now red.

James was satisfied. But he did not smile. Something was still…bothering him.

_"Don't ever give up, my son." **(5)**_

James gave a start. He looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. But the only ones in the small room were him and Fox.

_…I must be hearing things…_

-ooo-

Team Nintendo and Team Sega reached King Dedede's castle in no time.

"Okay, we're here-a!" announced Mario, sliding off Yoshi's shell with Luigi. Sonic gently set Blaze down while Shadow just looked around.

"Look," he said, pointing at a door. "Let's see where that leads." He strode over to it and pulled it open. "Damn, it's cold!"

Luigi peeked into the dark passageway. "And r-r-r-really d-d-d-dark-a," he stammered nervously.

Blaze coughed.

"Hey, guys, we have a FIRE cat with us, ya know," Sonic said loudly, frowning.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Blaze-a. We, please-a lead the way-a…"

Blaze just shook her head and went to the door. She held out her left hand, forming a bright ball of fire. "Let's go down. Watch your step."

The six Smashers went down and down and down and down and down and down and down and—

"Hey, it's another door," Yoshi pointed out.

Unlike the previous door, which was made of wood, this one was steel and had no handle, meaning that it had to be pushed to get open. However, there was no need to push it, because the door was already wide open.

"Thank-a goodness whoever came before us left it open-a," said Mario, eyeing the keypad on the wall. "Otherwise-a, we would've had to type a password-a."

"Then let's not dawdle and go in," Shadow said impatiently. "I'll take the lead from here. This place looks like some sort of base, and I've gone through many bases before. C'mon."

-ooo-

"Lucario, how long have we been walking—er, _crawling_?"

The Aura Pokémon took a good guess. "Uh, fifteen minutes?"

"Then this passage must be _really_ long," Snake muttered.

This corridor was probably the fourth one Team SiAura entered. So far, the two Smashers had passed through three rooms and given them names. They had dubbed the first room the "Beam Sword Room" for its abundance of unopened packages of the said swords. The second room was given the name of "The Office" because of the cubicle-like work stations (their cover was nearly blown here when a sharp-eyed Boom Primid saw the Amazon box moving around; Snake quickly knocked the Primid unconscious with his CQC and stuffed it into a locker, praying that no one would open it and find the Primid). The third and last room was named the "Table Room" for the many large desks placed all over the area.

"This box is getting a little annoying," Snake said suddenly. "Let's put it away. We can sneak around without it."

He and Lucario exited the box. Snake quietly folded it up and was somehow able to fit in one of his pockets.

_Talk about defying the laws of physics,_ Lucario thought.

When the box-packing was done, the two Smashers sneaked along the wall, trying to blend in with the shadows. Whenever a Primid was coming their way, Lucario knocked it out with an Aura Sphere at medium power. Snake still did not get a chance to use his SOCOM yet.

Lucario's sensitive ears picked up a faint noise. "I think I hear tapping. It's close."

Team SiAura picked up their speed and dashed along the wall.

"Almost there… Almost there… Stop."

The Smashers were now at the edge of the entrance to a new room. A sign above the entrance indicated that this room was the Development Room. A sound was coming out of it.

_Taka-taka-taka-taka-taka… Taka-taka-taka-taka-taka-taka-taka… Click-click. Taka-taka-taka…_

"Sounds like someone typing on a keyboard at a hundred words per minute," Snake noted. He looked at the Soliton Radar and gasped. "Lucario! The radar's showing one guy in there, and the dot is _white_!"

"Really?!" Lucario looked at the radar system's screen and, true to Snake's words, there was a lone white dot inside the room. That dot was surrounded by multiple green dots. "There are also six surveillance cameras in there…"

"Those we can take care of easily. Now use your Aura Sight to scan the room and see who's typing."

Lucario complied with the mercenary's request. The moment he closed his eyes, his aura-sensing abilities were brought to maximum power. Within his head, he could see a blurry, bluish image of his surroundings, as well as Snake's blue-green, deep red, and gray aura. Strange, it was always a mix of those three unusual colors, no matter the situation…

Lucario brushed these thoughts aside and looked inside the room with his Aura Sight. He saw many computers, monitors, and other such equipment. One aura stood out very clearly from the drab, gray-colored image of the room. The aura belonged to a male human who continued to type away on one of the computers, mumbling things to himself.

"Anything interesting?" asked Snake.

"Well," Lucario replied, still using his Aura Sight, "there's just one person in there. Male, probably in his forties. He has wavy brown hair, a bit of stubble, and glasses—"

Snake blinked with surprise. That sounded oddly familiar…

"—and he's wearing a navy blue turtleneck and blue jeans." Lucario looked around some more. "Also, there's an action figure of a small bipedal robot with a long body, small head, wheels for feet, and a little TV screen… Hmm." **_(6)_**

That was enough information for Snake to identify the person.

"There's no doubt about it. The guy in there is Dr. Hal Emmerich, also known as _Otacon_!"

-ooo-

Pikachu and Neku walked into a bathroom.

"…Please tell me why we're in a bathroom," Neku groaned.

Pikachu looked at the boy with intense brown eyes.

"Because," he said very seriously, "I need to pee."

-ooo-

Sheik and Lloyd were investigating the Freezer Room when they heard a horrendous scream.

"_AHHHHHH!_ THIS IS THE _LADIES'_ BATHROOM!"

"OHMIGOSH! WHAT THE HECK!"

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

"YEAH!"

"AND LET'S STOP SCREAMING! THE PRIMIDS WILL HEAR US!"

"BUT I CAN'T STOP SCREAMING!"

"WHATEVER! LET'S GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!"

"YEAH!"

_Patter-patter-patter-patter—BANG!_

Sheik and Lloyd stared at each other.

"…What was that all about?"

"It sounded like Pikachu and Neku. They must've taken a wrong turn and ended up in the girls' bathroom." Sheik made a face. "Eww."

"Well, uh…" Lloyd shrugged. "Now that it's all over, let's keep searching for the room with the blueprints."

-ooo-

Lucario and Snake were talking about how to get into the Development Room to reach Otacon.

"He'll definitely be really freaked out at the sight of us," Snake said. "After all, we aren't supposed to be here."

"Then we'll have to restrain him or something so he won't yell and attract some unwanted attention," Lucario stated.

Snake pointed into the room. "First, we'll have to do something about those six surveillance cameras."

Lucario snapped his fingers, forming a tiny blue flame of aura. "Easy. I'll just use some Aura Spheres." He aimed at the nearest camera and murmured, "Ready, aim, and—"

_"No!"_ Snake grabbed the Pokémon's arm. "The camera will still catch a glimpse of the blue glow before it's destroyed by the Aura Sphere! Then whoever's sitting in the control room will see that flash of blue light and instantly know that there's an intruder in that room!"

Lucario hung his head, ashamed at his rashness. "Oh… Sorry, Snake."

"It's all right. Just don't leaping into action without thinking first." Snake put a hand to his chin and began to think. "Hmm… How can we knock out those cameras without the Primids in the control room noticing?"

"Maybe if I went to the control room and knocked out the Primids, we can destroy the cameras without getting caught," Lucario suggested

Snake sighed. "_Yes_, but where's the control room?"

Lucario pointed behind himself. "Right over there."

Behind the Aura Pokémon was the entrance to another room. A sign above the doorway read _CONTROL ROOM A_ in large, bold letters.

Snake did a massive facepalm. "_Ohhhhh._ But…'Control Room _A'_? Are there multiple control rooms here?"

"Hopefully, each one monitors only a certain area of the base," Lucario said. "Anyway, I'll sneak into CRA and knock out the Primids in there. When I'm done, I'll send you a telepathic message, and you use your gun to shoot out the surveillance cameras."

Snake's expression brightened considerably. "Wait a minute… I'll get to use my SOCOM?"

"Errr…yeah," Lucario said slowly. "I'm going now. Stay out of sight until I send the message."

"Got it." _Huh, so I can use my SOCOM… Well, _finally_…! **(7)**_

While Snake was gloating over his chance to use his gun, Lucario crept into Control Room A. The room was illuminated by the bluish light of many screens that displayed images of some part of every room on this floor. As expected, there were several Primids watching the screens.

_Six Primids, all unarmed. That means they're the kind that fight with their hands and feet. Now, how can I take them down as fast as possible?_

Then one of the Primids spoke up—letting out a stream of gurgling sounds.

_This one can't speak English, but some others—like the two that found out Amazon box—can…_ Lucario frowned. _What's going on here?_

Snake heard his thoughts and provided a hypothesis. _"Maybe some of the Primid clones are just better than others—you know, more intelligent and all."_

_"And the smarter ones can talk in a language most other beings, such as us Smashers, can understand…"_ said Lucario.

_"Exactly."_

The Primid who was talking was now headed towards Lucario, who quickly dived behind a chair. When the Primid was passing by, the Aura Pokémon grabbed it and literally beat the stuffing out of it. Once this was done, he tiptoed towards the other five Primids, who apparently did not hear anything. He went up to the closest one and seized it.

_"Mmph!"_ cried the shocked Primid, attracting the other Primids' attention. Upon seeing Lucario, they all charged towards him—until the Smasher placed his Primid hostage in front of him.

"Come any closer and you'll end up blowing up _this_ guy!" he warned.

The Primids reluctantly stopped moving as they warily watched Lucario.

"Hmm… Wait a minute, it doesn't matter if you blow up this guy…" Lucario grinned. "…since you're all going to get blown up in the end!"

Meanwhile, Snake was crouching near the entrance of the Development Room, waiting forLucario to give him the signal.

_Damn. What's taking him so long?_

As he checked his SOCOM to see if it was functioning properly, he heard some muffled _thuds_ and _thumps_ coming from Control Room A. _Heh… He must be having a hell lot of fun in there._ The mercenary fitted a suppressor over the muzzle of the gun so there wouldn't be a loud _BANG_ when he pressed the trigger.

At that moment, something buzzed in his ear, and a telepathic voice sounded.

_"Done. Now go!"_

Snake snapped off the safety of his gun and aimed at the nearest surveillance camera, using the gun's built-in laser aiming module for the best accuracy. Praying that the suppressor would work, he pressed the trigger.

_Pop!_

A tranquilizer dart was shot out of the SOCOM and right into the surveillance camera. Upon impact, the camera sparked, fizzled, and died.

_"Clear,"_ said Lucario. _"One of the screens just blanked out."_

Snake silently crawled into the Development Room and shot out another camera. Otacon was too immersed with whatever he was doing to notice anything. Snake rapidly finished off the remaining cameras, and Lucario confirmed that there were no more cameras in the room.

The Aura Pokémon rejoined the mercenary. "Okay. Now what?"

Snake nodded towards the unwary Otacon. "We go to him. Just follow me."

He soundlessly sneaked towards the man, and Lucario followed closely. Soon, Snake was directly behind Otacon, and Lucario was behind Snake.

"…no idea what the heck I'm contributing," Otacon was mumbling as he continued to type on the computer. "I thought it was going to be a normal day, but _no_—this all happens, and now I'm in another _world_… Sunny must be worried _sick_…"

There was a tap on his shoulder.

"Not now, please… I'm busy!" Otacon snapped. Then he stopped. "Wait, what?"

He turned around—and his jaw hit the ground.

"SNA—mmph!"

Snake clamped one hand over Otacon's mouth, muffling him. His other hand had the SOCOM, which he aimed at Otacon's face. "Let's see if you really _are_ Otacon and not some shadow bug clone of him. If you are Otacon, you should be able to answer this question."

Otacon was so terrified that he was ready to wet his pants anytime now. **_(8)_**

"It's related to the Pokémon anime. What was that one particular part that you and I both enjoyed in Episode 42? _Don't yell._"

Snake removed his hand, and Otacon gasped. "Ohhhh, _that_ one! Episode 42, _Showdown at Dark City_, huh? I'll try to be brief. So Ash, Brock, and Misty are invited into a restaurant by its owner. Then Team Rocket breaks in but are quickly taken care of by Brock's Vulpix. Dark City has two opposing, unofficial gyms, and Brock's Vulpix has attracted the attention of one of the gym's recruiters. Misty says they'll ruin their reputations as Trainers, so the group decides to use some aliases when introducing themselves. So Ash is Tom Ato—"

Lucario saw Snake's mouth twitch.

"—Misty is Ann Chovy, and Brock is Caeser Salad because his real name might truly be _Brock Oli_." Otacon shrugged. "Who knows?" **_(9)_**

Snake sighed with relief as he lowered his gun. "Damn, Otacon… It really _is_ you."

"SNAKE!" Otacon exploded. "What are you doing here?!"

"Ummm…"

Lucario stepped forward. "Well, originally, we were on a rescue mission to—"

"Oh, my God!" Otacon pointed at Lucario. "Is that a real, breathing, blood-and-flesh _Lucario_ I'm seeing?!"

Snake poked the otaku. "…Now isn't the time, Otacon."

"Uh… As I was saying," Lucario began again, "originally, we were on a rescue mission to save one of our fellow Smashers and a best friend of another Smasher. I guess we have to take _you_ along now…"

"Oh, definitely!" Otacon tugged on Snake's arm. "Snake, Lucario, you gotta get me out of here! I can't continue with this research!"

Snake narrowed his eyes. "…What?"

"Listen, Snake." Otacon's voice was trembling. "If I continue to work for this Subspace Army, it could mean the end of _everything_… They can't continue to force me to do research for them…" He looked into Snake's cold blue eyes. "Snake, if we don't act soon, it's gonna be Shadow Moses all over again…!"

Snake looked shocked for a moment, and then he quickly regained his composure. "Shadow Moses…?!"

"…Is this about the Subspace Army's Metal Gear?" asked Lucario.

Otacon nodded. "Exactly. To be more specific…"

Lucario and Snake waited.

"…Project MGZ."

-ooo-

"What's this room called?" Pikachu asked Neku as they tiptoed into a room with many television screens on the wall.

Neku looked around. "Uh… I'm pretty sure I saw a sign somewhere… Oh, there. We're inside Control Room D."

"A control room? That's where all the videos if the surveillance cameras are, right?" Pikachu glanced at the Soliton Radar. "Funny, there's no one else in here…"

"That's weird. Control rooms should always have someone watching the screens. But I guess today's our lucky day, huh?"

The two Smashers walked on, wandering between the tables and chairs. Neku looked at the television screens—and gasped.

"Pikachu! It's _Sora_!"

"Where?!"

Neku pointed at one of the screens. Pikachu followed his finger and saw the screen with Sora. "Arceus, you're right!"

"He's in…" Neku squinted. "…the Electrical Room." He balled up his fists. "It's not far from here. Come on!"

He ran towards the door and was almost at the entrance when he suddenly noticed that Pikachu hadn't moved. "What're you waiting for?! Come on!"

"…No…" Pikachu's voice was unusually quiet. "Neku…come here."

Confused, the boy went back to the Mouse Pokémon. "Yeah?"

Pikachu looked horrified. "Neku… Look there…"

Neku saw a blue, penguin-like creature within a glass tube filled with some kind of liquid. Two wires were connected to the penguin's head and trailed upwards to some unseen place.

"…It's…a Piplup," said Neku, unable to find anything else to say."

Pikachu still hadn't moved a muscle. "Not just any Piplup…"

Neku looked at the Pokémon, whose normally sparkling brown eyes were now dull and blank.

"It's Taki. My best friend. And my partner…"

He paused.

"…from the Mystery Dungeon World." **_(10)_**

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHARACTER PROFILE<span>**

**Name:** Otacon

**Also known as:** Dr. Hal Emmerich

**Age:** 39

**Species:** Human

**World of origin:** _Metal Gear_ universe

**Video game(s):** _Metal Gear Solid_, _MGS2: Sons of Liberty_, _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_, _MGR: Revengeance_

**Quote:** "Are you an otaku, too?"

**Occupation:** Otacon is a former ArmsTech employee who designed Metal Gear REX. Upon learning of REX's nuclear strike capabilities, he quit and became close allies and friends with Solid Snake, whom he met on Shadow Moses Island. The two later went on to form Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear organization. Other than being a genius hacker, Otacon is also a devoted fan of many animes, including Gundam Wing, Soul Eater, Naruto, Bleach, and Pokémon.

**Fun fact:** He's well known for having this "curse" that kills a woman he's close to—namely, Sniper Wolf, Emma Emmerich, and Naomi Hunter…

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

**_(1) _**Whenever Amy Rose sees another girl holding Sonic's hand or something, she gets pretty angry and jealous…

**_(2)_**_ "Tactical Espionage Action" _is_ Metal Gear Solid_'s trademark subtitle.

**_(3)_**_ "La-li-lu-le-lo" _is a sort of password in_ MGS3: Snake Eater. _One person asks, "Who are the Patriots?" and the other person replies, "La-li-lu-le-lo."

**_(4) _**It's true! Hardly any fans of_ Super Smash Bros. Brawl _know anything about Snake! Sure, his trophy provides some basic information, but it's not that much… AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE—WHO PLAYS _BRAWL _AND KNOWS A TON ABOUT _MGS_?! _*loads a gun*_

**_(5) _**This is an actual quote that James McCloud says to Fox in the original_ Star Fox _for the NES. (HINT, HINT!)

**_(6) _**The robot is Metal Gear Mk. II, a remote-controlled robot that Otacon guides from afar to help Solid Snake in _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_. It has a faulty AI, so it's a bit clumsy…

**_(7) _**It's a reference to _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_! You know how several characters have weapons that they don't use? Snake has a SOCOM pistol in his leg holster, Captain Falcon has a gun on his belt, Sheik has a blade tied to her back, and Ganondorf has the sword that he stole from the Seven Sages.

**_(8) _**It's a reference to the original_ Metal Gear Solid_, made for the PS1 in way back in 1998! There was a part where Otacon wet his pants right before a battle between Solid Snake and Gray Fox…and then he crawled into a locker so he wouldn't get killed…with his wet pants…

**_(9) _**I've always wondered what Brock's full name is. And I absolutely _loved _that episode when I first saw it! Ha!

**_(10) _**Taki the Piplup is from the world of _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_, and apparently Pikachu is, too! This is a reference to my own _Explorers of Darkness _game, where I was a Pikachu called Zane and I was partnered to a Piplup called Taki. More to follow in the next chapter.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Anyway, I hope this chapter was good! I kind of rushed it, though…<em>**

**Snake: **Yeah, you did.

**_Wow, thanks. That's really encouraging._**

**Lucario: **It's the truth.

**_H-hey! Stop ganging up on me!_**

**Snake and Lucario: **…Hm.

**_Well, anyway… Were there too many MGS references here?_**

**Everyone: **_*loudly* YESSSSS._

**Snake: **But…I liked them…

**_Where are Lloyd and Sheik?_**

**Neku: **_*innocently*_ …In the ladies' bathroom?

**Lloyd:**_ *punches Neku in the face*_

**_Just where did Yoshi learn all those insults?_**

**Yoshi: **_*nervously* _Uhhhh…

**Sonic: **They were FUNNY! My sides are still hurting! _*laughs loudly*_

**Mario and Luigi:**_ *facepalm*_

**_What did you think of Snake's Amazon box?_**

**Lloyd: **Dark.

**Neku: **Stuffy.

**Pikachu: **Hot.

**Sheik: **Quite uncomfortable.

**Lucario: **Unusual…

**Snake: **…Oh, come on. Take care of your cardboard box, and it will take care of you. Which it did.

**_Where's Master Hand and Crazy Hand?_**

**Master Hand:** Er… _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_Credits to the Metal Gear wiki, Bulbapedia, and the Sonic wiki for information about Metal Gear Mk. II, Episode 42, and some of Team Sega's moves!_**

**_Starting from this chapter, I'll put a character profile of one of the characters that appears in the respective chapter—for example, Otacon appeared here, and I put up his profile._**

**_See you next time in Chapter 29!_**

**Lucario**: Hey, Snake, how did you feel about finally getting to use your gun?

**Snake:** _*grinning*_ It was exhilarating.

**Lucario:** Really? Then how do you feel about not being able to use the gun in _SSBB_?

**Snake:** …Uhhh…

**Lucario:**_ *tauntingly*_ You don't get to use all your weapons, but I do… Haha…

**Snake:** Oh, shut up and— _*frustrated*_ Never mind, just HIT THE DAMN REVIEW BUTTON ALREADY!


	29. Their Pasts Intertwined

**_Rushed chapter is rushed—again._**

**_It's Chapter 29! There will be lots of _****Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ references here, so I suggest you visit Bulbapedia and get familiar with the timeline of events._**

**_By the way—an _****EarthBound_ character will be appearing, as well as another Nintendo-related character!_**

**_…Anyway…let's get on with the story._**

**DISCLAIMER: No one and nothing here belongs to me!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 29: Their Pasts Intertwined<strong>

* * *

><p><em>What's going on? I… I feel like I know what's going on…but at the same time…I don't know…<em>

It was like walking through a dream.

_Somehow…I know I'm not supposed to be here. But there's another feeling… Maybe I _am_ supposed to be here…_

The air was thick with mist.

_Whatever it is…I can't just sit around here. But…something's funny… I feel like I'm being…held back…_

Something—or someone—was approaching.

_Who could that be? He looks…familiar…_

The figure emerged from the silvery mist. It was a fox with rusty orange fur, wearing a a headset, green suit, white jacket, white boots, and orange scarf. He had a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.

_Not him again…_

James stopped and smiled. "Fox McCloud…can you hear me?"

_I have nothing to say to you, imposter…_

James chuckled lightly. "Huh… Not answering, eh? Very bold."

_You got that right…_

James leaned closer. "Fox…our minds are connected now. No one can hear us talking. I want to speak to you privately."

_Is that so? I don't like it._

"You'll have to follow my orders, though—otherwise, _they_ will start suspecting something."

_Who's "they"?_

James suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. "Oh, please, Fox. It's awkward when you don't talk. Say something, please?"

_Nghhh…_ "Fine. Happy?"

"A little too cold for my taste, but I guess that will have to do."

Fox growled quietly. "Where am I?"

"In your own mind. I suppose you could say that you're in your own dream."

"I'm dreaming…and I _know_ I'm dreaming?"

James nodded. "Exactly."

Fox tried to step forward, but something prevented him from doing so. "That thing you put on me earlier. That was one of Tabuu's mind-controlling devices, wasn't it?"

The imposter of his father shrugged. "Well, yes…and no."

"…Excuse me?"

James turned away to watch the swirling mist. Fox decided to ask another question.

"Hey… Why're you acting all fatherly towards me now?"

He heard the other fox let out a long sigh. "I'll try to be brief. Fox…there's something about you that—oh, I don't know how to say this—there's something about you that just… It's true that I'm an imposter"—he turned his head towards Fox and removed his sunglasses, exposing his blood-red eyes—"but I… I…" He paused, then sighed again. "I just—Fox, don't bring up that question again, all right?"

"Don't answer my question with a question!" Fox snapped. "Tell me! What's with you?"

"Time to wake up, Fox," James replied curtly.

And he and the silvery mist vanished.

All of a sudden, Fox was thrust into a world of purple and black shadows. He tried to yell, but he could not.

_Why can't I talk?!_

His vision was slightly blurry, so he could not tell the identity of the person who was standing directly before him.

"So, James. The device worked."

_That voice!_ thought Fox. _It sounds like that boy from earlier… AntiSora?_

The person next to him shifted his weight from side to side. "Yes, AntiSora. He didn't put up much of a fight, so he was easily put under control."

_And that's James… Why does he sound like he's trying to hide something?_

Then a voice sounded in his head.

_"Hush, boy. No need to rouse any suspicious."_

_Wh-what? Who said that?!_

_"Shhhh."_

AntiSora did not notice anything. "That's good. One Smasher down… No, _four_ Smashers down."

"Four?" asked James, sounding confused.

AntiSora shrugged. "We have one here. The other three are pretty much as existent as _cartoons_—if you know what I mean." He laughed.

_Cartoons? What could he be talking about?_ Fox wondered.

AntiSora snorted. "Anyway, let's put our newest member to work. No need to make Master Tabuu wait."

James bowed his head just ever so slightly. "Yes, that's very right… _Master_ Tabuu, eh?" he spat under his breath. "No… That's not right."

Fortunately, AntiSora appeared to have not heard him. "I'll leave him to you, then. Have fun with him." He dissolved into a shadow and disappeared.

James grumbled. "Right, then… Fox—" He stopped. "No… From now on, I'll be referring to you as _Fox-X_. That's what we call other people with the devices on their heads. Ridley-X, General Scales-X—that sort of thing. Fox-X, I'll be in charge of you from now on. My orders are to be followed without any questions. Resistance is futile. Understand?"

Fox found himself saluting to James and promptly replying, "Yes, sir."

_Funny… I can think on my own, but my thoughts don't affect my movements… Maybe this device is only controlling my body. My brain has no effect on my movements. It's… It's like my brain isn't even a part of my body anymore. But why? Shouldn't a mind-controlling device warp your mind? That's why it's called a MIND-controlling device. What's going on here?_

James nodded and smiled with grim satisfaction. He would have much explaining to do later. "Let's go, Fox-X. We have work to do."

He paused.

_"Follow me, Fox." **(1)**_

James' red eyes widened with shock.

_There it is again!_

He glanced at Fox, who was silently following him.

_But… But why?_

-ooo-

_"We are holding Taki hostage. If you do not join the Subspace Army within twelve hours, starting at nine AM today, we will…discard him. I hope I made it very clear to you, Pikachu—or should I say, Zane._

_"We shall rendezvous at a base to the east of your current location, on an island that is part of a large archipelago. The base is—"_

_KAPOW!_

"CAN YOU STOP RECITING THAT LETTER?" roared Captain Falcon, drawing his fist back for another Falcon Punch. "IT'S DRIVING ME _NUTS_!"

"I'm sorry!" wailed Olimar as he tried to shield himself with one of his Pikmin. "Pikachu got it stuck in my head!"

"THEN KEEP IT STUCK IN YOUR OWN HEAD AND NOT MINE!"

The Smashers were now gathered in the library. The clock on the wall read 11:18 AM. Everyone was feeling very worried for the safety of the six Smashers on the mission, and some people's feelings were running high. The younger Smashers were trying to keep calm by reading books and playing games like tic-tac-toe and checkers, while most of the older ones read some books, paced around the library, or talked with one another.

In one corner of the room, Link, Marth, Ike, and Pit where talking.

"I'm pretty sure they'll make it," Ike said confidently. "They can use Lloyd's Eternal Sword to control time… Maybe they can give themselves a few more hours if they're getting close to twelve hours." **_(2)_**

"But the Subspace Army has tricks of its own," Marth pointed out. "And that AntiSora boy gives me the creeps. He definitely has something up his sleeve. It's probably better if they didn't experiment with the Eternal Sword."

Pit slowly folded his wings. "Great Palutena… Who would've ever thought that we'd be dealing with _this_ kind of Subspace Army now?"

"Tabuu is learning…" Link said quietly. He was still feeling a little distressed by Toon Link, Tetra, and Vaati's mysterious disappearance. _Toon, I promise I'll find you. I don't care if it means I'll have to go to the end of the world or something!_

"Hey, they have Snake with them," said Ike, crossing his arms. "He's been doing these kinds of missions for his entire life. Then there's Lucario. No one can escape his Aura Sight…"

"Do you think the cartoon guys could be there?" asked Pit.

Ike shrugged. "Right now, all we know is that Pikachu's friend Taki is there, and possibly Sora." He paused. "Unless AntiSora was lying…"

Link and Marth shuddered. "Please, Ike," said Marth, "don't jinx things up."

"Hey, I'm just telling the truth!"

There was a loud yell on the other side of the library. "Jump-jump-jump-jump-jump! I win again!"

The Ice Climbers, Klonoa, and Chipple were sitting at a table, having a game of checkers. Klonoa looked triumphant, the Ice Climbers looked amazed, and Chipple looked stunned.

"B-b-b-but how?!" the kangaroo stammered.

Klonoa winked at him. "Next time, don't be too reckless. You moved your checkers to places where I could jump right over them!"

"Uh…" Chipple squared his shoulders and tried to look tough. "I let you win that time, buddy! Now I won't go so easy! _Rematch!_"

"Yayyyyy!" cheered Popo and Nana. "Go, Klonoa! Go, Chipple!"

Meanwhile, Olimar was watching Kirby trying to solve a Pyraminx.

"You sure you don't need help, Kirby?"

"I'm…very…sure!" the pink Star Warrior said determinedly, rotating the Pyraminx's parts in all sorts of directions. "It takes time!"

Next to Kirby was King Dedede, sitting on a very royal-looking beanbag chair and examining at a Rubik's Cube. "This thing looks tough! Maybe I should just let my Waddle Dees solve it."

Olimar snorted. "As if _they_ could solve it when _you_ couldn't!"

Meta Knight joined the group. He saw Kirby and the Pyraminx, chuckled, and held out his hand. Kirby gratefully gave the Pyraminx to the Dream Land knight, whose hands suddenly became a flurry of movement as they turned the Pyraminx this way and that. In a matter of a few seconds, the puzzle was completed, and Meta Knight presented the Pyraminx's red, yellow, green, and blue sides to Olimar, Kirby, and King Dedede.

"It's not that hard, you know," the knight said.

King Dedede grinned and offered his Rubik's Cube. Meta Knight regarded its messy array of random red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white cubes with calculating yellow eyes.

"My apologies, Your Majesty, but you haven't even tried yet."

With this remark, the knight walked away with a flourish of his cape, leaving Olimar and Kirby laughing loudly and a red-faced King Dedede spluttering out all the insults he could think of.

Red heard the laughing and looked up from his _Pokémon Adventures_ manga. "Huh… Meta Knight sure showed that penguin." He smiled before flipping a page. "Now Gold has a run-in with Silver…"

"…and Snake has a run-in with Ocelot," said Jigglypuff, walking past the Pokémon Trainer with her face in a book titled _Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater_.

Red stared at the Balloon Pokémon. "…You read the _Metal Gear Solid_ series?"

"Mm-hmm," Jigglypuff replied without looking up. "Problem?"

"No, it's just that…" Red rubbed the back of his head, feeling sheepish. "W-well, it's a bit too…_graphic_ for me…"

"Uh-huh. Got that. _'Twelve shots… This time, I've got twelve shots…'_" Jigglypuff toddled away, still reading her book aloud.

Red watched her go, and he shook his head. _She's weird…_

The three wolf Smashers—Wolf, Gantz, and Amaterasu—were lying between the _Super Mario Bros._ and _The Legend of Zelda_ bookshelves, taking a break. **_(3)_**

Davis, Flamedramon, Rika, and Renamon were not present. They were probably out in the courtyard, training for their upcoming battles.

Cloud was sharpening and polishing each and every component of his Fusion Sword.

R.O.B. was getting his Robo Burners repaired by Falco.

Colette suddenly realized that it was 11:32 AM, and she went to tell the Koopas and Waddle Dees to prepare the buffet tables (but not without tripping over Ganondorf's foot as she left the library). Samus quickly excused herself from a game of chess with Zoroark to help Colette.

_There's no doubt that she's going to break a dish or something. **(4)**_

Mr. Game & Watch and Primid 0001 were having a quiet discussion on top of the _Metroid_ bookshelf.

"Did anything Subspace-related occur before yesterday's event?" Primid 0001 asked Mr. Game & Watch.

"Oh, yes," the two-dimensional Smasher said immediately. "It involved the Brawl System and Tabuu himself."

"The mastermind himself!" exclaimed Primid 0001, shocked. "But I thought he couldn't leave Subspace!"

"After he regained some of his strength by hiding in what used to be the Isle of the Ancients," explained Mr. Game & Watch, "he used his power to spread Subspace to the Brawl System. More accurately, _within_ the System. In other words, he'd spread Subspace to the virtual world."

"And let me guess. He teleported himself to the virtual Subspace and hid there until some Smashers were close enough to be forcibly taken into the virtual Subspace."

"Exactly! Luckily, they were able to drive him out of the System. Now he's camping out in the Isle."

Primid 0001 nodded. "Hmm."

The two friends heard a crash from the kitchen, followed by Colette's cry of "I'm so sorry!"

"I guess it's a good thing Samus went after her," Mr. Game & Watch whispered, laughing a little.

Primid 0001 was deep in thought. "You know…after hearing that story with the Brawl System, I have an idea of where the cartoon Smashers may have gone off to."

Link came out of nowhere, and he joined the flat Smasher and Primid on top of the _Metroid_ bookshelf. "Are you serious?! Tell me!"

"Slow down, Link!" Primid 0001 exclaimed. "Anyway… It's possible that you _didn't_ remove all traces of Subspace from your System, as you had initially thought. Maybe you left a tiny bit in there—not enough for Tabuu, but enough to take over the virtual world within the Brawl System…again. Or maybe the Sword Primids that stole the Metal Gear from the Shadow Moses Island stage did something…" He shrugged. "In any case, the Sword Primids stole the five Metal Gear. Right after that, you realized that the cartoon Smashers were missing." He cocked his head to the side. "Quite uncanny, no?"

"…So you're saying that Toon and the others were taken to the cyberspatial Subspace?" said Link quietly. "Could it be?"

The Primid nodded. "It's just a guess, but a good one."

"We can go check the Brawl System to make sure!" Mr. Game & Watch exclaimed, jumping off the bookshelf. "Let's go!"

The two Smashers and the Primid exited the library, ran through a couple corridors, and entered the little room that contained the Brawl System.

"…Well, what do you know," Link murmured. "He's right."

The Brawl System was emitting a faint purplish-black light. Small black particles lazily floated around the System as it hummed softly.

Mr. Game & Watch scratched his head. "During the fight with the MGs, Samus said the remote control for the System and TV screen was broken. So, umm…" He looked at Primid 0001 and Link for help. "…how do we get in?"

Neither the Primid nor the Smasher had a clue.

-ooo-

The mockingbirds continued to sing.

About two miles southwest of the Smash Mansion was a forest. It covered about fifty square miles of land and mainly consisted of spruces and firs, one of which the Smashers would cut down for their annual Christmas celebrations. The forest was very dense, so even in broad daylight, one would think about how dark it was while hiking through it. Everyone, even the oldest and bravest of the Smashers, did their best to avoid entering the forest at night, for it was rumored that unpleasant creatures lived there, waiting for their next victim to thoughtlessly wander in. Because of these rumors, the residents of Smashville gave the forest a simple yet disturbing name—Dusk Forest.

It probably would have been a great idea to put up some signs around Dusk Forest, warning foreigners of the dangers within those spruce and fir trees.

A little girl skipped through the trees, her pink dress floating along with her. Her wavy golden hair and the red bow tied to it bounced up and down with each skip. In her right hand was a rectangular basket that was filled with all sorts of things. She was completely oblivious to the dimness of the forest as she hopped along.

The girl jumped on a flat rock and slipped on the moss that covered it.

"Whoops!"

She quickly regained her balance by using her PSI abilities to push herself away from the forest floor.

"Whew!" she said with relief. "That was a close one! I'm glad I didn't drop this basket… He won't be too happy if he saw the cakes all messed up." She hummed a little tune as she continued onward.

_"You naughty little girl."_

She gasped and whirled around. "Was… Was that just my imagination? Or did I really hear a voice just now?"

_"Don't you know the name of this forest?"_

The girl clutched her basket tightly. "No… I'm really not imagining…!"

A whispering wind blew through the trees.

_"It's called Dusk Forest. Why? Because it's so dark…"_

There was a faint rustle behind the girl. She turned and scanned her surroundings, but she saw nothing. She lifted her left hand and formed a small cloud of ice. "Who are you?!"

_"…and there are some residents here that should probably be left alone. Creatures of darkness."_

A tall shadow, darker than the blackest of shadows, circled her feet.

_"You're fortunate enough to meet the darkest of them. Or should I say…_un_fortunate?"_

A demonic figure rose before the girl, grinning sadistically with its left hand raised. There was a flash of red light.

_"Sweet dreams, little girl."_

A splatter of red appeared on the trunk of a young spruce, like a gruesome beacon.

The basket lay on its side, its contents spilled on the ground.

And the mockingbirds continued to sing.

-ooo-

"Come here, Fox-X."

The ex-Smasher obediently entered the dark room. "Yes, sir?"

James pulled him closer. "I'm assigning you to…" He flipped a switch, flooding the room with light. "…Department Z."

"Department Z? Is that a code name or something?"

"Yes. Sorry, but I can't tell you the real name."

Fox-X snorted, blinking his red eyes. "That highly classified? So…I'm not _good_ enough to know yet, hmm?"

In his head, Fox thought, _I bet he's not telling me because I can still _think_ freely…and if I ever escape and manage to remove this thing on my head, the first thing I'll do is tell everyone._

_"You got that right,"_ James' voice replied.

Fox growled. _Screw you. Guess I'll have to keep quiet for now, then._

James smirked. The ex-Smasher, despite the mind-controlling device on his head, had apparently retained his dry attitude. "Anyway, you'll be doing work here in Department Z. It's one of the planning rooms for our Metal Gear. You know what's a Metal Gear, right?"

_Yes,_ Fox thought while Fox-X nodded.

"A Metal Gear is capable of firing 'invisible' nukes," James said. "Instead of using firepower or expanding gas to launch a nuke, an electromagnetic rail gun is used so there's no smoke trail, meaning it can't be tracked. That's why a Metal Gear is so dangerous."

_Yes, and…?_

"And that's why Tabuu wants to make one—one that can spell the end of the Smashers. Without the Smashers…the Smash World, along with the other worlds, are left virtually defenseless. And thus, the Subspace Army began…" James gestured around the room dramatically. "…Project MGZ."

"I'm assuming that stands for 'Metal Gear'…er…" Fox-X paused. "…something that begins with a _Z_. Highly classified for now, I assume. Am I right, sir?"

"Yeah," James replied.

_Man, so many things here are classified!_ Fox thought grumpily.

"Department Z is one of the most important rooms for Project MGZ," said James. "Here is where we'll be planning out the physical structure of the Metal Gear. Structure is extremely important…" He smiled. "After all, a Metal Gear that can't walk isn't much use to us."

"True," agreed Fox-X. "We'll need to make a Metal Gear that can easily cross any terrain—land, sea, and sky…"

"And that's why I picked you to work here," said James. "You know about Arwings and Landmasters, right? Now, you probably don't know as much as someone like Slippy Toad, but your knowledge of war machines is decent. It's perfect for Project MGZ. You can also study REX, RAY, and the Gekko's structures for some tips." He pointed at the far end of the room. Fox-X's eyes followed and saw the looming figures of the aforementioned Metal Gear.

_But I don't want to take part in it!_ Fox shouted mentally.

"Thank you. I'll do my best here in Department Z. I won't fail you, sir," said Fox-X.

_Arghhh! Shut up, Fox-X!_

James smiled and patted Fox-X on the back. "I know you won't."

Fox heard James' voice.

_"Fox, are you listening? You are to meet me in Room 13 at exactly 1:45 PM. It's five doors to the left of Department Z."_

_Excuse me, mister, but in case you didn't know, my mind has no power over my damn body right now!_ raged Fox. _And it's all thanks to _you_!_

_"Quiet down, boy! Listen carefully. Sometimes, I'll allow Fox-X to follow a mental command… Now do your stuff. And remember—Room 13 at 1:45 PM. Don't be late."_

James left the room. Fox-X began to work. Fox began to wonder.

_…What the hell is going on here?_

-ooo-

It was now 12:49 PM and right after the Smashers' lunchtime. Thankfully, Colette did not burn, break, or crack anything (King Dedede claimed that "the pizza was carbonized again," though). About two-thirds of the Smashers and a handful of Assist Trophies and background characters were gathered in the movie theater, watching _Despicable Me 2_. **_(5)_** Everyone else was in some other part of the Smash Mansion or—in Samus and Captain Falcon's case—on a mission. Link, Cloud, Kirby, Meta Knight, Jigglypuff, Ness, Lucas, Olimar, Mr. Game & Watch, and Primid 0001 were gathered in the living room, sitting on the soft sofa.

Link glanced at the kids. "I'm surprised you guys didn't go watch the movie. I heard it was really good."

Kirby shrugged. "We just didn't feel like it." Jigglypuff, Ness, and Lucas nodded in agreement.

"Well, _I'm_ surprised Ike and Marth went," said Meta Knight.

"I'm pretty sure it was Ike who wanted to go," said Link. "He's a fan of many movies, though he doesn't show it. He probably just dragged Marth along for some accompaniment."

Cloud snickered. "Guess he didn't want to feel all _lonely_, huh…"

Jigglypuff glared at him. "Hey, that was mean!"

Ness poked Mr. Game & Watch. "Also, what's with you? You randomly disappeared from the library with Link and Primid 0001."

"That's because Primid 0001 suddenly had an idea of where the cartoon Smashers could've disappeared to," the two-dimensional Smasher explained.

"And that would be…?"

Link gestured vaguely towards the door. "The Brawl System."

"The System? Wha…" Lucas gasped with realization. "You mean they got pulled into that cyberspatial Subspace I was in a few months ago?!"

Primid 0001 nodded grimly. "Unfortunately."

Lucas made a face. "Ugh! That place was creepy! It was so dark and quiet… I'm feeling so worried about Toon and the others. Who knows what they'll meet in there?"

"Another brainwashed villain, I guess," suggested Jigglypuff.

"They may not be mind-controlled; from what I've seen of AntiSora, he's willingly working with Tabuu," Cloud pointed out.

"Let's make some guess about the supposed bad boss," Kirby said. "Umm… Magolor? Nightmare? Maybe even Galacta Knight?"

Meta Knight narrowed his eyes. "We defeated them all some years ago… Then again, Tabuu could have just used his powers to bring them back to life anytime. As for Galacta Knight, I'm quite certain that he wouldn't be around when Tabuu is. He doesn't seem to be the type that would work for someone."

"I'm pretty sure the Hylian villains are among Tabuu's choices," said Link. "Try Ghirahim, Zant, or Demise…or maybe…" He scowled. "…Dark Link… Ugh…"

"Hey, don't forget the villains from my place," Cloud cut in. "Assuming that Tabuu really _can_ revive dead people, then Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, and—_Sephiroth_—are definitely on his list." It sounded like he gagged on the last name.

"There are all sorts of bad guys in my world, ranging from Team Rocket to those people who wanna take over, change, or destroy the whole world," said Jigglypuff. "Honestly, though, I think they're too busy with their own Pokémon world-related stuff to be working with—uh, _for_—Tabuu."

"In our place, we have Giygias, Porky, and some other guys," said Lucas.

"Since we fought Porky during the Subspace Incident, we'll definitely be seeing him again," added Ness, frowning a little.

Mr. Game & Watch put a hand to his chin. "I don't think there are any villains from my world… Just burglars and things…"

At that moment, Red and Wolf burst into the living room, looking flushed.

"Hey, has anyone seen Darkrai anywhere?" the Pokémon Trainer asked breathlessly.

Lucas shook his head slowly. "Nope… That's what I want I know!"

Cloud glanced up at the clock—and his jaw dropped. "God… It's almost one! He's been gone for almost an entire day!"

"And a third of the freakin' time limit is already gone, dammit!" Wolf exploded.

Jigglypuff raised her hand. "I like to think of that as, 'We still have two thirds of the time limit'…"

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING, PUFFBALL!"

"I'm just being optimistic!"

"Right now, there's no time for optimism."

"But optimism is always enter than pessimism, no matter the time nor situation!"

"Something wrong with pessimism?"

"Oooh, of course there's something wrong with pessimism! It's so negative and everything, and I'm pretty sure negativity is bad for your health. It will make you think of bad stuff all the time. You'll have more nightmares than good dreams, and you can't blame Darkrai. Maybe you'll turn into a criminal if you keep thinking negatively. Being optimistic will definitely have a nice effect on you. It will make you all happy, and it'll also make your days all happy, and you'll think every day is going to be a happy day, and…"

_Somebody shoot me,_ Wolf thought.

"…and finally, being optimistic will make you believe that you can kick Tabuu's butt all the way to Mars!" Jigglypuff paused. "Wait, that won't be good. He'll just go on and take over Mars and all the planets around it…"

"To make a long story short, optimism is better than pessimism," Link said matter-of-factly.

Jigglypuff grinned. "Exactly!"

The front doors slammed.

"Hey, maybe Samus and Falcon are back from their mission," said Cloud, looking towards the sound.

Instead of the two Smashers, a stranger entered the living room. She was a tall, lean woman with unusually white skin and grayish-brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail. She wore the clothes of a yoga trainer—a blue tank top and dark gray cropped leggings. Her eyes, which were the color of her hair, looked anxious.

Kirby poked Meta Knight. "Look, she's carrying someone!"

In the woman's arms was yet another stranger—a little girl, probably only about eleven or twelve years old, wearing a pink dress with a white collar and sash, red shoes, and a red bow in her wavy golden hair. He skin was a ghastly shade of pale gray.

"Sorry I entered this place without knocking," the woman apologized, her voice smooth but full of worry, "but the hospital was five miles away, and this was the closest building…"

Red turned towards her. "Hospital? Are you hurt?"

The woman shook her head. "This girl is."

She gently set the unmoving girl on a couch next to the Smashers' sofa.

Lucas screamed. "Oh, my GOD!"

Three jagged lines ran diagonally across the girl's chest, bleeding. The dark red stains around the wound indicated that it had been bleeding badly not too long ago. Link, Cloud, Meta Knight, Wolf, and Primid 0001 looked at the slash marks and estimated that each line was probably an inch deep—a possibly fatal injury if left untreated.

"Oh, my _God_," Lucas cried again. "What _happened_?"

Ness instantly knew who the girl was.

_"PAULA!"_

Jigglypuff was astonished. "You _know_ her?!"

"We've been best friends even before the Subspace Incident…" Ness shoved Wolf out of the way and collapsed onto his knees, staring at Paula with horror. "Paula… How could this be?!"

"If you hadn't found her earlier, she could've bled to death," Cloud said to the woman. "Thank God you brought her here!"

The woman nodded. "I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do. Is there an infirmary in here?"

"The hospital wing is on the fourth floor!" Link said as he picked up Paula. "Meta Knight, fly to Master Hand's office and use the intercom to tell Colette Brunel to get her butt up to the wing! We'll definitely be needing some magic for this wound. Oh, and while you're at it, see if you can find that Assist Trophy called Raine Sage. Call her on the intercom if you need to. Now go! _Go!_"

The Hylian rushed out of the living room with Paula in his arms; the woman and Cloud were at his heels. Meta Knight's cape transformed into a pair of bat-like wings, and he, too, was gone in an instant. Now only Kirby, Jigglypuff, Ness, Lucas, Wolf, and Primid 0001 remained in the room.

Poor Kirby was shaking with fright. _"P-p-p-poyo…"_

Red patted the Star Warrior comfortingly. "Who could have done something so terrible…?"

Wolf snarled angrily. "It's gotta be a Subspace guy! Like a Sword Primid or something!"

Primid 0001 shook his head. "A Sword Primid's Beam Sword could never do such damage to the extent of Paula's wound. Besides, that wound looked more like an injury you'd get from a mauling incident."

"Puppits," said Jigglypuff. "They slash at you with their three claws. Paula had three marks on her chest. Maybe it was a Puppit!"

"No," said Primid 0001, shaking his head again. "Puppits are actually partially sentient. But they're just brainless killers who would go after anybody. There was a time when we didn't know about that, and subsequently, someone released ten Puppits from their cage one day. It cost us three gruesome hours and more than thirty Primids' lives to contain those Puppits. From that day on, the Subspace Army _never_ allowed a Puppit to freely roam on its own. The chances of Paula's attacker being a Puppit are therefore extremely low." **_(6)_**

"All right, scratch that, then," said Kirby.

The Smashers and the Primid all looked at him with funny expressions. Kirby turned red with embarrassment.

"Um… Pun not intended…"

"…I'll go up to the hospital wing and see f I can help," said Primid 0001, quickly leaving the room.

After watching him go, Ness coughed and said, "Okay. Any other ideas?"

"Ha… I'll probably get killed for saying this."

Darkrai stood at the doorway of the living room. **_(7)_**

"WHAT THE HELL, DARKRAI?!" roared Wolf. "Where were you all this time—hiding?"

The Legendary Pokémon quietly entered the room. "I guess you could say that."

The Star Wolf leader growled. "Dammit!"

"DARKRAI!" Ness leaped up and grabbed the hem of Darkrai's coat. "You won't believe what just happened here! This lady came in and she was carrying one of my best friends whose name is Paula and she was bleeding really badly and right now she's—"

"I _know_."

Ness stopped talking. His eyes grew wide when he realized what Darkrai had just said. "You…_know_…?!"

Red then noticed that the Legend looked rather sick…and he was hiding his left hand within the folds of his coat. "Hey, Darkrai… Is your arm hurt or something?"

Darkrai suddenly looked alarmed. "Say what?"

"Your arm. I can use one of my Potions," the Pokémon Trainer offered.

"Or we can get Mew or Celebi to heal it if it's really bad," added Jigglypuff.

Red made a face. "I'm fine with Celebi, but…_Mew_? Definitely not. I think she's gone high on sugar again. Peach isn't here, so she's free to break into the kitchen anytime."

Darkrai took a small step backwards. "It's… It's nothing."

Jigglypuff hopped towards him, as did Red and Wolf. "Come on, stop lying. I know you're hiding something."

Darkrai continued to slowly back away from the advancing Smashers. "Honestly, I'm not injured or hiding anything!"

There was a glint in Wolf's eye. "Oh, really? If that's true…"

Red beamed. "…then a pile of Smashers shouldn't be anything to you!"

And the three of them dived onto the surprised Legend.

"What in—?! _Gah!_"

Kirby joined the fray. "Woohoo! Smasher pileup!"

As the four Smashers and one Legend tumbled around, kicking up a thick cloud of dust, Ness and Lucas looked at each other.

"…Wanna j—"

_"No."_

"HA!" they heard Jigglypuff proclaim. "I got it, I got it—yeah! I got your left hand, Darkrai! Now let's take a good look at—_AIIIYEEEEE_!"

The Balloon Pokémon shot out of the dust, shrieking. "_AHHHHH!_ OH, MY ARCEUS! _AIIIIIYEEEEEEEE! _GET ME OUT OF HEREEEE!" She zipped into a bookshelf and stayed there.

"…Ohhh-kay?" said Lucas uncertainly.

"I bet she saw a spider or something," Ness suggested. "She's terrified of them."

The dust cloud finally settled down. Wolf, Red, and Kirby were all five feet—ten feet, in Jigglypuff's case—away from Darkrai, who was grasping his left hand.

"That…red stuff…" gasped Red, horrified. "Is it what I think it is…? I hope it's just paint…"

All it took for Wolf to identify the "red stuff" was a quick sniff. "…That stuff ain't paint. It's blood." He paused. "…_Human_ blood."

Kirby yelped. "A-a-and it's on _three_ of his fingers!"

"Three jagged lines…three fingers," Wolf muttered.

Lucas pointed a trembling finger at Darkrai. "About Paula… Earlier, you said you knew. Then that could only mean…"

Ness turned white with dread. All of a sudden, it felt like his heart was weighing down his entire body. "…No. No. Oh, _no_."

"Sorry, Ness." Darkrai's voice was strangely hollow. "The one who hurt Paula…was me."

-ooo

The moment the clock's minute hand landed on the 9, Fox-X immediately stopped what he was doing, exited the room, and turned left.

_Heck, I don't need to do any thinking,_ Fox thought. _My body knows what it's doing. Guess there's some artificial brain or something directing it. Or it could be James… Earlier, he said "our minds are linked," whatever that could mean. I suppose he can hear what I'm thinking right now…or something… I dunno…_

As Fox-X walked on, Fox continued to wonder.

_Project MGZ… Sounds pretty ominous, if you ask me. I don't know much about Metal Gear… What I do know is that they're nuclear weapons capable of mass destruction—no, only REX is capable of launching nukes… RAY is just a giant amphibious machine. In any case, any MG can instantly wipe out a population and reduce it to nothing. Scary…_

Fox-X passed the third door.

_I wonder how they'll tell me—no, _Fox-X_—to make the MG. I'm guessing that we're starting from scratch. But that would take a really long time, so… Maybe they also took REX, RAY, and the Gekko so they can _use their parts_!_

_But, then again, this is the _Subspace Army_ I'm talking about. If the humans of Solid Snake's world are able to built things like REX and RAY within a couple of years, then surely the Army can make one in less than a month. Who knows what they've got up their sleeves this time?_

Fox-X reached the fifth door. He raised his right hand and quietly knocked. "Fox-X coming in."

He turned the handle and pushed open the door, then closed it behind him, shutting himself in a small, dimly lit room.

And then…everything went black.

_Aghhh!_ yelled Fox. _What's going on?!_

Silvery mist drifted into his view.

"…Hm…mist. Kinda like the first time." Fox gasped. "Hey, I can talk!"

"Whenever you're here, you can talk."

The mist parted to reveal James McCloud. Fox tried to step away from him, but again, he found himself unable to move. "Why are we here? What do you have to say?"

James was silent.

"Is it something so private that you had to have the conversation _here_? In my _mind_?"

The other fox did not say anything for another minute or two. Then he said—

"It's about…my feelings towards you, Fox."

The Star Fox leader's face grew hot. "Say _what_?!"

James had a funny expression on his face. "Th-that's not what I meant! Stop thinking like that!" He pulled on his ears in frustration. "Gah!"

There was an awkward pause.

"…Well… What I mean is…" James swallowed as he looked at Fox from head to toe. "…Fox… There's something about you that…awakens something buried deep within me."

"What is it? Fatherly affection?" Fox asked sarcastically.

"Actually…you're kind of correct."

Fox's face began to burn again. "…Eh?"

James walked towards Fox and stopped when he was directly in front of him. "I don't know what it is. I'm one hundred percent sure that I'm _not_ the real James McCloud." He looked off to the side. "Just a mere clone…"

Fox decided to remain quiet for now.

"I don't want to hand you over to Tabuu. That man is wicked. No… He isn't even a man. He's worse than that. He wants to make everyone his slaves, be it an ally or an enemy. I'm just his slave… Is my only purpose just to serve him?"

"James…" Fox muttered. "What are you talking about?"

"Only AntiSora likes to serve Tabuu," James continued, ignoring the ex-Smasher. "He's a sadist. He's _insane_. But no one can do anything about that.

"As for me…I'm different. AntiSora views all his enemies—and allies, even—as beings lower than him. He treats his enemies and all the Primids like trash…" He looked into Fox's emerald green eyes. "There's something funny about you…"

"…Sounds to me like you've got my dad's personality or something inside you…somewhere," Fox said.

"Yes, that could be."

Neither fox spoke for a few minutes.

"…Fox, there's something I must tell you," James muttered.

Fox nodded. "Go ahead. It's not bad, is it?"

"No, not really. It's… It's about your mind-controlling device."

Fox narrowed his eyes. "What about it?"

"I made it."

"…So?"

"What do you mean, 'so'?!" James sounded outraged. "It's extremely important! Look, Fox—all the other devices were made by AntiSora and some Primid mechanics. I was ordered to use one of the devices they had made. But _no_. I went ahead and made my own. Don't you know what that means?!"

Fox raised his brows. "…So my device is _different_…"

"I designed it so that only _I_ could give you orders, and so that I could hear your thoughts and mentally communicate you," James explained. "Honestly… I don't want Tabuu or AntiSora to use you as a tool. You're more than that. You're—"

The fox abruptly stopped and twitched his left ear. "_Damn!_ Someone's coming. Time to wake up, Fox."

"Wait a minute! What do you mean by—"

The mist disappeared. Fox was returned to reality, and Fox-X woke up. James scrambled onto his feet just as the door to Room 13 opened.

"…Oh, hi," said AntiSora, grinning like a maniac. "Did I interrupt something?"

"…No," James grumbled. "I was just explaining some things about Metal Gear RAXA to the boy."

_Metal Gear…_RAXA_?_ wondered Fox. _You mean there are MGs other than REX, RAY, and Gekko?!_

AntiSora blinked his yellow eyes, then shrugged. "All right, then… Don't take too long or I'll personally drag you to out of here." He left the two foxes, the gray chains on his clothes clinking noisily.

James did not move for a couple minutes. Finally, he said, "Get up, Fox-X."

The ex-Smasher did so. "What are your orders, sir?"

"Hold on." James stared into Fox-X's red eyes…

_"Fox, you hear me?"_

_Uh-huh,_ Fox answered. _That was a close one._

_"Indeed it was. Meet me at 4:30 AM tomorrow. Same place."_

_What?! Why so early?!_ Fox whined.

_"AntiSora _hates_ early mornings. There's a low chance that we'll be seeing him at that time."_

_…Fine. Jeez._

_"Good boy. Don't forget."_

James cut the mental link. "Fox-X…" He paused. "Just…continue with the project."

"Yes, sir." Fox-X left Room 13. James watched him go.

_Meanwhile, I have to figure out what's wrong with me…_

-ooo-

"The one who hurt Paula was you," Ness said again.

"Yes," Darkrai said again.

Silence.

"…The one who hurt her was you."

"Yes. It was me."

Silence.

Ness began to boil with rage. "Darkrai…I'm gonna_ KILL YOU_!"

Powered up by his PSI, he flew towards the Legend with amazing speed. Darkrai took a step to the left, and Ness shot right past him. Just before he could slam into a wall, the psychic boy swerved towards the right, did a U-turn, and went back. He held out his hands, which were shining with a greenish-blue light.

_"PK Flash!"_

A ball of light zoomed out from Ness' hands and flew towards Darkrai. The Legend swiped it aside with a well-timed Shadow Claw. Lucas squealed and ducked just as Darkrai's move whooshed right over his head.

"Hey, guys! Save the brawls for the Brawl System!" Red yelped, taking cover behind the sofa.

"Yeah, Master Hand ain't gonna appreciate it if he had to repair the living room—again!" Wolf added, bringing out his Blaster just in case things started getting out of hand.

Neither Ness nor Darkrai appeared to have heard the Smashers, unfortunately.

_"PK Thunder!"_ shouted Ness, throwing out a fast-moving ball of lightning.

Darkrai's eyes flashed cyan and…red? _"Shadow Ball!"_ A sphere of darkness intercepted the PK Thunder. Upon impact, they exploded and canceled each other out.

"Y'know, Jigglypuff, we may have to resort to the microphone!" Kirby yelled from behind the sofa, cowering along with Red.

"Ehhh?!" shouted Jigglypuff, hiding in the same bookshelf as before. "I'll make the whole mansion fall asleep!"

_"PK Flash!"_

Once again, Darkrai stopped the attack from damaging the living room. "Ness, calm down. I can explain."

"I don't need any explanations! _PK Fire!_" A small ember flew out out Ness' hands.

"Arceus, no! _Quick Attack!_" The speed of Darkrai's move was able to put out the flame before it could land on something and explode. "That was dangerous, Ness! You could've set fire on something—or some_one_!"

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO, YOU JERK! _PK—_"

At that moment, Ness' body became outlined in blue. He tried to move his arm but found that he could not. "Hey! What gives?!"

_"That's…enough…Ness."_

Mewtwo appeared in the living with a blinding flash of light. He was holding out his right hand, which was glowing with psychic power.

_"You heard him, Ness. Let him explain before you go and kill him."_

"He practically murdered one of my best friends!" Ness raged, kicking around in midair. "So I have to—"

_"NESS."_ A dangerous gleam entered Mewtwo's purple eyes. _"STOP."_

"Tch…!" Ness stopped flailing around. "Here! Can you let me go?"

_"First, you must promise me that you won't attack Darkrai when I let you go. If you do, I swear by the high and mighty Arceus' name that I will twist all your limbs off. Promise?"_

Lucas shuddered when he heard the "twist all your limbs off" part, while Ness turned a little pale.

"…Fine. I promise."

_"You'd better keep your word, or you'll be sorry."_

With that, Mewtwo released Ness from his psychic hold. Ness floated back to the ground and landed next to Lucas, breathing heavily. Lucas, with some hesitation, reached out and put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"N-Ness…you okay?"

"…Yeah… I'm fine…"

Mewtwo landed after making sure that Ness wouldn't launch another move on Darkrai. _"Darkrai, I think it's about time we told them the truth."_

"Yes…" Darkrai said grimly. "It's time."

Red nervously crawled out from behind the sofa, followed by a shivering Kirby. "The truth about what?"

Darkrai looked straight at the Pokémon Trainer, making him stare back in fear. "The truth…about my past…and how the pasts of all the Pokémon Smashers are intertwined—" he pointed at Red "—including yours."

Red looked surprised. "My past? How can it be linked with yours and the Pokémon Smashers'?"

Jigglypuff's ears perked up as she cautiously floated out of the bookshelf. "My past, too?"

Darkrai wisely chose to sit in a couch away from Ness. "It's a rather long story."

Mewtwo smiled wryly. _"Make yourselves comfortable."_

Darkrai crossed his arms and closed his one visible eye; his right eye was covered by his white hair. "As all Pokémon should know, there are several alternate Pokémon worlds. There are three main ones—and since none of them have official names, I'll give them names.

"First, we have the Anime World. I call it that because that's where Ash Ketchum lives, and we all know about the Pokémon anime that stars him. The Anime World is where Jigglypuff and I come from."

Jigglypuff blinked her blue eyes. "That's right. I kept hearing about Ash Ketchum. I never would've guessed that _you_ came from the same world, though."

"Next, there's the Game World. All the main video games of the _Pokémon_ series—_Red_, _Blue_, _Yellow_, _Gold_, _Silver_, _Crystal_, _Ruby_, _Sapphire_, _Emerald_, _Diamond_, _Pearl_, _Platinum_, _Black_,_White_, _Black 2_, _White 2_, _X_, and _Y_—are based on the events that occur in this world. Red and Mewtwo come from the Game World."

Red looked at Mewtwo, who simply nodded. "That's right… We actually knew each other. For some reason, I never felt like catching him, even though I knew he was a Legendary Pokémon."

_"Perhaps it was because of our friendship."_

"Yeah, it could be."

"And finally…the Mystery Dungeon World."

"Mystery Dungeon?" said Wolf. "Isn't that the title of the game Jigglypuff is always screaming about? You know…" He mimicked the Balloon Pokémon's high-pitched voice. "'DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! _DIE_, YOU DARN LEGENDARY POKÉMON OF DARKNESS WHO CERTAINLY DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE LEGENDARY… GOSH, WHAT WILL ARCEUS _SAY_?!' That sort of thing."

Jigglypuff shook her fist. "…I will draw on your face when you go to bed tonight, Wolf. _With a permanent marker._"

"Oh, I'm, like, _sooooooo_ scared," Wolf said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"As I was saying," Darkrai interrupted loudly, glaring at the two Smashers, "there's the Mystery Dungeon World. _Explorers of Darkness_, _Time_, and _Sky_ are based on the events that occur there. And that's the world where…" He swallowed. "…_it_ all began."

"_What_ all began?" Kirby asked impatiently.

Mewtwo changed into his human form. "A chain of disappearances that occurred in all three worlds," he said non-telepathically.

"In March 2008, the first signs of the Subspace Army began to appear," said Darkrai. **_(8)_**

"They were looking for easy access to all the worlds that all the Smashers came from," continued Mewtwo. "One of the first worlds they reached were the three Pokémon worlds."

"Up until April 2008, everything was peaceful in AW, GW, and MDW," Darkrai went on. "Then the worst villain you could possibly think of came to be." **_(8)_**

"Worse that _Tabuu_?!" yelled Lucas, frightened.

Mewtwo shook his head. "Tabuu is the worst of all villains, but this one was the worst villain in all of Pokémon history. His name was…Darkrai."

Immediately, the Smashers pushed their sofa to a spot ten feet away from Darkrai, who raised an inquisitive brow.

"Not this one," Mewtwo said with a small smile.

With simultaneous sighs of relief, the Smashers put the sofa back to where it was.

"The Darkrai I'm telling you about came from MDW," said Mewtwo. "Arceus, his mind was so _twisted_. He sought to overthrow Arceus and take over his position as god and ruler of all Pokémon. By warping time and space, he hoped to envelop MDW in everlasting darkness so he could rule the world at full power." The Legend closed his purple eyes. "He might have been successful if it hasn't been for Team Alpha."

"Team Alpha?" said Wolf.

"Yes," said Mewtwo. "Team Alpha—a legendary exploration team that saved MDW _twice_. To think that it started out as a couple of novice explorers… Most Pokémon would laugh!" He set his mouth in a straight line. "However…it's true. Team Alpha started as a rookie exploration team that slowly grew into the most famous and powerful team in all of MDW. Everyone, even the youngsters, knew the leaders' names. Their names were…Zane and Taki." **_(9)_**

"Wait, what?" said Red. "Zane? Taki? Didn't Pikachu mention those names in that letter?" He gasped. "You can't _possibly_ mean—"

"But that's exactly what I mean," Mewtwo said calmly. "Pikachu—no, _Zane_—is from the Mystery Dungeon World." He paused. "Lucario doesn't know it, but he's from MDW as well."

"What do you mean, 'Lucario doesn't know it'?" Kirby asked.

"We'll explain later," said Darkrai. His eyes were still closed. "Now…moving on. As Mewtwo said, MDW's Darkrai wished to cover MDW in darkness by distorting time and space. The damage he caused was so severe that it spread to AW and GW—and affected some Pokémon in both worlds." He pointed to himself. "That includes myself."

"You, too?" Wolf muttered. "How'd it affect you?"

"Not yet, Wolf, not yet." Darkrai folded his arms again. "Has any of you seen that movie called _The Rise of Darkrai_?"

Jigglypuff, Red, and Lucas raised their hands. "It was a really good movie," said Lucas, and the two other Smashers nodded in agreement. "So, what about it?"

"Remember how Dialga and Palkia fought each other above Alamos Town?" said Darkrai. "Tonio said they were fighting because their dimensions had collided, and they were never supposed to meet each other. But wait…" He held up a finger. "He never explained _how_ those dimensions had collided, did he?"

"Now that you mention it," Red said slowly, "you're right…"

"For the first half of the movie, strange time- and space-related phenomena took place," said Mewtwo. "Darkrai—_our_ Darkrai, the one from AW—was to blame. Later, they discovered that he was innocent."

Darkrai smiled wryly. "They were half right, though—about the identity of the culprit of the dimensional collision being Darkrai. More specifically, MDW's Darkrai."

"So those distortions that guy made were _that_ bad?" shouted Wolf, astonished. "So bad that they caused two of the most powerful Legendary Pokémon to battle?!"

Mewtwo nodded. "That all happened in May 2008." **_(8)_**

Kirby shuddered. "March, April, then May… It's scary how all those events line up…"

"Now let's talk about why Darkrai went berserk on Paula," said Mewtwo.

Ness instantly balled up his fists. Jigglypuff sat on his head.

"Calm down, Ness…"

Darkrai waited for the boy to settle down before speaking. "In May 2008, there was the battle between Dialga and Palkia, which was caused by the warping of the time-space continuum, courtesy of MDW's Darkrai. The distortions affected some Pokémon, including myself." He sighed. "The reason why I attacked Paula…is because of the alternate personality I got from the distortions in 2008."

"…You have bipolar disorder?" asked Wolf.

"I guess you could call it that. Ever since the Subspace Army reappeared, it's been getting more difficult to put that alternate personality under control." Darkrai put his right hand on his head as if he had a headache. "It's just waiting to jump out and take over. That personality is just insane. It wants to kill. Unfortunately, I lost control of it when I saw Paula walking around in Dusk Forest."

Ness' voice was barely above a whisper. "Darkrai… Is there any way for us to tell that you're experiencing your other personality?"

"Actually, yes." The Dark-type Legend raised his head. "I was getting to that." He pointed to his hair. "You know how I always keep my hair this way so it covers my right eye?"

All the Smashers nodded.

"Every Darkrai in every world has its hair like that," said Darkrai. "However, I have my own reasons."

"And they are?" asked Red.

In reply, Darkrai lifted his hair over his right eye.

Lucas screamed again. "OH, MY _GOD_!"

Most people would have thought that both of Darkrai's eyes would be cyan with white irises in Pokémon form, and white with cyan irises in human form. Now the Smashers in the living room knew that was false.

Darkrai's left eye—the exposed one—had a white sclera and a cyan iris with a white pupil.

His right eye—the one that was always covered by his hair—was the complete opposite.

"The part that's supposed to be white is _black_…" Red whispered.

"The iris is supposed to be blue, but it's _red_…" Kirby murmured.

"And the white pupil is _black_!" Jigglypuff finished in a hushed voice.

Darkrai quickly covered his right eye with his hair again. "And _that_ is why I make sure it's always covered. _Always._"

"Oh…God…" Wolf was chilled to the bone. "How the _hell_ did that happen? Is it permanent?"

"Yes, it's permanent." Darkrai narrowed his eyes. "That means…my alternate personality—the one that wants to kill—is _permanent_."

"We believe this is linked to the Subspace Army," said Mewtwo. "The only way to get rid of it is to kill Tabuu. At least, that's what we're hoping for."

"…Dang," Red muttered, grinding his teeth.

"In that same year, there was a series of unexplainable disappearances," said Darkrai.

Jigglypuff shrieked. "OHHHH! I remember now! I was just enjoying myself one day when a little green guy swooped down and kidnapped me! Later, I learned it was a Primid! I was forced to work for the Subspace Army for a pretty long time… Later, Lucario, Snake, and Meta Knight were able to free me from the Battleship Halberd while it was still being controlled by the fake Mr. Game & Watches."

Red put a hand to his chin. "I think I just remembered something, too. I was also kidnapped by the Subspace Army… I think I was trying to catch a Fearow when I was suddenly taken to the Halberd. I only had Squirtle with me; all my other Pokémon were left behind." He looked sad. "I miss them all so much… I managed to escape to the Ruined Zoo, which was where I met Lucas!" He fist-bumped the boy, who grinned back at him.

"There were also two disappearances from MDW," Mewtwo said. "Thanks to the time-space distortions, the Subspace Army could easily locate MDW. Zane of Team Alpha mysteriously disappeared one night… His partner Taki practically tore apart the entire town, searching for him. The other Pokémon was a Riolu named Ferron who could somehow wield the Aura Sphere move despite being a Riolu, which normally should be unable to learn Aura Sphere until it evolves into Lucario. **_(10)_** The Subspace Army took him because of his unusually powerful aura abilities. Then…" He looked at Darkrai, who nodded. "Then…he was forced to undergo evolution—_without_ his evolutionary item, a Sun Ribbon, nor any friendship in the daytime." **_(11)_**

"WITH_OUT_?" shouted Red, outraged. "They forced him to evolve to a Lucario when the process was incomplete?! No evolutionary item or daytime friendship?! That's just _cruel_!"

"Then they brainwashed poor Ferron into working in the Army," Mewtwo continued. "One day, he was meditating at the top of the Glacial Peak. And then, he saw three small figures approaching him. One was a Star Warrior whose face was concealed by a metallic mask. The others were two children who carried mallets and wore parkas."

The Smashers gasped when they heard these descriptions.

"Meta Knight…and the Ice Climbers?!" exclaimed Jigglypuff. "So that means…Ferron is…"

"Yes." Darkrai's voice was flat. "Ferron is the Lucario we all know as a fellow Smasher."

"Holy crap," muttered Wolf. "Everything's connected to the Subspace Army."

"After Meta Knight and Ferron's battle, in which Meta Knight won, Ferron's memory of his past vanished," said Darkrai. "From then on, he knew himself as Lucario, the Aura Pokémon who was one of the Super Smash Brothers and best friends with Solid Snake. Right now, he knows nothing of his origin… He knows nothing about his life in the Mystery Dungeon World, nor does he know anything about his service for the Subspace Army." He paused. "He also doesn't know anything about how the Army performed several experiments on him."

"…So _that's_ why you said 'he doesn't know it,'" Kirby remarked softly.

"The experiments gave him a new power," said Mewtwo. "_Evil_ power. Currently, it's still lying dormant within him. But…just like Darkrai's alternate personality, it can come back anytime without any warning."

"What can we do now?" asked Ness quietly.

"For now…all we can do is wait."

They were all silent.

-ooo-

In the hospital wing…

Colette skipped back to where Link, Cloud, Meta Knight, Primid 0001, and the woman in yoga clothes were, followed by Raine Sage, an Assist Trophy. "Good news, everyone! I was able to heal most of Paula's wound with my magic. The rest of it can heal on its own. She'll have three permanent scars on her chest, but that's nothing."

Link smiled, feeling relieved. "That's good to hear, Colette!"

"How is she doing right now?" asked Cloud, trying to peek through the window and into the room where the girl lay.

"Oh, she's perfectly fine," answered Raine. "She just needs some rest. If all goes well, she should be able to walk in a few hours or so."

"That fast, eh? Ness will be very pleased," commented Meta Knight.

The woman in the yoga clothes frowned. "Too bad I wasn't able to rescue her basket as well. Those cakes looked delicious. They were ruined when they spilled onto the floor, though."

"How long were they on the ground?" asked Primid 0001.

The woman glared at him. "…You believe that three-second rule, don't you?"

"Hey, that's what _I_ learned," the Primid defended himself.

"Don't trust those rules. Germs will start crawling onto spilled food the very moment it touches a surface."

"…Ah. I see."

"That reminds me," said Link, turning to the woman. "We never formally introduced ourselves." He offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Link, the Hero of Time."

"Nice to meet you, Link," the woman said, taking his hand and shaking it. "I've heard a lot about you."

"My name is Meta Knight." Meta Knight bowed. "I'm a knight from Dreamland."

"I'm Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER," said Cloud, grinning. "Don't touch my Fusion Sword."

"I am called Primid 0001," the Primid politely introduced himself.

"My name's Raine Sage," said Raine. "These people are all Smashers; I'm an Assist Trophy."

"And I'm Colette Brunel!" finished Colette, waving. "Please excuse me if I act very clumsily in front of you."

The woman smiled. "It's nice to know you all," she said warmly. "I actually don't have a name, so…" She laughed, then pointed to the two words on her tank top.

"…_Wii Fit_?" Link read, confused.

The woman nodded. "That's right. I'm the Wii Fit Trainer. Since I don't have a name, you can just call me…Trainer." **_(12)_**

* * *

><p><span><strong>PREVIEW — Chapter 30<strong>

"If only you knew, Lucario…" AntiSora shook his head, smiling sadly. "If only you knew the truth…"

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Paula Polestar

**Age:** 12

**Species:** Human

**World of origin:** _EarthBound_ universe

**Video game(s):** _EarthBound_

**Quote:** "I'm calling out to you who I've never met… I'm calling our friend who we've never met…"

**Occupation:** Paula is a resident of the town of Twoson. She boasts of powerful telepathic and PSI abilities. Ness first learned of her existence after she contacted him through telepathy in a dream. After he rescued her from Porky Minch, Mr. Carpainter, and Monotoli, she joined Ness' team. The team, which in the end consisted of Ness, Paula, Jeff Andonuts, and Poo, later went on to fight and defeat Giygas. She is now close friends with Ness.

**Fun fact:** Of all things she could use, her primary weapons are frying pans.

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

**_(1)_** It's another James McCloud quote! (HINT, HINT!)

**_(2)_** If you read Chapter 28 carefully, you'll realize that I'd shortened the time limit from _twenty-four_ hours to _twelve_. Twenty-four hours seemed too long, so…

**(3)** In the Smash World, there are novelizations, graphic novels, and manga of every single video game ever made! Those lucky Smashers…

**_(4)_** According to the Aselia Wiki, Colette is very clumsy. Character flaw, perhaps?

**(5)** WELL, WHO _DOESN'T_ LIKE _DESPICABLE ME_?!

**(6)** Puppits have always given me the creeps. When I first saw them in _The Subspace Emissary_, I felt like they weren't just puppets being controlled by strings—they looked…_alive_. Yeesh.

**(7)** I just realized that I'd mentioned Darkrai to you so many times—without ever telling you what he looks like! Sorry about that! Anyway, since FanFiction doesn't allow links, go to_Zerochan_ and type_ /289660_ after _net_.

**_(8)_** Isn't it scary how the release dates of _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, _Explorers of Darkness/Time_, and _The Rise of Darkrai_ just line up like that? That's right—I didn't make up those dates! _They're the release dates of the aforementioned titles!_ Cool, huh? Go to Wikipedia if you don't believe me!

**_(9)_** Zane and Taki are the names of the Pikachu and Piplup that make up Team Alpha in my own _Explorers of Darkness_ game!

_**(10)**_ Ferron is the name of the Riolu in my other fanfic, In the Shadows of Time! Did you recognize it?

**_(11)_** In the main series of video games, Riolu needs a Soothe Bell and friendship in the daytime to evolve into Lucario. In _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_, Riolu only needs a Sun Ribbon to evolve. Evolution in the Smash World is different—it combines the two ways of evolution. So, in order for a Riolu in the Smash World to evolve, it needs a Sun Ribbon and daytime friendship. But it looks like our poor Smasher friend had to evolve without either of these…

**_(12)_** It just doesn't seem right for the Wii Fit Trainer to have a name. It just…doesn't. (Well, not now. We'll see.)

* * *

><p><strong><em>Now <em>****that_ took a pretty long time to write. I hope you liked it!_**

**_GASP! There's something weird about Fox's mind-controlling device! What could it be?_**

**Fox:** Well, my device was made by James, so he has complete control over me. Well, _Fox-X_, to be more exact.

**James:** _*grinning*_ …Fox-X, jump into that oven.

**Fox-X:** Yes, sir. _*goes to the oven*_

**Fox:** _*screaming*_ GAHHHHH! THAT'S THE ONLY THING I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THIS DEVICE!

**_Okay, that's great. And—GASP! Could the cartoon Smashers really be trapped inside the virtual Subspace from _Chapter 16: Corrupted Virtuality_?!_**

**Primid 0001:** It's very likely.

**Toon Link:** It's _very_ likely because we ARE in the virtual Subspace!

**Primid 0001:** _*confused*_ Huh?

**Tetra:** _*slaps Toon Link*_ Don't give away any spoilers!

**Toon Link:** Hey! The readers already know we're stuck here! It won't hurt anyone if we just said so.

**Vaati:** _*matter-of-factly*_ No one at the Smash Mansion knows for sure.

**Toon Link:** _*facepalm*_

**_Thank you for your answers. And—GASP! What's with Darkrai?!_**

**Mewtwo:** We already explained.

**Darkrai:** _*grumpily*_ And it was a really long explanation…

**Mewtwo:** So don't ask us again. Just read it again.

**_Fine. And—GASP! Will Paula be all right?!_**

**Ness:** I sure hope so, or I'll… _*glares at Darkrai*_

**Darkrai:** _*examines a crack on the ground*_ Hmm, this is a very interesting crack on the ground.

**Colette:** Raine and I patched her up the best we could, so don't worry so much about her, Ness!

**Lucas:** She's right, Ness. Stop thinking about murdering Darkrai or you'll be charged with first-degree murder or something!

**Ness:** _*incredulously*_ …First-degree murder? _Really?_

**Lucas:** Yes, _really_!

**_All right, you guys, shut up. And—GASP! The Wii Fit Trainer is here!_**

**Wii Fit Trainer:** What, is there something special about that? I'm just passing through. And stop gasping.

**_Yes, there is something VERY special about that. No, you're NOT just passing through. And no, I'll NOT stop gasping—GASP!_**

**Wii Fit Trainer:** …You're creepy.

**_Credits to the EarthBound Wiki, The Legend of Zelda Wiki, and the Final Fantasy Wiki for the lists of final bosses. Credits to the Aselia Wiki for some information about Colette Brunel. Credits to Bulbapedia for the timeline of events that occur in each of the three main Pokémon worlds, which I managed to mix up and still make sense…I think. And credits to _STAR Shadow Magician_ for the amazing art! Whoever and wherever you are, you and your art rock!_**

**_See you next time in Chapter 30! Remember to REVIEW! (Please!)_**


	30. Who Are You?

**_It's Chapter 30! It's an unusually short chapter! I wonder why?_**

**_There are more _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ references near the end… Just telling ya! All right, let's get going. Enjoy! _**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything here!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 30: Who Are You?<strong>

* * *

><p>Toon Link had a knack of making crazy journeys. When he just turned twelve, he was already off on a mission to rescue his sister Aryll and defeat Ganondorf, just like all the Links before him. After Ganondorf's fall, he went sailing around the world with Tetra, a girl he had befriended during his travels. He encountered all sorts of bizarre things, from talking boats to ghost ships and magical train tracks to the tiny, thumb-sized Picori, not to mention the time he touched the Four Sword and split into four (rather argumentative) Links.<p>

He would have gladly skipped Subspace if he had known about it earlier.

Toon Link was considered the "latecomer" of the Great Invasion of Subspace. Instead of hitching a ride on the Battleship Halberd, then transferring onto one of the smaller airships when the Subspace Gunship destroyed the Halberd, he went to Subspace on his own, riding on the King of Red Lions. By the time he reached the area of Subspace above the debris-filled sea, the other Smashers were long gone.

On his own, he walked into the eerie realm of Subspace and fought through crowds of Subspace Army foes. Then, in the distance, he caught sight of a ripple of crimson light. Right after that, the places he had been to long before—the Midair Stadium, the Forest, Glacial Peak, the Ruins—were bunched together into a maze of worlds. Shortly afterwards, he came upon the trophies of several fallen Smashers. Mario, Wolf, Samus, Mr. Game & Watch, the Pokémon Trainer…

This time, being a latecomer had saved his life.

Later, when all the Smashers were revived and reunited, he fought Tabuu alongside his new friends and allies. After Tabuu's defeat, all trace of Subspace vanished, and the world was, once again, at peace.

Never would he have imagined that he would be back in Subspace, and that Tabuu was still alive.

Of all the people he could have been traveling with, one of them had to be Dark Link.

And of all the enemies he could have been facing, they had to be—

"Stupid…_Shaydas_!"

Toon Link was complaining loudly as he trudged through the desolate, Subspatial plain. Behind him, Tetra, Vaati, and Dark Link did their best to stay quiet and follow him.

"Seriously, that was already the eighth Shaydas in fifteen minutes! And I swear they've gotten smarter since the Subspace Incident a few years back! Now they're actually protecting their little pink core things! Whenever we try to shoot some projectiles at the core things, the Shaydas block the projectiles and keep their little pink core things untouched! That left us with no choice but to engage them in sword-to-sword combat! And it wasn't even a fair sword-to-sword fight! They knew our attacks had a shorter range than theirs, so they just kept slicing and dicing and slicing and dicing and slicing and dicing until we became mincemeat! Only we didn't become mincemeat because I slashed them with my Master Sword and Tetra smacked them with her bombs and Vaati cut them with his wind moves! Dark Link, on the other hand—"

"CAN YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?" hollered Dark Link. "YOU'RE DRIVING ME NUTS!"

Toon Link blew a wet raspberry at him. "Too bad! Deal with it! _Nyaaaaaaa!_"

Tetra tried to resist the urge to reach into her bomb bag. "…Can you guys just shut up and keep walking? With all that yelling, we're sure to attract more attention."

"If you don't stop arguing, I'll push you into the path of the next Shaydas we encounter," Vaati threatened, his red eyes shining mischievously.

Toon Link and Dark Link just folded their arms and let out two annoyed huffs.

Tetra nervously poked Vaati. "You're going to push them into the path of the next Shaydas we encounter? Um… Don't jinx things up."

At that moment, a Shaydas appeared before them.

"Aw, _jeez_!" groaned Tetra. "You really _did_ jinx things up, Vaati!"

Shaydas were among the Smashers' most hated enemies. One would initially think that a Shaydas was a ten-foot-tall, black-colored creature with two heads, two long blades, and a reddish core for a chest, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that a Shaydas was actually composed of thousands of shadow bugs. For those who had no projectile-based attacks, such as Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff, it was very difficult to fight a Shaydas.

Vaati glanced at Dark Link and shoved him into the Shaydas' path.

"H-hey! What do you want me to do, serve as a distraction?"

"Yes. And I had to keep my word, anyway."

"Tch—damn it!"

"You're welcome."

Toon Link quickly jumped away from the Shaydas and brought out his bow. He set an arrow in it and took aim at the Shaydas' core. "Dark, keep distracting him!"

"Whatever! Just hurry up!"

Tetra pulled out a bomb and tied it to the head of Toon Link's arrow. After she lit the fuse, Toon Link let the arrow fly. Vaati summoned some small blasts of wind to increase the arrow's speed. Dark Link caught a glimpse of the arrow with Tetra's bomb, and he hopped aside.

_Boom!_

When the smoke cleared, the Shaydas was staggering but still standing upright.

"One more hit should do it," said Tetra.

Toon Link tossed his boomerang. The Shaydas sidestepped and easily dodged it, then prepared to cut down Dark Link.

Then the boomerang wheeled back and scored a direct hit on the Shaydas' core.

"Ninth Shaydas down, and Farore knows how many more!" Vaati said, sounding pleased as he watched the remains of the Shaydas float away.

"That's not helpful," groaned Toon Link as he caught his boomerang and put it away.

Dark Link rejoined the cartoon Smashers. "What's with all the Shaydas? I thought they liked darkness. I'm a being born from Link's shadow." He shifted his red eyes towards the left. "They shouldn't have attacked me…"

The group slowly traveled on, once again surrounded by the eerie silence.

"This place gives me the creeps," Tetra remarked, taking a step closer to Toon Link.

Vaati just rolled his eyes. "You can say that again."

"…I just remembered something," Dark Link said suddenly. "When AntiSora abandoned me, I discovered that I wasn't the only one in here." He narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember. "It wasn't too long ago. Three or four days, maybe. Somehow, he knew who I was." He frowned. "He said something like, 'Hey, you're Dark Link, aren't you? You're from one of those _Zelda_ games I played when I was a kid.'"

"What did he look like?" asked Toon Link.

"He was wearing a tan trench coat and a blue turtleneck, I think. He also had glasses and brown hair. He said his name was Hal or something." He paused and added, "Then he told me to call him Otacon."

Toon Link was shocked. "Otacon? Really?!"

Tetra looked at him. "Who's that?"

"One of Snake's friends… I heard he's a genius hacker!" The cartoon Hero of Time's eyes were sparkling. "If we can get him to come to the Smash Mansion, he'll make my job of breaking into Samus' laptop _way_ easier!"

"…What are you planning to do with Samus' computer?"

Toon Link shrugged. "Well, y'know… Stuff."

"But why would a guy like Otacon be here, though?" Vaati wondered.

Dark Link shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe the Subspace Army used him as a guinea pig, too. In any case, he's gone now."

_Jeez, he sounds so ignorant about it all!_ Vaati mentally fumed.

Tetra shivered. "I hope he's okay."

Nobody said anything else as they walked on.

"…Hm," Toon Link muttered. "I'm so bored. Let's sing a song."

Everyone gawked at him. Toon Link stared back.

"…What? It's just a suggestion!"

Tetra had a funny look on her face. Then she began to sing.

_"I see Marioooooo…Luigi, toooooooo…"_

Vaati was horrified. "Oh, no. Please don't say she's singing—"

_"He's Player Ooooone… He's Player Twooooooo…"_

Dark Link sighed. "Yeah, she is. She's singing the _Super Mario World_ parody of _What a Wonderful World_. Just great."

_"And I think to myselllllllllf…Super Mario Worllllllld!"_ Tetra sang loudly.

The corner of Toon Link's mouth twitched.

_"I see towers so tallllllll…they make me afraiiiiiiiid…"_

"Oh, no!" Vaati groaned, covering his ears. "Not you, too!"

_"But those scary castleeeeees…aren't very well maaaaade…"_

_"And I think to myselllllllllf…"_ Toon Link and Tetra chorused together, _"SUPER MARIO WORLLLLLLD!"_

"…Ugh," grunted Dark Link.

_"The shells of flying turtles, so pretty in the sky…"_

_"They're also kind of deadly—don't touch them or you'll die!"_

_"I hear Yoshi making noise like a…"_ Tetra stopped. "I forgot this part."

Toon Link shrugged. "Just skip it. Anyway… _He's really saying—"_

_"—'PLEASE GET OFF!'"_ Tetra yelled happily.

_"When you win the gaaaaame…there's a Yoshi paraaaaade…"_

_"Mario and Luigi… They're just trying to get laiiiiid!"_

_"And I think to myselllllllllf…SUPER MARIO WORLLLLLLLD!"_

"Thank Hylia! It's almost over!" Vaati whispered eagerly to Dark Link, who looked just as excited.

_"Oh, I think to myselllllllllf…SUPER MARIO WORLLLLLLLLLLLLD!"_

"Yes, it's finished!" Dark Link exploded.

Toon Link and Tetra looked at each other and nodded. Toon Link announced, "Now let's do that song about beer on the wall!"

Vaati and Dark Link were dismayed. "Dammit!"

_"One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beer! Take one down and pass it around—ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall! Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer! Take one down and pass it around—ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!"_

The two of them struggled to march onward with Toon Link and Tetra sing from one hundred all the way to zero.

_"Two bottles of beer on the wall, two bottles of beer! Take one down and pass it around—one bottle of beer on the wall! One bottle of beer on the wall, one bottle of beer! Take it down and pass it around—NO MORE bottles of beer on the wall!"_

"Thank the goddesses!" gasped Vaati and Dark Link. "It's over!"

No sooner had they just said this when Tetra loudly proclaimed—

"AGAIN!"

"YEAH!"

_"NOOOOOOOOOO!"_

-ooo-

"…What?"

Otacon shook his head and looked at the screen of his computer. "Project MGZ. It's the code name for a Metal Gear project Must be a really big project."

"Sounds serious," Snake agreed.

Lucario spoke up. "Speaking of which, do you know where the blueprints of some Metal Gear are kept?"

Otacon looked puzzled. "Blueprints? Never heard of any."

Snake grunted. "I thought so. Those blueprints must be a lot more classified than we'd thought. Not even the developer and researcher of Project MGZ is allowed to look at them…"

"Also, do you know where REX, RAY, and the three Gekko are?" Lucario asked.

"Huh? I thought they were with _you_ guys!"

"Yeah, they were—until the Subspace Army stole them, that is," Snake said angrily.

"Stole? You mean they broke into your place or something?"

"AntiSora and some Primids used those Metal Gear to wreck about a fourth of the Smash Mansion."

At the sound of AntiSora's name, Otacon narrowed his eyes. "Huh! AntiSora?"

Now it was Team SiAura's turn to be surprised. "You know AntiSora?"

"Before I was dragged into this mess, I knew AntiSora as a boss and one of Sora's forms in _Kingdom Hearts_, so I'm a little familiar with him," Otacon explained.

Snake stared at him. "…You play _Kingdom Hearts_?"

Otacon blushed. "H-hey, what's wrong with that?!"

"Nothing," Lucario said quickly. "You were saying?"

"I learned of the real-life AntiSora shortly after I was kidnapped during my daily walk around town."

"How did you end up here in the Smash World?" Snake asked.

Otacon looked at his computer screen again. "Well, it all happened only four days ago. I was taking my daily walk to a nearby park. Then the ground beneath me opened up, and I went—" He raised his hand and let it fall onto the desk. "—whoosh!" He fixed his glasses. "When I came back to my senses, I was in this room where the walls and floor looked as though they were made of purple glass."

Snake looked at Lucario, his eyes wide. _"He was taken to Subspace…"_

_"The Isle of the Ancients, perhaps,"_ Lucario said.

"But the funny thing about my surroundings was that there were binary codes floating all over the place, even inside the room," Otacon went on. "There were even binary codes embedded in the floor and the walls!" He opened up a binary code converter on his computer and typed a bunch of 0's and 1's. "This is the sequence of the numbers I kept seeing. 0100001101111001011000100110010101110010011100110 11100000110000101110100011010010110000101101100001 00000010100110111010101100010011100110111000001100 0010110001101100101."

"…You actually memorized it?" said Snake, raising his right eyebrow.

Otacon ignored him and said, "And this is what it translates to." He clicked a button, and a short line of text appeared in another field. "'Cyberspatial Subspace'… Does that mean I was transported to the digital world or something?"

The two Smashers were having a mental discussion again.

_"Cyberspatial Subspace? Was he taken to the Brawl System at some point?"_

_"_If he was…I think we would've seen him. And I'm pretty sure that virtual Subspace in the System was fixed a long time ago."__

Otacon scratched the back of his head. "What's with you two and all that staring? You look like you're having an eye-to-eye conversation or something."

"It's…a long story," Lucario told him.

"Hmm." Otacon closed the binary code converter and opened up another window. As he worked on something, he said, "Later, I met AntiSora, who told me why I was here. He said I was to do research for the Subspace Army. They were making a Metal Gear, and I was the perfect person for the job." He sighed. "He threatened that if I refused, he'd do…_something_ to Sunny."

Snake's blue eyes softened when he heard the name. "Sunny…" **_(1)_**

"After that threat, I had no choice but to follow his orders. And…" Otacon gestured to his surroundings. "…that's why I'm here, doing all this research."

Lucario coughed. "I'm pretty surprised at how calmly you accepted the fact that you were held hostage in a completely different world."

Otacon just shrugged. "Well, you know…"

Snake bend down to look at the computer screen "I can't make anything out of this… What is all this crap?"

"Oh, I wish it could be as insignificant as crap, but it's extremely important." Otacon clicked around the screen, occasionally typing some things. "This is the research I've done so far. They want me to program MGZ's AI."

Snake blinked. "AI? It's gonna be unmanned?"

"Yeah, kind of like those Metal Gear RAYs that Raiden had to deal with using only a Stinger. You know," Otacon said impatiently when Snake looked confused, "during the Manhattan Incident!"

"Oh, that," Snake said, remembering the mission in 2009. **_(2)_**

"Who's Raiden?" asked Lucario.**_  
><em>**

"A friend of ours," said Otacon. **_(3)_** "He's probably taking care of Sunny right now. At least she's got a guardian…but still…" He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Anyway, since I haven't been here for too long, I haven't gotten a lot of work done yet." He blushed. "Also, I've been trying to slow things down by working as slowly as I could…" He stood up, glaring at the computer as though he were trying to erase all his work with his eyes. "But we should get out of here. As I said before, it's gonna be another Shadow Moses Incident if I continue with this stuff." He stood up, glaring at the computer as though he were trying to erase all his work with his eyes. "In any case, we should get out of here. As I said before, it's going to be another Shadow Moses Incident if I continue with this stuff."

"That won't be pretty," Snake commented dryly.

Lucario shrugged. "Let's just get going…"

-ooo-

"…Are you kidding me?"

"Signs on doors never lie, unfortunately."

Sheik and Lloyd stood before a heavy-looking metal door with a sign on top that read "Computer Room."

And then they saw the bright red words painted on the door.

_"HIGHLY CLASSIFIED FILES OF BLUEPRINTS INSIDE. YOU MUST SHOW YOUR ID CARD TO THE CARD SCANNER TO GAIN ACCESS. IF NO ID CARD IS SHOWN, YOU WILL BE BLOWN UP BY THE EXPLOSIVES BENEATH YOUR FEET. THANK YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY."_

"Everyone here tells us to have a nice day, but we never get one," Sheik complained.

Lloyd nervously looked at the ground. "…There are explosives buried in the floor?"

"And we don't have ID cards, so I guess we can't go in…" Sheik made a sound of frustration as she scowled at the painted words. "Great Hylia, what now?"

Lloyd was thinking hard. "Maybe… Maybe teleporting could work…" He looked at Sheik. "Hey, do you think we can avoid the security system by warping past it?"

Sheik's face lit up. "That's a wonderful idea! But…" She frowned. "Even if we can make it, what if there are guards or surveillance cameras in there? Then we'd be seen the moment we appear."

"Ah, yes…" Lloyd became silent again.

The two Smashers were quiet for a while, thinking about various loopholes. Eventually, Sheik came up with another idea:

"What if we found a Primid and stole its ID card?"

Lloyd was shocked. "S-s-_stole_?!"

"Hey." Sheik's red eyes were shining with amusement. "There's no need to be all nice with a Primid—unless it's one of Primid 0001's friends, of course."

Lloyd still looked a bit uncertain. "But that will tarnish our reputations…"

"Are you serious? You're thinking about reputations at a time like this?!"

Something made a clicking sound behind the Smashers. "Put 'em up!" ordered a voice.

Sheik and Lloyd froze.

"Didn't you hear what I said? Put your hands up!"

Reluctantly, the Smashers put their hands over their heads. "Can we turn around?" asked Sheik.

"Uh…sure. But don't do anything funny."

Sheik and Lloyd turned around, and they came face-to-face with a Scope Primid that had his—that is, if the Primid really _was_ a male—bazooka pointed right at the two Smashers. He squinted his red eyes suspiciously as he examined them. "I don't think I've seen you in the red clothing before… But as for _you_," he said to Sheik, "you're actually kind of familiar. Blue and white clothing, a scarf, white bandages on the head, red eyes, looks like a ninja…and is the alter ego of a certain princess." He nodded towards her. "You're Sheik, aren't you? Otherwise known as…Princess Zelda?"

"…Yes," Sheik said quietly. "Why do you ask?"

Then the Primid did the last thing either Smasher expected: He threw aside his bazooka.

"I'm Primid 0002," he said cheerfully, "a friend of Primid 0001. You're acquainted with him, right?"

Sheik and Lloyd relaxed when they realized that this Primid was another "good" Primid. "Yeah, we met him this morning," Lloyd said. "He sent us on this mission, along with four other Smashers…"

"Pikachu, Neku Sakuraba, Lucario, and Solid Snake," Sheik listed. "Oh, and you're probably unfamiliar with Lloyd because he's a more recent Smasher. So is Neku. We'll introduce the newer people if you ever get a chance to come to the Smash Mansion."

Primid 0002 nodded. "All right. Thanks for the invite. Anyway, Primid 0001 told me the whole story of the Metal Gear, blueprints, Sora, and Taki. Speaking of blueprints…" He pointed at the door of the Computer Room. "…you want to get in there, right?"

Sheik and Lloyd nodded. "Is having an ID card the only way in?" asked Lloyd.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Primid 0002. "AntiSora's been really paranoid about security and everything lately, so he made us Primids install a security system that is impossible to get past without having the correct item or password." He looked sneaky. "Too bad he doesn't know that there are some…_helpers_ of the Super Smash Brothers within the Subspace Army…"

"Okay, okay," Sheik said, feeling a little edgy. "Do you have an ID card?"

"Yeah." The Primid pulled a little green card out of nowhere and held it out. "Here. Show this to the card scanner next to the door, and you should be able to get in. If it doesn't work, then…" He looked at the ground, where there were underground explosives. "…Well, it's nice knowing you."

Sheik and Lloyd gulped as the latter accepted the ID card.

"Another thing." Primid 0002 gave something to Sheik. It looked like a black, one-inch-long USB flash drive. "Use this flash drive to download the blueprints. They're stored in one of the computers in that room." He gave the door of the Computer Room a long look. "I got a quick glance at the interior of this room a couple days ago. If I remember correctly, it's lined up with six rows of long tables, each one having ten computers. The blueprints are stored in one of the computers—_one_ of the computers," he warned. "Primids aren't ranked high enough to get into this room, so I don't know which computer has the blueprints." He shrugged. "Sorry."

"Ugh…" Lloyd tried to mask his disappointment by smiling weakly and saying, "Well, thanks for all the information. It was…helpful."

Sheik elbowed him.

"…_Really_ helpful?"

Sheik elbowed him again.

Primid 0002 pretended not to notice anything. "Oh, it was nothing." He looked at the door again. "Actually, no. You _should_ be able to find the right computer…only if you solve his riddle…" He looked away, musing to himself. "He was sent to this room to repair one of the computers… Smashers' side… He _should_ have left something in there… He wants to get out of here, too…"

"…Solve a riddle?" said Sheik.

"Mm-hmm. It oughta help you in that room." Primid 0002 laughed.

"…Eh?" asked Lloyd blankly.

The Primid picked up his bazooka and shouldered it. "I'd better get back to guard duty. If you bump into Pikachu, Neku, Lucario, or Snake, tell 'em that there's a Primid on the Smashers' side in this base. I don't want 'em to go blasting at every Primid they see."

"We're all trying to be as quiet as possible in here, so I don't think the other guys will 'go blasting at every Primid they see,'" Sheik quoted, laughing a little.

"Another thing before I go—there could be surveillance cameras in there. Just knock 'em out with a fast attack. I'll distract the Primids in Control Room B so they won't see the images on some of the TV screens fizz and disappear." He saluted. "Good luck! If you can't solve the puzzle, I'll feel really _blue_!"

With that last comment, the Primid left the Smashers, turned a corner, and disappeared from view.

"…That was rather confusing, even for me," Sheik admitted.

Lloyd looked at her, then at the ID card in his hand. "A riddle, huh… Well, in any case, let's give this card a try and hope that those plastic explosives won't explode."

He strode forward and stood before the card scanner. For a moment, his eyes showed some hesitation, which quickly hardened into determination. He held the card before the card scanner.

_"ID card detected,"_ said a British woman's voice. _"Scanning…"_ There was a beep…

Sheik and Lloyd held their breaths.

…and the screen on the scanner flashed green. _"Scanning complete. Access granted."_

With a groan, the steel door slowly rose upwards and clanked loudly into place when it touched the ceiling. Sheik and Lloyd cautiously peeked into the Computer Room…only to find rows and rows of large, bulky computers.

"Primid 0002 said there were six rows, each with ten computers," Lloyd whispered. He did not know why he was whispering, but it seemed appropriate in his and Sheik's situation. "That makes sixty computers."

"We don't have time to try out all sixty computers!" Sheik murmured, glancing at the flash drive in her palm.

"But what else can we do?" Lloyd hissed. "We don't have any more clues!"

Sheik did not answer as she quietly entered the room with the swordsman.

"Cameras!" Lloyd muttered as he looked at the Soliton Radar in his hands.

Sheik looked around and counted six surveillance cameras.

_Six cameras… Six needles._

She brought out six eight-inch-long needles and, with a flick of her wrist, sent them flying straight into each camera with deadly accuracy. All six cameras sparked and smoked a bit before dying.

"Done."

"All right. Let's go."

They went inside, stopping for a moment to get their eyes accustomed to the darkness. There was no sound in the room except for their footsteps, which seemed to be echoing very loudly in this quiet setting.

"Look, Sheik." Lloyd pointed at a chair. "There's something on that chair."

He and Sheik went to the chair and found a crumpled ball of paper. Sheik gingerly pried it apart and smoothed the creases. "Someone wrote a message on it…"

"Let's read it." Lloyd looked at the paper and read it aloud.

_"I'm quite sure you could solve this puzzle.  
>"It doesn't even rhyme. You're pretty lucky!<br>"It oughtn't take you a really long time to solve it.  
>"Try not to use an entire hour, though.<br>"The answer is a word that doesn't mean anything.  
>"Can you recall what Primid 0002 last said to you?"<em>

"…What could all of this mean?" asked Lloyd, scratching his head.

Sheik patted him on the back. "There's only one way to find out. Let's solve this thing."

-ooo-

"The Mystery Dungeon World?"

Pikachu nodded slowly. "I lied to everyone… I'm not from _that_ world…"

Neku looked at the tube with the Piplup inside it. "Pikachu. Stop acting all sad. We made it before the twelve-hour time limit! Let's get Taki out of here without you joining the Subspace Army!"

The Mouse Pokémon blinked once, then nodded again. "Yeah…you're right. I can't stop here." He took a deep breath and gazed at the glass tube. Taki was suspended within the tube's greenish liquid—not seeing, not hearing, and not feeling. "Taki, I'm here!"

He went on all fours and dashed towards the tube.

"I won't let anyone hurt you! _QUICK ATTACK!_"

There was an eerie howl and a bright red flash.

_SLAM!_

Pikachu went skidding across a table, knocking some things off. "_Ow!_ What was that?!"

"I think it came from there!" Neku quickly brought out a pin and pointed to the left of the glass tube with Taki in it. "Pin 188—_Lightning Rook!_" He fired a bolt of yellow electricity in the direction of his finger.

_ZZZZAP!_

Something bounded out of the dust that resulted from the Lightning Rook hitting a table, and it stopped before Neku. The creature looked like a red German shepherd dog that had been set on fire. The parts of the eye that were usually white were black, and it had beady yellow irises. It let out another creepy and seemingly two-voiced howl that sent shivers up Neku and Pikachu's spines.

Pikachu suddenly noticed that the dog had a strange collar on its neck. "What's that radio thing on its collar?"

Then a voice spoke out from the radio.

_"Good work, Carbon Dog."_

The dog growled.

Neku bristled with rage upon recognizing the voice. "AntiSora! It's you again!"

"Let Taki and Sora go!" shouted Pikachu. "They didn't do anything, and they don't have anything special! Come out and fight us, you coward!"

AntiSora let out a sinister chuckle. _"Heheheh… Sorry, but I'm not in the base right now. I knew that _you_ guys were here, though, so I sent Carbon Dog after you."_

Neku cursed. "Damn it…"

Pikachu sneaked towards the tube.

_Fwoosh!_ A searing-hot torrent of fire streaked out of Carbon Dog's mouth. Pikachu yelped and narrowly dodged the flames.

"Oh! Hot! HOT!"

_"Carbon Dog isn't that stupid, you know,"_ AntiSora's voice sneered, _"so don't think you can defeat it that easily."_

The fiery canine snarled with agreement.

"…Ugh…" Pikachu shakily righted himself. "Let's see if this mutt can stop a _Thunderbolt_!"

Carbon Dog intercepted the move by breathing fire into the lightning, canceling it. Then, before Pikachu even knew what had happened, he was trapped under the dog's right forepaw.

"Ahhh!" Pikachu struggled to get himself free, but Carbon Dog put too much weight on him. "Neku! _Helllllp!_"

"I'm coming!" Neku took out Pin 76 from his pocket and prepared to use Teleport Warning when AntiSora's voice stopped him.

_"Make one move and the rat is done!"_

Carbon Dog's paw slammed over Pikachu's throat.

"Tch!" Neku reluctantly stopped.

"N… Neku…" Pikachu wheezed. "Just…get Taki…out of…here…" He coughed as he gasped for air. "Leave…me!"

Neku's heart was pounding. "No… I can't leave you! They'll brainwash you into joining the Army!"

"Taki…is more important!" insisted Pikachu, starting to turn blue. "Get him…out of that…tube! I… I don't want…anything bad…done to him…!"

Within the tube of greenish liquid, Taki murmured a name.

"…Zane…?"

And then the ceiling of Control Room D came crashing down.

_"METAL BLADE!"_

A razor-edged circular saw blade zoomed towards Carbon Dog, spinning so fast that its edges looked smooth. The fire-enveloped canine let out a blast of fire from its maw, but the saw blade cut right through the fire without getting damaged in any way. It turned sideways and sheared off a bit of Carbon Dog's back fur.

_"CRASH BOMBER!"_

An orange bomb came down and latched onto Carbon Dog's left leg. Carbon Dog forgot about Pikachu and tried to chew the bomb off, but it detonated before it could.

_Boom!_

Neku and Pikachu heard AntiSora let out a sound of frustration. _"Damn it! All right, that's it! Carbon Dog, retreat!"_

The dog barked and blasted right through the wall, forcing its way out of Control Room D.

And then…all was silent again.

Awkwardly silent.

"…Uh. That was interesting," groaned Pikachu, rubbing his neck. "I think I have a bruise here…"

"Mmm…" Neku quickly checked Pikachu. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," the Mouse Pokémon said. Suddenly, he remembered something. "Oh, wait! TAKI!"

The tube that encased the Piplup must have shattered at some point during the fight with Carbon Dog, for now the Penguin Pokémon lay on the ground, surrounded by bits of jagged glass.

"…Nnghhh…" he mumbled. "Zane… Is that…you…?"

"Oh, my Arceus. TAKI!" Pikachu rushed over to Taki's side. "Are you okay? Did they mess with you? Say something!"

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure he's okay."

A stranger entered Control Room D through the hole in the roof. He was a ten-year-old, blue-eyed boy wearing a blue suit with an arm cannon.

"For the past few days, I'd been spying on this place," he said to Neku. "Several times, I tried to free Taki, but something was always in the way. One day, it could be a bunch of Fire Primids; the next day, it could be AntiSora himself." He shrugged, then grinned. "At least we were able to get him out today, thanks to your timely arrival!"

"No, it's thanks to _your_ timely arrival that we didn't get our butts kicked," Neku corrected the boy, smiling with gratitude. "My name's Neku Sakuraba, and the yellow guy is Pikachu. Who are you?"

The boy folded his arms and beamed. "I'm Mega Man!"

-ooo-

_"I'm quite sure you could solve this puzzle.  
>"It doesn't even rhyme. You're pretty lucky!<br>"It oughtn't take you a really long time to solve it.  
>"Try not to use an entire hour, though.<br>"The answer is a word that doesn't mean anything.  
>"Can you recall what Primid 0002 last said to you?"<em>

"'The answer is a word that doesn't mean anything,'" Lloyd repeated. "How can a word not mean anything? All words have meanings!"

Sheik read the last line again. "'Can you recall what Primid 0002 last said to you?' Lloyd, what did he say before he left?"

The swordsman shrugged. "I dunno, something about feeling blue, I think…"

"…Blue?" Sheik looked at the message. "Blue… Wait!" She gasped. "Lloyd, look! Some letters here are _blue_!"

"What?" Lloyd saw the blue letters. "Ah! So _that's_ what Primid 0002 meant by 'feel really blue'…!"

The two Smashers pored over the handwritten message and found one blue letter in each line. The _i_ in _quite_, the _p_ in _pretty_, the _r_ in _very_, the _h_ in _hour_, the _e_ in _mean_, and the _c_ in _recall_ were written in dark blue ink as opposed to the other letters' black.

"So we have an _i_, _p_, _r_, _h_, _e_, and _c_," said Lloyd. He put the letters together. "And that makes…_iprhec_? What kind of word is that?"

"It could be scrambled up," Sheik pointed out. "Let's rearrange the letters."

"All right. Er…_pirche_?"

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Hey! Isn't that the other clue?"

"Lloyd, the message said that the answer is a word that doesn't mean anything. An actual _word_."

"Oh, right. How about _cherpi_?"

"No, no. _Prechi_?"

_"Richep_?"

_"Pheirc_?"

_"Cephri_?"

_"Cipher_?"

"THAT'S IT!" Lloyd exploded. "_Cipher_ is a word!"

"Good!" said Sheik, looking proud of herself. "But…what does it mean?"

"Snake once mentioned the word cipher to me. When I asked him what it meant, he gave me several definitions. He said _cipher_ could mean _zero_." He looked up. "Zero…"

"'The answer is a word that doesn't mean anything.'" Sheik clasped her forehead in realization. "I get it now! We had thought that the word didn't have a meaning. But what the puzzle is actually saying is that the word doesn't mean _anything_—it means _nothing_! _Zero_ could mean a number as well as _nothing_! And there are sixty computers." Sheik looked at the closest one. "All of them are numbered. This one is Computer 27."

"Then…the computer with the blueprints of the Metal Gear…" Lloyd put two and two together. "…must be _Computer 0_!"

In no time, Sheik was able to locate Computer 0, which was on the other side of the dark room. She found a USB drive and inserted the flash drive that Primid 0002 had given her earlier. The moment the flash drive was in the plug, the computer came to life.

_"Searching for selected files,"_ read a line of text near the center of the screen. _"My Computer. Subspace Army. Weapons. Blueprints. Metal Gear. Metal Gear REX. Downloading… Please wait… Downloading complete."_

"Good, the thing Primid 0002 gave us does the downloading automatically," said Sheik, the relief obvious in her voice. "I bet it also automatically inputs any passwords that are needed when you plug it into the computer."

Lloyd nodded with satisfaction, then eyed the door behind him. "Let's hope the downloading goes smoothly…"

_"Metal Gear RAY. Downloading… Please wait… Downloading complete."_

"It seems like each file takes about a minute to download…" Lloyd said nervously.

_"Gekko. Downloading… Please wait… Downloading complete."_

"What?" complained Sheik. "There are more files to download? Not just REX, RAY, and Gekko?"

Lloyd suddenly looked alarmed. "Sheik! Five Primids incoming!"

Sheik cursed. "How far away are they?"

The swordsman peeked outside. "I'd say we have three minutes at most."

"How many more files are there to download?" Sheik looked at the screen again—and groaned. "Oh, no! _Four!_"

_"Metal Gear RAXA. Downloading… Please wait… Downloading complete."_

"Hurry, Sheik! They're getting closer!"

"I can't do anything! The computer's doing it all!"

_"Metal Gear ZEKE. Downloading… Please wait… Downloading complete."_

"I'll shut the door so they won't really notice anything."

"Great! Just do it and be quiet!"

_"Metal Gear EXCELSUS. Downloading… Please wait… Downloading complete."_

"_Sheik!_ The Primids are getting their ID cards scanned!"

"One more, one more…!"

_"Peace Walker. Downloading… Please wait…"_

The door to the Computer Room slowly slid open…

_"Downloading complete."_ The computer promptly turned off when the final blueprint was downloaded.

"Good!" exclaimed Sheik, yanking the flash drive out of the slot. "Hide!"

The Smashers did not waste a single second. The moment Sheik dived into a dark corner and Lloyd went under a table, the five Primids entered the room. The Primid at the lead looked around suspiciously.

_Oh, please, just go away,_ Lloyd thought, feeling very uncomfortably exposed in his hiding spot.

"…Nothing here…"

One of the Primids said something in its gurgling language. The leader looked annoyed.

"You heard wrong. There's nothing here. Move out."

The five Primids marched out of the Computer Room, and the steel door shut with a metallic cl_ang_.

Sheik and Lloyd slowly crawled out of their hiding spots, looked at each other, and doubled up in laughter.

"Holy Sylvarant! That was _amazing_!"

"I _know_! But let's not do that again, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Way too dangerous."

"Indeed. Come on, let's regroup with Lucario, Snake, Pikachu, and Neku."

-ooo-

Pikachu, Neku, and Mega Man were running through a dark hallway. Neku had a confused Taki slung over his left shoulder.

"Whuzgoinon?" the Penguin Pokémon asked in a slurred voice.

"Nothing," Pikachu said quickly as they turned a corner. "We're just…running."

"Let's hurry!" exclaimed Mega Man. "I'm tired of this place!"

Neku glanced at the Soliton Radar in his left hand. "Six dots up ahead! We'll meet them in half a minute!"

"Then we'll just have to shove our way through 'em!" Pikachu replied.

Then Neku looked more closely at the dots on the radar. "Hey, wait a minute… Those dots aren't r—"

_Wham!_

"Aw, yeah!" shouted Pikachu. "Time to _tango_!"

Neku quickly pocketed the Soliton Radar, and a black blur whizzed towards him. He brought out Pin 76 and used Teleport Warning, disappearing just as the blur shot right through his former location. Another figure with fire spewing out of its hands launched four fireballs at Neku, who blocked them by landing a well-timed Mitama on each fireball.

Meanwhile, Pikachu was taking care of two other figures. One of them was spinning all over the place while the other tried to eat him up. Pikachu let out a powerful Thunder, which both figures managed to evade. Pikachu then used Thunder Jolt, hitting one of the figures, and he followed that up with a Skull Bash.

Mega Man was dealing with the final two. These two were almost fighting like one single person as they relentlessly threw out move after move at Mega Man. One of the two figures threw a green fireball at Mega Man, who quickly rolled to the side. He stayed on his knee, aimed his arm cannon, and used Charge Shot, sending a medium-sized ball of bluish-white energy at the two figures. The ball hit the taller of the two figures, and the shorter figure threw a red fireball at Mega Man, who quickly defended himself with Leaf Shield.

Then there was a familiar cry.

_"Yoshiiiiiiiii!"_

"Huh?! Wait, guys! TIME-OUT!" shouted Pikachu, waving his right arm.

Everyone stopped launching missiles and fireballs and badly aimed punches at each other.

"Mega Man! Do you have a move that can provide light?" asked Pikachu.

Mega Man nodded. "Of course!" A line of fire materialized in his left hand. _"Flame Sword!"_

Now that the hallway had some light, everyone could finally clearly see who was who.

"Oh, God!" said Neku, shocked. "Shadow and Blaze!"

"Neku!" Shadow exclaimed, quickly drawing his fist away from Neku's cheek. "It's you!"

"And here's Sonic and Yoshi!" said Pikachu, finding himself clinging onto Sonic's leg. "And those two with Mega Man are Mario and Luigi!"

The Mario Bros. pointed at the boy in the blue suit. "Who's-a _that_?"

Mega Man waved. "Hi, I'm Mega Man! I helped Neku and Pikachu bust Pikachu's friend Taki out of jail! Well, not exactly _jail_, but you know what I mean, right?"

"Taki? Y'mean that Piplup on Neku's shoulder?" asked Sonic.

Pikachu nodded.

"A lot of things happened after you left for London," Neku explained to the other Smashers as he carefully adjusted Taki's position in his shoulder. "A guy called AntiSora came with a bunch of Primids and managed to steal all the Metal Gear from the Shadow Moses Island stage. Also, Fox, James, Toon Link, Tetra, and Vaati mysteriously disappeared, and Sora got kidnapped."

"Wait, wait…" Yoshi cut in. "You're saying that the Smash Mansion got invaded by the Subspace Army?!"

"Yup," Pikachu confirmed. "Then I got a letter from AntiSora saying that my friend Taki was being held hostage, and I had a twelve-hour time limit before he'd be killed. AntiSora said that the only way to save Taki was for me to join the Subspace Army." He snorted. "As if!"

"Also, it turns out that there are a few Primids who are on _our_ side," Neku said, smiling at the other Smashers' astonished expressions. "It's true! There's a good Primid back at the mansion right now. He's called Primid 0001."

"…Wha…" Luigi gasped, dumbstruck.

"Primid 0001 told us that AntiSora stole the Metal Gear so the Army can use them as references for their own Metal Gear," said Pikachu. "Also, they'd stolen the blueprints of some Metal Gear from Snake's world. Primid 0001 said we could slow the Army's progress if we stole the blueprints from them, so he picked six Smashers to go on the mission and rescue Taki."

"Me, Pikachu, Lloyd, Sheik, Lucario, and Snake," Neku said. "Primid 0001 also said Sora could be found in this—" He froze. "Oh, _God_. SORA!"

He ran back in the direction he, Pikachu, Taki, and Mega Man came from.

"Hey, Neku!" Mega Man yelled. "Wrong way!"

Nevertheless, everybody followed the boy back to Control Room D. They found Neku staring at the television screens, looking absolutely horrified.

"…Oh, no."

Pikachu, Mega Man, Mario, and Sonic joined him. "What?" Pikachu asked.

"…Sora…"

The television screen depicting the Electrical Room showed that the said room was empty.

"…He's not there anymore."

Mega Man gasped, then fell silent. Pikachu blinked once, disbelieving.

"Carbon Dog must have taken him while we were running through the hall…" Neku said quietly.

Mario patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Neku. We'll find-a him next-a time, I promise you."

"I…really hope you aren't lying, Mario," Pikachu said slowly.

Sonic coughed. "He never lies. But I think we'd better get going. Where's everyone else? And just wait till we tell you _our_ story! So we were on the plane to London, and when we landed, there was this fog…"

-ooo-

_WEEYOO-WEEYOO-WEEYOO-WEEYOO-WEEYOO…!_

"All right, who set off the alarm?!" roared Snake.

"N-n-not me!" Lucario quickly stammered.

"Gahhhh!" Otacon yelped. "Alert at 99.99! _Ahhhh!_" **_(4)_**

_"Shut UP, Otacon!"_

The three made a sharp left turn and ran right into a surprised group of Sword Primids.

"I got this!" Lucario exclaimed.

Snake grabbed Otacon and pulled him out of harm's way. Lucario pounced on the nearest Primid, beat it up, and took its green Beam Sword. With a single, powerful downwards slash, the rest of the Primids were taken care of. Lucario tossed the sword aside and followed Snake and Otacon into a dark corridor.

"The Soliton Radar is showing at least five surveillance cameras in here," called Lucario.

"Easy." Snake pulled out a cylindrical container, fiddled around with it, and chucked it down the hallway. Moments later, there was a small bang, and the air was filled with flying pieces of metal filings.

"That was a chaff grenade," the mercenary explained to Lucario. "The chaff it spews out will confuse any nearby electric devices, including our own Soliton Radar. We have about one minute before the chaff settles down. C'mon!"

As fast as they could, Lucario, Snake, and Otacon dashed through the corridor and found themselves in a large, hot…desert.

It was like any other desert—cracked sand-and-dirt floor, small boulders and shrubs, and a clear blue sky. A warm breeze blew across the desert, stirring up small clouds of dust and sand.

"Er… Since when was there a _desert_ at the back of the base?" asked Otacon, scratching his head. "The last time I checked, we were underground and on a cliff…"

Snake swept his blue eyes over the area, looking suspicious. "Looks like a typical place for mines…" He cautiously began to walk forward, eyeing his feet and the ground. With each step he took, the gravel went _crunch_ beneath his boots. "I guess there aren't any mines here…or I just didn't step on any yet…"

"W-wait up, Snake!" Otacon ran after the mercenary, then looked behind himself. "What are you waiting for, Lucario? Come on, let's—" He stopped. "Lucario? Lucario?"

The Aura Pokémon had collapsed onto his knees. Snake whirled around and rushed to his friend's side.

"Lucario, are you all right? Answer me! Lucario!"

Lucario's red eyes were dull and lifeless. He was breathing heavily.

"This place… I… I… I know this place."

Otacon joined Snake. "You know this place?! How?!"

"…buried deep within me…my memories…been here before…" Lucario was moaning incoherently, as though he were delirious. "…exploration team…Zane…Taki…" He began to pull on his ears. "I… _I CAN'T REMEMBER!_" In a fit of rage, he threw an Aura Sphere out of his paws. Snake narrowly dodged the move and watched it disappear into the sky before turning back to Lucario.

"What the hell, Lucario?! What's wrong with you?" He shook the Pokémon's shoulders. "Can you hear me?! _Lucario!_"

"Don't bother. He's lost in his own memories."

A tornado of dust appeared and blew aside to reveal AntiSora.

Otacon turned white with fear. "_Ahhhhh!_ AntiSora!"

Snake growled and took out his SOCOM, which he aimed at the boy in black. "Not you again! What do you want? What did you do to Lucario?!"

AntiSora shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, nothing… I just gave some of his memories back to him."

"Memories…memories…" Lucario babbled madly, holding his head. Otacon looked at him with concern.

With a _click_, Snake snapped off the safety of his gun. "Memories? What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything." AntiSora grinned. "Did I mention that Lucario's an amnesiac? Oh, and his name is Ferron."

The moment he said the name, Lucario bolted upright. "F-Ferron…!"

AntiSora turned towards him. "That's right, Lucario…or should I say, Ferron. Does this place bring back any memories?"

"…I… I've been here before," the Aura Pokémon whispered, his red eyes darting around crazily. "Team Alpha was with me… This is…the _Lost Wilderness_." _**(5)**_

AntiSora applauded, each clap echoing across the barren desert. "Good, good. This is the Lost Wilderness. You came here with Team Alpha to train, right?"

"Th… That's right…"

"One day, you were kidnapped in the middle of one of your training sessions with Taki." AntiSora sneered contemptuously. "Your kidnapper saw that you had unusually strong abilities of aura, allowing you to use Aura Sphere when you were just a Riolu. He made you evolve and later infused you with even more powers, making you stronger than ever before. Who kidnapped you?"

Lucario was silent, as were Otacon and Snake, who still had his gun aimed at AntiSora's chest.

"Ah, yes." The boy laughed humorlessly. "Of course you don't know; you were blindfolded." He smiled deviously, his yellow eyes glowing with malice and glee. "_I_ was the one who kidnapped you."

Lucario made a choking sound.

"Afterwards, I trained you. I practically _raised_ you. In other words, I was your foster parent. And that's why you should join _me_."

Snake gnashed his teeth. "Lies! Those are all nothing but _lies_! Lucario, don't listen to him!"

"I… I don't even know what's right or wrong now…"

"If only you knew, Lucario…" AntiSora shook his head, smiling sadly. "If only you knew the truth…"

"…The truth…?"

"Don't listen to him!" Snake shouted. "He's luring you right into a trap!"

AntiSora went to Lucario and placed his hand on the Pokémon's head. "I already told you. I'm just giving his memories back to him."

His hand flashed purple, and Lucario was enveloped in a black aura.

He screamed. He screamed. He screamed!

Snake dropped his gun and ran towards the Pokémon. He had to save him. He just had to!

_"LUCARIOOOOOO!"_

With a loud _snap_, the black aura disappeared from Lucario's body. He slumped onto the sandy ground with a loud thump.

Otacon was horrified. "We… We're too late…"

AntiSora was still smiling. "Don't worry. He's still alive. But…"

Slowly, Lucario staggered upright again.

"…he got his old memories back. And that means…"

Lucario opened his eyes and looked straight at Snake. The mercenary saw that those lively crimson eyes had been replaced with blank, confused ones.

"…his new memories were replaced."

Nervously, Snake reached for his friend. "…Lucario?"

Lucario opened his mouth and spoke three words that nearly stopped the mercenary's heart.

"Who are you?"

-ooo-

Meanwhile, in an alternate world…

_"Oh, I'm a Gummy Bear!  
>"Yes, I'm a Gummy Bear!<br>"Oh, I'm a yummy, chummy, funny, lucky Gummy Bear.  
>"I'm a Jelly Bear, 'cuz I'm a Gummy Bear,<br>"Oh I'm a movin', groovin', jammin', singin' GUMMY BEAR!"_

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"STOOOOOOOP!"

_"Oh, YEAH!"_

* * *

><p><strong><span>PREVIEW — Chapter 31<span>**

_"Most auras I've seen were mixes of blue, white, green, yellow, and purple—you know, colors that are positive," the Pokémon called Lucario explained. "But yours…" He narrowed his red eyes as he examined the man's strangely colored aura. "…You had a long, hard life, didn't you?"_

_The mercenary looked away. "Nothing about my life concerns you, Lucario."_

_"It makes me feel worried. Uh…how old are you?" the Pokémon asked, the hesitation evident in his voice._

_"Old enough to know what death looks like." Snake stood up and left the control room._

_Lucario watched him go. _What's with him…?_ he wondered._

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHARACTER PROFILE<span>**

**Name:** Taki

**Species:** Piplup (Penguin Pokémon)

**World of origin:** _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ universe

**Video game(s):** _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky_ with Gen. V and VI Pokémon

**Occupation:** Taki is the co-leader of Team Alpha, a legendary exploration team that saved the Mystery Dungeon world not once, but twice. Initially, he was a coward, but after meeting Pikachu (aka Zane), he gained his courage and was able to stand his ground when facing Legendary Pokémon such as Dialga, Zekrom, Xerneas, and the infamous Darkrai. When he isn't busy exploring mystery dungeons with his friends, he helps out at the Treasure Town Dojo.

**Fun fact:** He prefers _red_ gummis to blue gummis, which is the type of gummi he is supposed to eat.

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

_**(1)**_ Sunny Emmerich is Otacon's foster child whom he adopted following the death of her mother, Olga Gurlukovich, who was killed during the Manhattan Incident in 2009. She was taken away by the Patriots, and later Raiden rescued her. Snake is pretty familiar with her (and her sunny side up eggs)._  
><em>

_**(2)**_ The Manhattan Incident occurred in 2009. It involved a new Metal Gear called Arsenal Gear and twenty-five Metal Gear RAY units (no kidding!).

_**(3)**_ Raiden is one of the main characters in _MGS2: Sons of Liberty_. He met Solid Snake during his mission and became a good friend of his. Some years later, the Patriots captured him and forced him to undergo severe cybernetic surgery, in which nearly his entire body was replaced with cybernetic structures. Damn painful.

_**(4)**_ In the _Metal Gear Solid_ games, if the alert bar is at 99.99…well…time to haul ass!

_**(5)**_ Lost Wilderness is the name of a dungeon in _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time_,_ Darkness_, and _Sky_. I actually use that dungeon for training. I also use Blizzard Island for the Monster Houses. Monster Houses equals lots of Exp. Points—but only if you have the right Pokémon to take care of the Monster House.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Aaaaaaand that's that.<strong>_**_ So there's another good Primid and Sora's gone and Taki's rescued and Pikachu's safe and Team Nintendo and Team Sega are okay and Lucario LOST HIS MEMORIES?!  
><em>**

**Neku:** I guess that just about sums it up.

**Snake:** _____________*strangely silent*_____________

____________**Will Primid 0002 ever get a chance to visit the Smash Mansion?  
><strong>____________

**Primid**** 0002:** I gotta! Primid 0001's there and maybe I have some more info for the Smashers!

**Sheik:** You know, I just noticed something. Primid 0001's speech is a lot more…uh…polite-sounding than yours. Yours is…uh…really casual.

**Primid 0002:** Huh, really? …Now that you mention it, you're right! But I like my way of speech. It's modern. Haaaaaaha.

**Lloyd:** _*awkwardly*_ …Ohhhh-kay.

_**All right, then! Will Toon Link and Tetra keep singing?**_

**Vaati:** _*silent*_

**Dark Link:** …See for yourself.

_**…Huh?**_

**Toon Link and Tetra:** _…song that never ends! It just goes on and on, my friends! Some people start singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue it forever just because…this is the song that never ends! It just goes on and on, my friends! Some people start singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue it forever just because…this is the song that never ends! It just goes on and on…_

**__________________________________________…___Uh-oh._______________________________________**

**Dark Link:** _*nodding*_ Exactly.

**_And it looks like Lucario has_…lost his memories! Or has he regained them? Which one is it?!**

**Everyone:** _*silent*_

**_And Mega Man is here!_**

**Mega Man:** FINALLY! You said you'd add me, like, _five chapters_ ago!

**_Yeah, but I guess procrastination was being helpful this time._ **

**Mega Man:** _*cheerfully*_ Yep!

_**Will Master Hand drag Crazy Hand away, even when neither of them made an appearance in this chapter?**_

**Crazy Hand:** No!

**Master Hand:** Yes! _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**And I guess that's all for now, so______________…___ No credits this time because I actually memorized all the information. So there. Haha.___________**_

_**_See you later in Chapter 31! Please read and review!_**_

**Donkey Kong:** Speaking of which, STOP LEAVING ONLY THREE REVIEWS FOR EACH NEW CHAPTER! IT'S DRIVING ME _BANANAS_!_**  
><strong>_

_**Hey! Where did you come from?!**_

**Donkey Kong:**_ *points somewhere*_ From over there.

_**From over where? *turns around to look***_

**Donkey Kong:** _*throws a banana peel that lands on Storm Aurastar's head*_ HARHARHARHAR! KEEP UP WITH THE REVIEWS!

_**Tch______________…___! SCREW YOU! *throws the banana peel, which misses Donkey Kong* Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!___________**_


	31. A Real Name

****_Is this the longest chapter yet?_****

****_Here's Chapter 31! In this chapter, we'll be seeing the history between Lucario and Snake! There will be a HUGE flashback about that…and because of that HUGE flashback, this chapter is VERY long****_…_****  
><em>****

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing here is mine, which makes me feel very depressed. _*sits in a corner and cries*_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 31: A Real Name<strong>

* * *

><p>"Just ignore all the Primids and run like there are ten Darknuts chasing you!"<p>

"What in Sylvarant is a Darknut?"

"Well, they're these enemies that you encounter in… Ah, forget it. Just _run_!"

Sheik and Lloyd dashed through the tight corridors, surrounded by flashing red lights and blaring sirens. As they rushed right past all the confused Primids, Sheik swore that she caught a glimpse of a Scope Primid giving her a thumbs-up.

_Could that have been Primid 0002?_

Lloyd was combining his Material Blades to make the Eternal Sword. "Once we find everyone, we can immediately warp out of here and be on our way to the Smash Mansion. You have the blueprints, right?"

The Sheikah showed him the one-inch-long USB in her right hand. "I'd better not lose this. It contains some pretty valuable information."

"You can say that again!" Lloyd deflected a boomerang with his half-fused Material Blades.

They turned a corner and entered a small room—

_WHAM!_

"Hey, watch it!" Sheik stood up and dusted herself off. Then she gasped. "Pikachu!"

The Mouse Pokémon was clinging onto her arm, grinning. "Hiya, Sheik! Were you the one who set off the alarm?"

Sheik began to blush. Luckily, Lloyd came to her rescue. "Never mind who set off the alarm. Are you okay?"

Pikachu pointed behind himself. "We lost Sora… Neku is kind of down in the dumps because of that. Oh, and we bumped into Teams Nintendo and Sega!" He paused. "…Well, we only bumped into a few of them, for some reason. Also, we met Mega Man! And we rescued Taki!"

Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, Shadow, and Blaze emerged from another hallway. Blaze had her right arm in a sling while everyone else was covered in bruises and scratches.

"Hi, Sheik! Hi, Lloyd!" Yoshi said happily.

"Team Nintendo and Team Sega?" Sheik sounded surprised. "Aren't you guys supposed to be in London, participating in the Olympics?"

"Yeah, but-a… Mama mia, everything went-a wrong the moment we set-a foot in London-a!" Mario told her. "We'll tell you all about it-a back at the Smash-a Mansion."

"You aren't going back to London?"

"…It's a long-a story…"

Then Neku and an unfamiliar boy came into view. Neku had an exhausted-looking Piplup slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, I've heard of you," Sheik remarked, pointing at the newcomer. "You're Mega Man, right?"

"That's me!" Mega Man said proudly. "Nice to meet you!"

"Guys, let's do the meet-and-greet thing later," Shadow said impatiently. "All right, so now we have Pikachu, Neku, Sheik, and Lloyd. There are supposed to be six missioners." He looked around. "Where are Lucario and Snake?"

Neku shrugged. "We separated into three teams of two near the entrance of the base, so…"

Lloyd cursed and separated the half-complete Eternal Sword back to the red and blue Material Blades. "They're not even here?! Then I just wasted some of my time putting together my swords!"

"Dude, it doesn't even take you that long to combine them," Sonic said dryly.

"But still…!"

"That's enough," Blaze said sharply. "Lucario and Snake could be anywhere. I don't think we have enough time to search every room before we're captured. Any ideas?"

Luigi looked at Lloyd, then at the swordsman's Material Blades. "Um… Lloyd-a could make-a the Eternal Sword and-a warp us around-a…"

Lloyd stared at the green-clad plumber, and then he did a massive facepalm. "Well, why didn't you tell me sooner?! Argh… Fine, here it goes." He held each of his Material Blades, the Vorpal Sword and the Flamberge, close to each other. The two swords began to shine brightly as they reacted with one another, and the floated into the air. With a burst of light, they fused and formed a large, double-edged, purple-bladed sword.

_Sometimes, I forget how impressive that thing is,_ Yoshi remarked to himself as he gazed at the Eternal Sword.

Lloyd grabbed the Eternal Sword and slashed downwards, cutting open a hole between space and time. "Sheik, do you still have the Soliton Radar? Oh, good. We'll warp into the closest room, then warp to the next room, and so on." He motioned towards the hole. "Everyone, get in!"

All the Smashers dived through the hole. Lloyd jumped in just as a large group of Primids began to close in on him. The ten Smashers tumbled around, bumping into each other as they were transported into another room. When they reached their destination, another spatial hole opened up and dumped the Smashers onto the floor.

"Now that was a pretty wild ride!" commented Sonic, grinning and rubbing his back.

Lloyd snorted. "Ha. Next time, I'll show you what it's like when traveling between two dimensions!"

"Now _that's_ gonna be one heck of a ride!"

"This is Control Room D," Pikachu said, instantly recognizing the partially destroyed room. "We found Taki and met Mega Man in here. There's nothing else, so…move on, Lloyd!"

The next room the Smashers popped up in was the Computer Room.

"Lloyd and I got the blueprints here," said Sheik. "We also met Primid 0002 outside the door."

The Olympian Smashers were confused. "Blueprints? What blueprints?"

"We'll tell you all about it back home," Neku told them, carefully adjusting Taki's position on his shoulder.

It took Lloyd about fifteen minutes to teleport everyone throughout the entire base. Neither Lucario nor Snake were to be found.

"What the heck?" Shadow complained after they emerged in Control Room A. "We went through the whole base, and yet we didn't see them? What's going on?"

Sonic's ears jolted just ever so slightly. "Hold up, guys. Shhh."

It was faint, but everybody could hear a distant roar echo around the room.

_Krrrreeeeeeerrrrrrrrrr…!_

"Sounds-a pretty scary," said Luigi, shuddering a little.

"Sounds-a like trouble," Mario replied.

"Sounds like it's coming from outside," said Pikachu.

The Smashers looked at each other and nodded. Lloyd swung his Eternal Sword, and everyone leaped through the hole it slashed open.

"Sounds like Metal Gear RAY."

-ooo-

"Who are you?"

Snake stared at Lucario in shock. How could his best friend had forgotten who he was? It had to be a trick. "You're… You're kidding, right?"

Lucario had a vacant look in his dull eyes. "I've never seen you before. Who are you? What's your name? And where am I?"

AntiSora spoke up. "Hey, Ferron."

Lucario turned and saw the shadowy boy. "H-huh…! Aren't you…AntiSora?"

The boy grinned. "The one and only. Had a nice nap?"

Lucario was bewildered. "I was…sleeping?"

"Yeah, and for a pretty long time. Kind of like a coma. Did you miss me?"

"We… I don't know how to answer that question," Lucario admitted with a half-hearted chuckle.

_He's completely forgotten about Snake!_ Otacon thought, horrified. _Who knew AntiSora was this powerful?_

"Anyway, it's about time you got back to Subspace Army business," said AntiSora. "We have to defeat the Smashers."

"Oh, yeah… We were busy taking over worlds and watching out for those guys called the Smashers," Lucario said.

AntiSora nodded, then pointed at Snake. "Speaking of which, there's one right behind you."

Lucario whirled around and found himself standing face to face with a man in a gray, weapon-laden, skintight suit. "This guy?"

"Yeah."

"And he's a Smasher?"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Lucario silently examined the man. Somehow, he seemed to be a little familiar. "…Have I met him before?"

"Yes," answered AntiSora. "He's your greatest enemy."

"SHUT UP!" Snake roared, taking aim at AntiSora with his SOCOM again. "He's lying! We're best friends! You gotta remember, Lucario!"

AntiSora shook his head with mock sadness. "Not anymore…"

The Aura Pokémon crouched down. "He's a Smasher. That's all I need to hear." He swung his legs in a circle, tripping Snake and making him crash onto the ground. "Come on! You can't be that weak!"

Snake staggered upright. His gun had fallen out of his hand and was lying next to him, but he did not bother to pick it up. He went into a defensive stance and raised his hands before himself. "I really wish I didn't have to do this to you, Lucario…"

"Don't call me that!" his former friend spat. "My name is _Ferron_!"

Then there was a roar.

_KRRRRAAAAAAEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR…!_

For a brief moment, AntiSora stopped smiling. "There goes the signal."

Suddenly, the scenery around him, Lucario, Snake, and Otacon vanished. It was replaced with a cliff and the ruins of a familiar castle.

Otacon was shocked. "W-we're outside!" He looked to his right and let out a loud yell of fright. "A-and there's Metal Gear RAY!"

The amphibious Metal Gear was perched on the edge of the cliff, seemingly waiting for AntiSora. Its tail waved back and forth as its cockpit opened. AntiSora jumped into the cockpit, and called down to Lucario. "Ferron! There's no time. C'mon, we have to get going!"

The cockpit closed, and RAY took a step back. Its tail thrashed about in the open air above the foaming sea. Lucario glared at Snake with his dull eyes.

"Sorry for the fast exit," he snarled. "We'll meet again." He leaped onto RAY's leg, just as the Metal Gear performed a graceful backwards dive into the crashing sea.

"NO! LUCARIO!" Snake rushed forward, then found himself blocked by someone's arm.

"Forget it, Snake," Shadow the Hedgehog said firmly as he held back the mercenary. "Let him go."

"Dammit! I can't just let him go! That bastard has my _friend_!"

Someone put a hand on Snake's shoulder. It was Sheik.

"Please, Snake…" she whispered. "You must listen. Lucario is _not_ your friend…not anymore. And he won't be your friend until we restore his memories."

"…Rrrghhhh…"

"So, in the end…we rescued Taki…we met a new ally called Mega Man…we got the Metal Gear blueprints…we didn't find Sora…and we lost Lucario," Neku said softly, still holding onto Taki the Piplup.

Lloyd Irving came forward and slashed through the air with the Eternal Sword, slicing open an interdimensional hole. "Guys…we should get going now. We…" He swallowed, then continued, "W-we all did the…best we could."

Mario nodded in agreement. "You're right-a. It's okay, Snake. We'll get Lucario back-a before you know it-a."

"And when will that be?"

"I-I… Honestly, Snake…none of us knows," Otacon admitted quietly.

No one said another word as they all stepped into the hole and traveled back to the Smash Mansion.

-ooo-

The moment Paula entered the living room, someone screamed.

"PAULAAAAAAAA!"

The golden-haired girl sat up, surprised. "Oh! Ness! How are y—"

The psychic boy dived on top of Paula.

"_Mmph!_ Ness, get off—help—_air_—"

With one movement, Ike snatched Ness' shirt and pulled him away from Paula. "Calm down, boy. Don't choke your friend right after she recovered from a really bad slash wound."

"I know—it's just that—oh, God—" Ness had tears streaming down his face. He went to Paula and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Paula—it's been so long—are you okay?"

Paula giggled as she hugged her friend back. "Of course I am, silly. Colette and Raine did a really good job. Their magic sure is strong."

Colette blushed while Link gave her an appreciative pat on the back. Raine just laughed and left the room.

"So, um…" Paula looked around the living room and at all the unfamiliar faces surrounding her. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Smash Mansion," Meta Knight told her. "More specifically, the Smash Mansion's living room."

Paula let out a little gasp. "That's right! I was skipping through a forest… I wanted to see Ness again, and someone told me he could be found in the Smash Mansion. But then, um…" She looked down. "…something attacked me."

Primid 0001 suddenly noticed that Darkrai and Mewtwo had disappeared from the living room. _Hmm… They wanted some privacy, eh?_

"And I had a basket of pastries and stuff that I'd made before leaving Twoson!" Paula went on. "I'm so sorry, Ness—"

Ness smiled at her. "It's okay, Paula. Who cares about cakes when you were almost killed? Seeing you alive is good enough."

Paula's blue eyes sparkled as her face turned red with embarrassment. "R-really? Uh… That's great, I guess!"

Cloud pulled the Wii Fit Trainer forward. "And it's all thanks to _this_ lady. She found you in that forest and brought you here."

Paula turned to the white-skinned woman and bowed her head towards her. "Thank you very much, Ms. Trainer."

"I was just doing what I was supposed to do," the Trainer replied. "And please—just call me Trainer."

"Hm… That's an unusual nickname, but I guess it's okay. Thanks, Trainer!"

"Hey! Lucas and I will give you a tour of the Smash Mansion right now!" Ness piped up. "On the way, we'll introduce you to all the Smashers! Right, Lucas?"

The other psychic boy was startled. "Huh? What? …Y-yeah, of course!"

Paula smiled. "Thanks, guys!" Together, she, Ness, and Lucas walked out of the living room.

"…All right, then," said Ike, shouldering Ragnell. "Now what?"

"You and Cloud can give the Wii Fit Trainer a tour of the mansion," Marth suggested.

Cloud grabbed Ike's cape. "That's a great idea. Follow me, Trainer! And you're coming with me, Mr. Greil!"

"Wait—what—I don't even—" Ike continued to stammer as Cloud dragged him away. The Wii Fit Trainer stared at the two swordsmen for a moment, shrugged, and went after them.

Now, only Meta Knight, Marth, Colette, and Primid 0001 were left in the living room.

"Umm… What now?" Colette asked timidly.

That was when a hole opened up above her—and in the next second, she was covered by a pile of some familiar people.

_KA-RASH!_

"My tail!"

"My quills!"

"My head!"

"My hat-a!"

"_Yoshi!"_

"My arm!"

"My shoe! Where'd it go?!"

_Bonk._

"Oh. There it is."

Marth chuckled. "Haha… Don't we all just _love_ Smasher pileups?"

Primid 0001 jumped off the sofa. "Well, what do you know? The missioners are back—along with some Olympians, for some reason."

A blue, penguin-like Pokémon sat at the top of the Smasher pileup. _"Piiiiiiplup!"_ he chirped, flapping his stubby wings. "What just happened?"

With a loud groan, Colette managed to pull herself out from beneath the tangled heap of Smashers. "Owwww… That was no fun…"

Meta Knight went to the pile and helped each Smasher stand up. "Welcome back to the Smash Mansion, everyone. How did things fare?"

"Great!" said Sonic.

"Painful," Blaze moaned, clutching her broken arm.

"Bad as heck," Neku stated. He glanced at Snake, who did not say anything.

"Team Nintendo and Team Sega!" Marth cried with astonishment. "You guys are supposed to be in London for the Olympics! Did something happen?"

"Oh, _something_ happened, all right!" Yoshi replied grumpily. "The moment we arrived at London, this weird, rainbow-colored fog surrounded us and knocked us out!"

"When-a we woke up-a, we found ourselves-a tied up in some underground-a place," said Luigi. "Some of us-a broke free. Everyone else is still…er…" He looked crestfallen. "…still back-a there…"

"We bumped into Ridley, and he took away Metal Sonic after he reprogrammed him back to the dark side!" Sonic shouted angrily.

"Then-a we escaped-a from the place, and we realized-a that we'd-a turned up in a forest near what-a used to be King Dedede's castle," said Mario.

Primid 0001 widened his eyes. "K-King Dedede's castle…?!"

Hearing the unfamiliar voice, the Olympian Smashers turned around—and lay their eyes on a Primid.

They stared at him.

He stared at them.

Then…

"GAHHHH!" shrieked Yoshi. "A _PRIMID_!"

Marth quickly drew Falchion and held it in front of Primid 0001. "H-hold on, everyone! We can explain!"

Shadow waved him off. "No need to. Neku told us already." He glared at Yoshi, who looked sheepish. "Yoshi, how could you have forgotten already?"

"…Which reminds me," said Colette. "How did the mission go? Was it successful?"

Sheik hesitated for a few seconds. "Uh…yes _and_ no."

"Huh?"

"You see, we got the blueprints and managed to rescue Pikachu's friend Taki before the twelve-hour deadline," Lloyd explained, nodding towards the Piplup. "However…we lost Sora…and…" He hesitated. "…and…"

"And we lost Lucario."

Without another word, Snake left the Smashers and exited the living room.

"You… You lost Lucario?!" Meta Knight exclaimed. "But how?! What happened?!"

A man in a tan trench coat spoke up. "I don't think Snake wants us to talk about that."

Marth blinked. "Hey… Aren't you Otacon?"

The man nodded and extended his hand. "That's me. It's an honor to meet you."

"Same," Marth replied as he took Otacon's hand and shook it. "Did they find you at that base or something?"

Otacon nodded. "I was kidnapped from my place and taken to the Smash World so I could work on the Subspace Army's Metal Gear's AI. Luckily, Snake and…" He gulped and shifted his weight from left to right. "…and…_Lucario_…rescued me before I could get much work done."

Another unfamiliar person stepped up. "Hi, everyone…I'm Mega Man! I met Pikachu and Neku in the room where Taki was being held. Nice to meet you, Smash Bros.!"

"Wow, you're _the_ Mega Man?" remarked Marth, sounding quite impressed. "That's cool."

Primid 0001 cleared his throat. "_Ahem._ Did you get the blueprints?"

Sheik and Lloyd nodded.

"Then that means you encountered my friend, Primid 0002. The first Scope Primid to come into existence."

"Yeah, he was a great help," Sheik said, smiling. "Without his help, we couldn't have gotten into the room with the blueprints."

"Otherwise, we would have been blown up by explosives…" Lloyd frowned and glanced at the ground. "Darn death threats all over the place…"

"Hey, Primid 0001," said Pikachu. "Is Primid 0002 a fan of a certain Electric-type Mouse Pokémon?"

The Primid shook his head with exasperation. "Yes, that's him, all right. He is absolutely _crazy_ about the Pikachu species. He changed the front door's password, did he not?"

"Yup. It turned out to be something like…" Pikachu took a deep breath. "…_Pikachu is BOSS_!"

Colette laughed along with the other Smashers for a bit. Then she turned her head and saw the door. Snake had walked through it just a few minutes ago…

She let out a soft sigh.

_Snake… Are you feeling all right…?_

-ooo-

Samus Aran turned a corner and found the stairs to the second floor. As calmly as she could, she climbed them. She nervously clutched the banister as she went up.

_I need to talk to him…_

When she reached the second floor of the Smash Mansion, she looked left and peered down the hallway. In no time, she spotted the door she was searching for—the one with an orange and black fox with jagged, lightning bolt-like legs.

_He should be in there… I couldn't find him anywhere else…_ Samus inhaled deeply, then exhaled. _I hope he's not really pissed off or something…_

She tiptoed towards the door and raised her hand to knock. Then she hesitated.

_Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, after all… Should I do this or not? He probably doesn't want to see me, anyway…_

"Stop loitering around, Samus. I know you're out there."

Samus gasped. _So he knew…_ "Uh… Hey… Can I come in? I know you're probably not in the mood to see me or anyone else right now, so…umm…if I'm bothering you, then I'll just—"

"Sure. Come on in. The door's unlocked."

_Whew,_ Samus thought. With tentative hands, she pushed the door open and entered the room, then shut the door as quickly as she could. She found Solid Snake sitting on the floor, tossing a grenade around. She watched as he threw it into the air, caught it, and threw it up again. Up, down. Up, down.

"You looked quite bothered, Samus."

The bounty hunter looked up to see an Assist Trophy called Gray Fox sitting on a cardboard box, holding his katana with the blade facing downwards. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh… Actually…" Samus bit her lip nervously. "Well… I'm kind of worried…"

"You're worried about Snake, aren't you?"

Samus nodded.

"And Lucario?"

"Yes…"

Gray Fox was silent. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was the sound of Snake repeatedly throwing and catching his grenade. Up, down. Up, down.

"…I feel like the upcoming conversation should be a private one," Gray Fox decided, leaving the cardboard box and twirling his katana around. "I shall take my leave now." In a flash, the cyborg ninja was gone.

Snake continued to toss the grenade. Up, down. Up, down.

Samus began to speak up, and then she faltered. "Um…"

Up, down. Up, down.

"…S-Snake… You're really worried about Lucario…aren't you?"

"What does it look like?" Up, down. Up, down.

"You look really depressed… _Really_ depressed."

"Mmm." Up, down. Up, down.

"Did you try doing the telepathic connection thing?"

"Didn't work. I think his mind's been blocked." Up, down. Up, down.

Samus took a breath. "…Snake, what exactly is going on between you and Lucario?"

"I don't want to tell you." Up, down. Up, down.

"You should. For some reason, I think Lucario's disappearance means a _lot_ to you."

"And what if it does?" Up, down. Up, down.

"What do you mean, 'what if it does'?! You look like it's _killing_ you! Like you just lost a piece of yourself or something!"

"Why do you care so much, woman?" Up, down. Up, down.

Samus was fed up with the mercenary's attitude. With one quick motion, she snatched Snake's grenade while it was still airborne, pulled out the pin, and hurled it through the window. A few seconds later, she heard the noisy _BOOM_ of the grenade's detonation, which frightened a flock of sparrows in a tree nearby. Samus tossed the pin aside and faced Snake with her hands on her hips.

"Why do I care so much?" she said. "Well, who'd like to watch a fellow Smasher just sink into depression the way it's happening to you? Huh? Would you like it? _No!_ Of course not! And I wouldn't like it, either! That's why I care so much, Solid Snake!"

Snake did not say anything.

"So quit moping around and speak up!" Samus went on, the volume of her voice rising with every word. "I know there's something between you and Lucario—something no one else knows about. And I know that as long as Lucario's gone, you're going to keep destroying yourself! So tell me, Solid Snake—" She bent down and put her face directly in front of the mercenary's. _"What—is—going—on?"_

Snake remained silent. Samus continued to wait for an answer.

"…It's very complex."

Samus took a small step back as Snake raised his head. His normally clear blue eyes were lusterless now. "I've never told anyone else about it. Not even Meta Knight knows, despite being one of our teammates while his Halberd was under the control of those Mr. Game & Watch clones." He stared into Samus' blue-green eyes. "You wanted to know about it. Well, you asked for it."

Samus' heart fluttered, and Snake began to tell the whole story.

"At first, I had no idea that I'd be caught up in the mess that the Subspace Army had caused. In fact, I didn't even know about the Army—I didn't even know about the existence of all this other worlds. I thought it was just my world—my own little world, where the war economy controlled everything.

"The year was 2014. The month was… Bah, I don't even remember. And I was about a week away from the day of my death."

Samus was shocked. "Your what? _Death?!_"

"Accelerated aging. My DNA had been tampered with before I was born. Did you know that I was known as Old Snake in 2014?"

"…Oh, my."

"So I was lying in bed, and Otacon was doing his own business—you know, computer geek stuff. That was when he called me over…"

_"Hey! Snake! You awake?"_

_"Rrrghhh…" With a groan, Old Snake staggered upright. "What _now_, Otacon?"_

_"Come here, quick! I just found something that could only be described as unreal!"_

_"Sheesh, everything here is unreal…" Slowly, the ex-soldier stumbled into Otacon's messy room. "What?"_

_"Here. Look." The otaku showed him the screen. "Someone took these pictures just a couple hours ago."_

_Snake looked closely at the photos. They all depicted a gigantic airship with multiple bat-like wings and a metallic mask on the bow. "Maybe it's a new Metal Gear… But don't get me involved. I'm not in the mood…not to mention I'm not _fit_ to take it down."_

_"Sorry, but…ah…" Otacon shrugged. "…I-I'm sending you on a mission. Just this one and you'll be done."_

_"Forget it, Otacon!" Snake snapped. "I only have a week left and you still want me to do a mission? Are you insane?!"_

_Otacon shook his head. "Listen, Snake. I've seen that ship before. It's an important topic of some games in a certain video game series called…_Kirby_."_

_Snake looked at him. "…_Kirby_? You mean that game where you control a flying pink marshmallow?"_

_"Yes! Exactly! And this ship"—Otacon pointed at one of the photos—"is from the _Kirby_ series! It's called the Battleship Halberd, commanded by Kirby's mentor, rival, and enemy—Meta Knight."_

_"All right, all right, enough of the video game stuff. So what are you saying?"_

_Otacon's eyes were sparkling with glee. "What I'm saying is—if the Halberd appeared in our world, then that must mean our world is connected with other worlds or something! Snake, this is lawbreaking! But it's real!"_

_"Those pictures might be photoshopped," Snake pointed out._

_Otacon snorted. "Oh, please. I saw the thing with my own eyes, you know. It was really cloudy, though, so I forgot about it. Then these pictures started popping up all over the Internet—" He began to whisper. "So other people saw it, too! That means the thing I saw was real! _Very_ real!"_

"And let me guess," said Samus. "He wanted you to investigate it."

Snake nodded. "It was going to be my final mission before I dropped dead. Otacon said the Halberd had landed on Shadow Moses Island, and we immediately flew across the States to get to the ship before it could leave. We were just in time—the moment I boarded the thing, it took off." He sighed. "That was the last I saw of Otacon for a pretty long time."

Samus then asked, "But if you were about to die in 2014…why do you look so…uhhh…" She blushed as she looked at the mercenary. "…ummm…_young_ right now?"

Snake smiled wryly. "That a compliment?"

Samus continued to turn red.

"Anyway, that's what I'm getting to right now."

_Old Snake slowly crawled under the cardboard box he had found in the metal-floored room he was in. It said _The Orange_ on it, reminding him of the good old days._

_"Yeah… Reminds me of when I wasn't like this…"_

_Within the box, he sat with his hands on his knees and his head bent low. "I think I'll just…close my eyes for a bit…"_

"Then…something that science just couldn't explain…happened."

_The ride was a bumpy one. As the Halberd flew through turbulent air, it hit another blast of wind. The entire ship rocked from side to side, jolting Snake awake._

_"Tch… Wind," he grumbled. "How long was I out?"_

_He stopped. Something felt different just now. Very different._

_He looked at himself._

_"…What the hell?! I gotta tell Otacon about this!"_

_He tapped his ear, activating his Codec, and dialed Otacon's frequency. "141.12… I hope I can still get a connection out here…"_

_Snake listened to the Codec ring in his ear. Just moments later, Otacon's image appeared._

_"Oh! Snake!" He sounded pleased. "What is it?"_

_"Otacon, there's something completely nutty about this place. You won't believe what just happened!"_

_"Hold on… Hold on…" Otacon squinted his eyes in concentration. "There's something different about you, Snake… You sound like you're in your _forties_ instead of your seventies…"_

_"My point exactly! I swear I just got _younger_!"_

_"Huh?! But how?! That's impossible!"_

_"I… I just can't explain it. One moment, I felt like I was seventy… Now I'm feeling like I'm back to my forties or something." Snake looked at the clothing he was wearing. "Holy crap, even my suit changed… I'm wearing the Sneaking Suit I had during the Tanker Incident and the Manhattan Incident."_

_Otacon was silent with shock. Then, in a faint voice, he said, "Snake…did you ask anyone what the year is?"_

_"What are you talking about? Isn't it 2014?"_

_"No, no! Snake, if other worlds actually exist, how can they all follow the same timeline as ours? Go out and find someone, then ask them what year it is."_

"I caught a Primid shortly afterwards," said Snake. "It had a translator on itself, so I could talk to it. It said it was 2008."

"2008… That's a difference of six years," Samus said.

"Right," the mercenary replied. "Then I went back to my conversation with Otacon…"

_"The guy said it's 2008."_

_"2008…" Otacon was deep in thought. Suddenly, he sat up with a wild look on his face. "I think I get it now! Snake, in 2014, you're 42 years old with the body of a seventy-year-old man because of your accelerated aging, right? Since you're now in a place where it's 2008, your body was affected by the change, and so you became younger. You're now 36 years old and you probably have the body of forty or so years."_

_"Otacon… That's completely absurd," Snake said to him._

_Otacon just shrugged. "Well, Snake… I think this mission just saved your life."_

_"Don't remind me," Snake growled._

_"Anyway, now that you're back to this age, along with that old Sneaking Suit from 2009…can I call you _Solid Snake_?"_

_Snake thought about it, and then he grinned. "Sure. Go ahead. Makes me feel like my former self again."_

"I suspected that the battleship I was sitting in was up to no good, so I stayed put for a while to see how things would unfold. I was pretty shocked by the sight of all those…otherworldly creatures running around, but I forced myself to stay calm and wait in the cardboard box." Snake smiled. "Speaking of the box, it changed, too. Instead of saying _The Orange_ on it, it read _Super Smash Bros._ and had a Smash Ball on it. There was also an exclamation mark on two of the sides." He laughed. "A reference to _MGS_… Great."

_"Super Smash Bros._, huh?" Samus said, smiling as well. "That box predicted the future."

"Not a long while later, there was a commotion. The Halberd had begun to exchange fire with another airship, the Great Fox. I peeked out of a window and saw that we were hovering above a mountain—the Glacial Peak. The Great Fox was no match for the Halberd, and it was quickly captured. The Halberd rammed it into the side of the Glacial Peak… That was when I saw two figures hopping up the mountain and along the starboard side of the Halberd."

"Meta Knight and Lucario," Samus whispered.

"Yeah," said Snake. "I decided to explore the Halberd a bit. About half an hour later, I heard those two approaching. Since I was trained to avoid confrontations, I hid under my box. I never would've known that Lucario could see right through things…"

_Snake dived into the cardboard box just as the two figures rushed by._

_"No… Wait just a minute, Meta Knight," said a voice. "Something's not right about that box."_

_A deep, exasperated-sounding voice sighed. "It's just a box. What's not right about it?"_

Please leave, please leave, please leave…_ Snake begged mentally._

_"I sense…an aura. There is someone hiding in that box."_

Damn it!

_Someone picked up the box, revealing Snake. The mercenary looked up and was shocked to see a dog-like creature with creamy tan, black, and blue fur, standing on two legs. He had a steel spike on his chest and on the back of each forepaw._

_"Gah!" Snake leaped up and raised his fists. "What are you, some kind of Pokémon?!"_

_A ball-shaped being wearing a mask that looked like the Halberd's bow's mask stepped forward, cutting the air with his golden sword. "Who are you?" he demanded in an unusually deep voice. "Are you with the Subspace Army?"_

_"Subspace Army? What the hell is that?"_

_"Meta Knight, stop!" the Pokémon ordered. "His aura's colors include blue. He's on our side."_

_The masked puffball narrowed his yellow eyes suspiciously. "Are you sure?"_

_"Wait." The Pokémon closed his red eyes. "…Red auras…" He opened his eyes and looked at the man in the gray suit. "Primids are closing in on us. I guess we have no choice but to let you join our duo…"_

_"Fine by me," Snake growled. "I'm kind of lost, anyway."_

_Meta Knight brandished his sword. "Just don't do anything funny, or we'll send you flying."_

_Snake chuckled darkly. "That doesn't sound fun."_

Snake absentmindedly took out another grenade and started tossing it around. Samus' hand twitched, but she decided against it. "We took care of the Primids pretty quickly," said the mercenary. "Firepower combined with aura combined with a sword. We made a good team.

"Eventually, we reached the main control room, where there were a bunch of G&W clones. I…er…_relieved_ them of their duties by launching them through the window."

Samus snorted. "_Relieved_… But then, the shadow bugs that made up the clones reformed into Duon, right?"

Snake nodded as he threw and caught his grenade. "While Meta Knight stayed in the control room to destroy any traces of the shadow bugs, Lucario and I jumped down to the Halberd Bridge to fight Duon. Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peach, and Zelda were down there, too." He pulled the grenade's pin and chucked the bomb through the window; the indignant howl that followed the explosion's _BOOM_ indicated that Snake had hit his target—Wolf O'Donnell. "After we defeated Duon, Meta Knight regained control of the Halberd, and I went back up to the control room."

Samus watched as the mercenary brought out his handgun, the SOCOM, and emptied the cartridge. The volume of his voice lowered considerably as he continued to talk while fiddling around with the gun's parts. "I'll never forget my first conversation with that Pokémon…"

_"So, uh…what's your name?"_

_Snake looked up to see the Pokémon bending over him with inquisitive red eyes. "…It's Snake. Solid Snake."_

_The Pokémon snorted. "Oh, please. You should have a real name. What's your real name?"_

_"A name means nothing on the battlefield." Snake stared at the ground. "After a week, no one has a name."_

_The Pokémon sighed. The mercenary's cold blue eyes unnerved him, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and sit next to him. "…I guess I'm wrong about everyone having a real name. I don't have one either, you know. They just call me Lucario because that's the name of my species. Honestly, I don't feel really good about that." He looked closely at Snake. "…Your aura fascinates me."_

_Snake turned towards him, his blue eyes still emotionless. "What's so fascinating about my aura?"_

_"Most auras I've seen were mixes of blue, white, green, yellow, and purple—you know, colors that are positive," the Pokémon called Lucario explained. "But yours…" He narrowed his red eyes as he examined the man's strangely colored aura. "…You had a long, hard life, didn't you?"_

_The mercenary looked away. "Nothing about my life concerns you, Lucario."_

_"It makes me feel worried. Uh…how old are you?" the Pokémon asked, the hesitation evident in his voice._

_"Old enough to know what death looks like." Snake stood up and left the control room._

_Lucario watched him go. _What's with him…?_ he wondered._

_Snake later found some refuge on the Halberd's bridge. Fox and Falco had just left it a few minutes ago and were now wandering around in Falco's Arwing. Snake leaned against the Combo Cannon and took out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled out one cigarette and was about to light it when a voice spoke up._

_"Smoking isn't good for your health, you know."_

_The mercenary just went on to light the cigarette and put it in his mouth. "Damn Pokémon… What do you want?"_

_Lucario dropped down from somewhere above Snake. He saw the cigarette and frowned. "Didn't anyone teach you the dangers of smoking?"_

_"Sure," said Snake, exhaling a small cloud of smoke. "But little words can't stop me from doing what I want to do."_

_"Hmmm… If you say so. Don't start complaining to me if your lungs decide to blow up with cancer one day." Lucario folded his arms and gazed at the vast blue below the Halberd that was the sea. "Isn't it beautiful? No red clouds… No shadow bugs to buzz around us. Let's enjoy this moment."_

_Snake looked at the clear blue sky. "No white clouds, either."_

_"That's okay. As long as there are no red clouds, everything is fine."_

_"I see." Snake took the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it overboard._

_"Hey!" protested Lucario. "That's littering!"_

_"Who cares about littering when you have to deal with the whole Subspace Army?" Snake countered._

_Lucario opened his mouth to make a suitably cutting retort, but he shook his head. "Fine…"_

_The two of them were silent for a while. Then Snake looked at Lucario._

_"Hey… What exactly is _aura_?"_

_"It's your life force," the Pokémon explained. "All living things have their own aura—the birds, the animals, the insects… Even the trees and bushes have auras." He pointed to himself. "My species is known as the Aura Pokémon. That's because we have very strong aura powers, and we have the unique ability to use our own auras as weapons." He formed a swirling blue ball in his paws and shot it into the sky, where it dissipated. "Like so."_

_"Impressive," remarked Snake. "Can you see aura?"_

_"That's our other ability," said Lucario. "We can see everything's auras as well as use our own. All living things' auras have their own distinctive colors. Each color of aura describes the being's mood and personality."_

_"How do you see aura?"_

_"Er… That's kind of hard to explain. I suppose we just concentrate on an individual and look deeply into his eyes and heart. If we do it correctly, we should be able to use Aura Sight, which is the name of our aura-seeing ability. When we're seeing with Aura Sight, we see the auras and images of everything within a one-mile radius."_

_"So you can see things that are beyond your normal vision? Very impressive."_

_Lucario grinned. "Hey, thanks."_

_The Halberd continued to fly onwards, soaring towards wherever Meta Knight was guiding it. None of the passengers even knew if the masked knight even had a certain destination in mind._

_Peach was passing by. She spotted the two fighters and offered a cup of tea. "Want some?"_

_Snake waved her off. "I'll get some later. Thanks."_

_As the Mushroom Kingdom princess daintily walked away, the mercenary turned to Lucario again. "Earlier, you said my aura was…fascinating. Well, what exactly is so _fascinating_about it?"_

_Lucario looked at the wooden floor of the Halberd Bridge. "As I said before, Snake, most auras I've seen were mixes of colors that are positive, like bright colors and colors that make you feel happy or good. But when I first saw yours through the cardboard box, it struck me as…I don't know how to describe it…_odd_, I guess. I expected to see an aura that was mostly blue with bits of lavender and perhaps yellow or orange…" He put his right paw on his forehead. "Your aura has blue, yes, but the blue is overshadowed by the negative colors."_

_"_Negative_ colors?"_

_"The darker shades of the positive colors… Your aura was mostly dark red, gray, and black. I saw flashes of blue-green and turquoise, the only positive colors." Lucario put a paw on Snake's elbow. The mercenary raised his eyebrows, but he did not make any objections. "Even now…I mostly see dark red and gray." The Pokémon lifted his head and gazed into Snake's ice-blue eyes. "That's why I asked you if you had a long, hard life."_

Snake finished reassembling his SOCOM, which he put back into his leg holster. "I told him that he was right. My life was full of hardships. I was once told that I was created for one purpose—war. Most people wouldn't believe me, but it's true. I'd been training for war for the first ten years of my life. In 1991, during the Gulf War, I took part in a mission to infiltrate western Iraq…and I was just a teen. Four years later, there was the Outer Heaven Uprising… Another four years later, the Zanzibar Land Disturbance…the Shadow Moses Incident in 2005…the Tanker Incident in 2007…the Big Shell Incident in 2009…and Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection in 2014." He folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "War has been taking over my life ever since I was born. Liquid Snake said I enjoyed all the killing…that my face was filled with the joy of battle whenever I killed someone. Unfortunately, killing is just one of those things that gets easier the more you do it…"

Samus eyed Snake cautiously and scooted a little farther away from him. The mercenary caught the small movement.

"Am I scaring you?" He smiled. "Sorry."

"N-no… It's all right, Snake." Samus looked at her hands. "…I think I was born to kill, too. My parents were murdered by Ridley when I was just a little girl. Since then, I was determined to kill him and anything that was in my way. And it's just as you said…" She stared out the open window. "Killing gets easier the more you do it. I don't even flinch now when I take someone's life."

"I guess we're pretty similar."

"Mmm-hmm."

_"So you were practically born on a battlefield, huh?" Lucario shook his head sadly. "No wonder your aura is so discolored… I'm so sorry."_

_"It's too late to be sorry. I'm just glad it's all over…for now." Snake paced around for a bit before whirling back around. "So what's _your_ past, Lucario?"_

_"H-huh? _My_ past? Umm…" Lucario nervously twiddled his thumbs. "To tell you the truth, Snake…I don't know my past. I…" He turned his head to look at the control room, where Meta Knight was piloting the Halberd. "After Meta Knight defeated me in a fight, I woke up not knowing where I was. All I knew was that I was a Lucario. Nothing else." He narrowed his red eyes. "Meta Knight must've hit me on the head _really_ hard, or I just suffered from amnesia. Either way, I have no memory of my past."_

_"Jeez… That sucks," Snake said sympathetically before starting to pace up and down again._

_"I know, right?" Lucario agreed. "I don't even know my own age, my own name…or if I even had a _family_ before I was involved in this mess… Do you have a family?"_

_"No, but I was raised by many people," Snake answered._

_They were silent for a while._

_"…Um… Snake? Can I ask you one more thing?"_

_"What?"_

_"When we're fighting and I'm about to fall…will you protect me if I promise that I'll protect you?"_

_Snake looked at him. "You'll protect me?"_

_Lucario nodded._

_"To the very end?"_

_The Pokémon nodded again._

_"Even if you're about to drop?"_

_"Yes."_

_Snake smiled._

_"Then you just got yourself a deal, Lucario. We'll protect each other."_

"I guess you could say our friendship truly began during the fight with Tabuu. You, my friend," Snake said to the bounty hunter, "you missed a lot of things…especially what was going on with me, Lucario, and Tabuu."

_"Snake? Snake!" Lucario ran past the fallen trophies and remaining fighters, his red eyes scanning the battlefield. "Too many auras… I can't possibly see through this jumble—" He caught sight of a trophy on the purple and black glass-like ground. "Oh, my Arceus… SNAKE!" He dashed to the trophy and hit the golden base with his paw. The stand flashed brightly for a second, and the mercenary was revived, rubbing his head._

_"Ughhh…" he groaned. "What happened…?"_

_"You were knocked out by Tabuu," Lucario began to explain as quickly as he could. "We don't have many fighters left standing, and there definitely isn't enough time to revive them all. It's Tabuu versus you, me, Meta Knight, Ike, Samus, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Ivysaur, Charizard, Squirtle, and Falco. One against eleven… I think we can do it."_

_"I _think_ we can do it." Snake did not really like the sound of that. Nonetheless, he said, "All right, then. You ready?"_

_The Aura Pokémon nodded. "One…two…_three_!"_

_The mercenary and the Pokémon charged at Tabuu. Snake had his Nikita while Lucario formed a large Aura Sphere. Tabuu was dealing with Falco when he noticed the two fighters approaching him. He easily knocked the Star Fox pilot away and faced Lucario and Snake._

"Fools! Reckless charging will get you _nowhere_!"

_He dived down and grabbed Snake's ankle. Surprised, the mercenary dropped his Nikita, and Tabuu flew back into the air with Snake dangling around._

_"Tabuu!" shouted Lucario. "Hurt him in any way and I'll kill you!"_

_The Subspace embodiment sneered. _"_You?_ A foolish Lucario? What makes you think you have the power to kill _me_, the ruler of Subspace?"

_Lucario growled. Things were falling apart quickly. "You hurt Snake and I _will_ hurt you back, you arrogant jerk. I'm warning you!"_

"Ha. I do not need to take heed of _your_ silly warnings."_ Tabuu went the edge of the battlefield and held Snake precariously over the open air. _"Hmm… I wonder where you would go if I happened to…_let go_ of you…"

_Snake waved his arms wildly and thrashed as hard as he could, but Tabuu's strong grip kept him in place. "Crap!"_

_"Snake!" Lucario yelled, his mind racing. "Hang on just a bit more! I'm coming!"_

_His paws barely touched the glass-like ground as he sprinted across the battlefield. The blood rushed and roared in his ears, blocking out all the other sounds—all except for one._

_"Lucario! Get outta here! I don't want you to get caught, too!"_

_The Aura Pokémon continued to race towards Snake and Tabuu. "Sorry, Snake, but I have to do what's right!"_

_Tabuu let out a booming laugh. _"Haha! Very funny! Do you think you have what it takes to defeat _me_, foolish Lucario? What weapons do you have that can match _my_ power?"

_Lucario skidded to a stop when he was directly in front of the Subspace deity. He was grinning._

_"What weapons do I have? I don't have any weapons. I don't _need_ any weapons. That's because I have my own reasons." He raised a finger. "I made a promise to someone. I told him that I would protect him to the very end, no matter how battered I was. And that promise is enough to keep me going forward!"_

_Suddenly, blue flames and white surrounded him. His eyes were glowing with an intense golden light._

Mother of God… Is his aura at maximum power or something?!_ Snake thought._

_Tabuu was startled for a moment, but in the next second, he had regained his composure. _"I am afraid you are too late, Lucario." _He held Snake over the ledge._

_Lucario's eyes widened. "NO."_

_Tabuu cackled. _"One moment, your friend is here… The next moment—"

_He opened his hand._

"—he is not."

_"SNAAAAAAAAAKE!"_

_Snake plummeted down and into the darkness. "AHHHHHHHH!"_

_Lucario lunged forward, extending his paws._

_"TABUU! You did NOT just do that! _AURA STORM!_"_

_A destructive beam of pure white aura shot out of Lucario's paws. The beam caught Tabuu ad trapped him. Lucario roared and put all his power into the move he called Aura Storm. He wanted to make Tabuu feel the pain—the pain of losing a friend. "DAMN YOU TO HELL, TABUU! I'LL _KILL_ YOU! I'LL—"_

_"LUCARIO! _STOP!_"_

_The Aura Storm slowly disappeared, leaving Tabuu severely weakened. As he recovered from the sudden assault, Lucario turned around to see the swordsman who called himself Ike Greil._

_"Listen to me, Lucario." The man put his hand on the Pokémon's shoulder. "Let _us_ deal with him. Right now, you have to get to Snake. Don't give up just yet… I know he's a strong man. It takes more than just a fall to defeat him. I'm sure he's still there, hanging onto another ledge…hanging onto his last hope. And that last hope is _you_, Lucario!"_

_"Me…?"_

_Lucario was shocked. Finally, he nodded. "…You're right. I have to rescue him. After all, I made that promise to him…" He smiled. "Thank you, Ike."_

_The swordsman nodded in reply, and he ran back to the battlefield._

_Lucario went to the ledge and peered down. It was too dark to see anything…_

_"He's down there. I can sense his aura." He took a deep breath and jumped into the open air—and he fell._

_"I have to get to him as quickly as possible! _ExtremeSpeed!_"_

_He went down and down and down and—_

_"Lucario… Over here…"_

_Before he could go down any further, Lucario used ExtremeSpeed again and landed on the side of a rocky wall. He stuck his steel spikes into the rock so he would not slip. "Snake? Is that you?"_

_"Hurry… I'm afraid my fingers aren't that strong…"_

_Lucario listened to the voice and carefully crawled in its direction. "I'm coming, I'm coming…!" He gasped. "There!"_

_Snake was clinging onto a tiny ledge by his fingertips. With a grunt of effort, Lucario heaved the mercenary onto his back._

_"Don't worry, Snake… I'll keep you safe… _ExtremeSpeed!_" Like a rocket, Lucario shot upwards. "I won't let Tabuu mess around with you again…"_

"Luckily, that bastard didn't have a chance to mess around with me again, because Ike had the privilege of sending him off."

_"GREAT AETHER!"_

_With a howl of pain and despair, Tabuu's body glowed with a bright blue light—and he and the Subspatial realm the fighters were in exploded. Everyone's vision was filled with red as the explosion's shockwave swept over their badly beaten bodies. Much to their shock, the entire dimension began to collapse into itself. They only had a few minutes before they were trapped in the vanishing Subspace._

_Within moments, all the fallen fighters were revived, and everybody scrambled onto the waiting airships—Falco Lombardi's Arwing, Wolf O'Donnell's Wolfen, Samus Aran's Metroid Gunship, Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Captain Olimar's Hocotate Ship… Some last-minute stragglers even used Kirby's Dragoon and Warp Star. As quickly as they could, the fighters escaped the collapsing Subspace. They never looked back…_

_Onboard the Metroid Gunship, Lucario and Snake were sitting next to each other, breathing heavily and badly wounded. Snake looked as though he were about to faint._

_"…You… You saved…my life, Lucario," he panted._

_Lucario shrugged. His body was so sore that even a simple shrug forced him to clench his teeth and muffle his shriek of pain. "Well…I had to keep my promise, you know…"_

_"…I… I see…"_

_For a moment, all they could hear were the sounds of some other fighters groaning with agony._

_"…David."_

_Lucario looked at Snake. "What?"_

_"David… My real name___…_is David." The mercenary smiled weakly. "Now you know. Consider that___…_a sign of my trust…towards…you…"_

_And he passed out._

_Lucario blinked his eyes in surprise. "That's your real name…?"_

_He stared at Snake for a few minutes, then shook his head._

_"But I thought you said that a name means nothing on the battlefield… Well, now…" He chuckled softly. "Do you really trust me that much, David…?"_

For a long while, Samus was silent, struggling to take all of this in. Lucario… Snake… The promise… Everything was so…

"Oh, God…" she whispered faintly. "I never would've guessed that your friendship was _that_ strong… Yet no one knows about it? They just see you two as good friends and nothing else?"

"If they all knew the whole story, I think my life would get a lot more hectic," Snake said humorlessly. "That's why we decided to keep it as a secret."

Samus looked away from the mercenary. "No wonder you looked so depressed… Even Neku didn't look all that sad when they lost Sora."

They did not speak for a few minutes. Then Samus sighed and said, "Well…it's going to take me a pretty long time to digest all of this. I have to say, I'm pretty shocked. You're right about the whole story being complex. You had a bad past… Lucario doesn't even _have_ a past…"

"Actually…according to AntiSora, he knew Lucario," Snake told her. "From what I've heard so far, Lucario is from that Pokémon world with things called mystery dungeons…and Pikachu is also from that place, where he was known as Zane. Before the whole Subspace Incident began, Lucario was still a Riolu called…Ferron. Apparently, he had—how did AntiSora say it?—unusually strong abilities of aura, allowing him to use Aura Sphere even though he was a Riolu. This got AntiSora's attention, and he kidnapped him, evolved him to a Lucario, and…" Snake paused. "…later infused him with even more powers… And now Lucario got back his memories of what happened _before_ Meta Knight defeated him. He doesn't know who the Smashers are…who I am…or who he really is." He set his mouth in a straight line. "I have a feeling that there's a lot more to Lucario that I don't know."

Samus nodded. "Now that he's on the Subspace Army's side, things are gonna get ugly pretty soon. Sora may have been brainwashed, too."

Snake raised his hands. "Who knows?"

There was another bout of silence.

"Hey, Snake."

"Yeah?"

"You _really_ want to save Lucario, right? Is that because he saved your life during the final battle during the Subspace Incident?"

"_Yes._ I owe him one. If he wasn't there…or if he hadn't been brave enough to speak to me…I'd be dead as a doornail. Or, worse yet—" He made a face. "—on that bastard Tabuu's side."

Samus shuddered. "That won't be good. What would your friends back at your place say if Tabuu really _did_ brainwash you into joining the Army?"

"Well, Colonel Campbell will probably start cooking up a rescue mission and contact my friend Raiden… Meryl Silverburgh's gonna be pretty shocked…" The mercenary grinned. "…and poor old Otacon is definitely gonna lose control of his bladder…again."

"Lose control of his bladder…_again_?"

"It's…a long story."

The two Smashers laughed. Then Samus glanced up at the clock on the wall.

"5:29 PM? Whoa! Didn't I come up here at around four PM? Then it's already been over a whole hour." She looked suspiciously at the door. "Wonder what those perverted Smashers are thinking…"

Snake patted her on the back. "If those _perverted_ Smashers are up to no good, you can kick them for me. Thanks in advance."

Samus laughed. "Well, then…I guess I should go now. I've spent enough time here." She stood up and put her hand on the door handle when Snake spoke up.

"Hey, Samus."

The bounty hunter turned around. "What is it, Snake?"

The mercenary smiled at her and gave her a nod. "Thanks for coming. I needed it."

"Oh—oh—" Samus felt her face burning up with embarrassment. "Well, um… N-no problem, Snake." She smiled awkwardly. "So, uh…I'll see you at dinner…?"

Snake nodded slowly. "See you in a couple hours."

"Yeah… See you later…"

Samus tiptoed through the door and quietly shut it. Then she leaned against the wall. She could easily hear her heart pounding wildly against her chest.

_My God…_

-ooo-

A door slammed. Fox-X made no response as he continued to work, but inside his head, Fox was still thinking.

_All right, all right… So I'm pretty much stuck here until I get that mind-controlling device off my head…which is pretty much impossible. Arghhh… Damn you, James…_

_"Hey. I can hear your every thought, you know."_

_I know,_ Fox growled. _Shut up._

Then the door to Department Z opened. AntiSora entered the room, followed by someone Fox knew all too well.

"Good… So far, so good, Fox-X," AntiSora said approvingly. He pulled the other person forward. "I got you a new friend."

Not a person—a Pokémon.

_What the hell?_ Fox shouted. _That's Lucario!_

_"Say what? …Ah, I see."_ James' voice sounded grimly satisfied. _"It looks like AntiSora got him back…"_

_Got him…_back_? What are you talking about?_

_"And that's not the Lucario you know. He's changed."_

AntiSora gave Lucario a quick pat on the back. "You have ten minutes before I pull you out." He exited Department Z and shut the door.

Fox-X and Lucario stared at each other for a few awkward moments.

"…Well, then." The Pokémon dipped his head in greeting. "My name is Ferron. What's yours?"

"Fox…X," replied the former Star Fox leader, nodding. "Nice to meet you."

_He doesn't have a mind-controlling device on him,_ Fox observed.

_"That's because AntiSora completely altered the memories of his past with his own dark powers… Now your friend doesn't know who he truly is,"_ James explained.

_So his name is Ferron, eh? Nice name, but I liked it better when his name was Lucario,_ Fox admitted.

"Er… What are we doing?" asked Ferron.

Fox-X gestured around the room. "Welcome to Department Z. Before you came, I was starting to sketch out the structure of the Subspace Army's Metal Gear."

Ferron was confused. "Metal Gear?"

Fox-X looked annoyed. "Didn't AntiSora tell you anything? The Subspace Army is developing a Metal Gear, which is a nuclear weapon of almost unbelievable power, capable of wiping out large populations and causing massive destruction. Master Tabuu plans to use it to defeat the Smashers once and for all."

Ferron narrowed his eyes. "The Smashers, eh? Then I'm in."

_"Looks like Lucario doesn't have any of his own willpower left,"_ James commented. _"Poor guy."_

_That was sarcasm, wasn't it?!_ snapped Fox.

Fox-X laid out a large piece of paper with seemingly random pencil marks on it. Ferron looked closely at the paper and realized that the marks actually meant something. "Is this what you have so far?"

"Yes," said Fox-X. "Progress is very slow because a Metal Gear is very complicated. I have to design it very carefully…otherwise it wouldn't be able to stand, walk, fly, swim—just about anything related to movement. I also have to give it proper armaments…nothing too heavy or weak. See, it's really difficult and time-consuming."

"I wish I could help you, but I'm sorry to say that I don't understand a thing about machines and stuff," Ferron confessed.

Fox-X shook his head as he drew some lines on the paper. "That's all right. I'm sure AntiSora will assign you to something that _I_ can't do. Then we're equal and everyone's happy."

"Ha! You're pretty funny."

_His attitude hasn't changed all that much, actually,_ Fox noted.

_"Ah, but you haven't seen his attitude towards Smashers yet,"_ James pointed out.

_Yeah, that's the only thing. I'm not looking forward to that._

_"You shouldn't be."_

Ferron peeked over Fox's shoulder. "You're really good at this, Fox… Can I call you Fox?"

"Absolutely NOT," Fox-X barked sharply, surprising the Lucario. "It's a bad memory."

_Oh, _suuuuuure_!_ Fox drawled sardonically. _I'm just a bad memory!_

James could not help but let out a loud snort.

"Oh…well, if you insist," Ferron said quietly. "Fox-X it is, then. Sorry about that."

"No need to apologize… Sorry I snapped at you," Fox-X told him. "I've been in a pretty grumpy mood lately…"

"Must be the work you're doing," suggested Ferron. "I'll go crazy!"

"I have no choice. I have to do this."

"Who ordered you to? Master Tabuu?"

"No… AntiSora did, but he probably got those orders from Master Tabuu." The tip of Fox-X's pencil suddenly broke. He cursed and went to look another one. "Damn pencil!"

"If you don't press the pencil too hard, it won't snap," Ferron supplied.

"Okay… Thanks for the advice."

Ten minutes flew by too quickly. AntiSora was suddenly back in the room.

"Time's up," he said. "It's time to go. I have a very special job for you."

Ferron turned to Fox-X. "I gotta go. It was nice chatting with you, Fox-X."

"Same here…er…" Fox-X looked sheepish. "…What's your name again?"

"It's Ferron," the Lucario told him. "_Ferron_, okay? Remember that or I'll show you my bad side."

"Sure…Ferron." Fox-X laughed nervously.

Ferron followed AntiSora out of Department Z and quietly closed the door.

"That's right…" he murmured to himself. "My name is Ferron. It means a lot to me."

_A name means nothing on the battlefield._

The Lucario drew in his breath sharply and whirled around. No one was there.

"Something wrong, Ferron?"

_After a week, no one has a name…_

Ferron stood there for a few moments before shaking his head. "…Nothing. I thought I just heard something."

AntiSora shrugged. "Whatever. Hurry up."

As they walked down the hallway, Ferron's mind was racing.

_"A name means nothing on the battlefield"? Where in the world did _that_ come from?! Of course my name means something!_

He swallowed nervously and picked up his pace.

_That voice… I don't want to hear it again._

-ooo-

_"…song that never ends! It just goes on and on, my friends! Some people start singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue it forever just because…this is the song that never ends! It just goes on and on, my friends! Some people start singing it not knowing what it—"_

"SHUT—UP!"

Toon Link and Tetra quickly shut their mouths. Then they looked at each other and began to double up.

"All right, this is getting stupid… What's so funny?" Vaati demanded.

"Heeheehee…" Tetra giggled. "Dark Link kinda sounds like that guy who says 'SHUT UP' in the intro of every Smosh video…!"

"One guy just makes random sounds or comments, and then the other guy's all like, 'SHUT—UP'…" Toon Link grinned. "Teehee!"

"…I sound like the Smosh guys?" Dark Link narrowed his red eyes. "Is that so?"

"Heeheeheeheeheeeee!"

Vaati did a facepalm. "_Ughhh…_ You know what, Dark Link? Let's just keep walking and pretend those two aren't singing."

"They're singing and laughing so loudly that I just can't pretend they aren't singing!" Dark Link complained.

"Deal with it. Onward!"

The four Hylians trudged across the Subspatial plain. Vaati brushed aside all the semitransparent 0's and 1's that floated around his face and in the still air. Dark Link drew his black Master Sword; it looked like Toon Link and Tetra were not going to stop singing anytime soon.

"I swear… Kids these days are so—"

Vaati suddenly lifted his arms, stopping Dark Link, Toon Link, and Tetra. The cartoon Hero of Time and the pirate instantly knew something was wrong, so they stopped singing "The Song That's Really Annoying" mid-verse.

"What is it, Vaati?" asked Tetra.

"Shhh!" the wind mage hissed. "Someone's coming!"

A cold wind suddenly stirred up. Toon Link grabbed his hat with his right hand to prevent it from getting blown away; with his other hand, he took out his Master Sword. Tetra whipped out her bomb bag, dug around for a bit, and came back up with a bomb in each hand. Vaati prepared to throw out a wind attack the moment he saw something moving.

Then something moved.

"There!" Vaati threw a small blade of wind towards his right.

And then—the blade was cut in two.

"Uh… What kind of weapon can cut _wind_ in half?" asked Toon Link, raising his eyebrows.

"Any kind of sword?" Dark Link suggested with some uncertainty.

Then they heard the distinctive clinking of chains.

"Wind blades… Sorry, but those things can't stop me."

Out of the darkness, a boy walked forward. Dark Link's eyes widened as his hands tightened around the hilt of his sword.

"You again!"

"Me…again? I think you're mistaken."

Spiky brown hair… A black and gray vest and a gray shirt with a white X… Baggy red and gray shorts… Huge yellow shoes…

The boy's most distinguishing feature was the skeleton key-like weapon in his right hand.

Toon Link gasped. "It's Sora!"

Vaati frowned. "No. That's not Sora. And it's not AntiSora, either."

"His eyes are _red_…" murmured Tetra, "and there's something on his head. Oh, no—"

"That could only mean one thing," said Dark Link in a low voice.

What used to be Sora smiled widely and brought forward his Keyblade. "Master Tabuu will be _so_ pleased when I come back with you four!"

-ooo-

_"I have a question to ask you, James McCloud."_

James nodded slowly. "I'm all ears, sir. What is it?"

Tabuu leaned towards him; the fox stood his ground and did not move a muscle. The Subspace entity seemed disappointed as he said, _"You may be part of my army, but something is bothering me. I had been observing you for the past few days. Who are you allied to?"_

James raised an eyebrow. "I'm allied to you, of course. Why ask?"

_"Something about you just…hmmm…"_ Tabuu stared at James, who felt like the Subspace entity was gazing right into his soul. _"Ah… Never mind. You are free to go. Keep watching Fox-X and report his progress so far."_

James bowed deeply. "Yes, sir."

_"Make one wrong move and I _will_ kill you. Understand?"_

"…Yes, sir."

As he left the chamber, James thought to himself, _So…you're starting to suspect me, eh? Very typical of you, Tabuu—always so suspicious of your own servants. A king that is skeptical of his pawns… A king that is willing to make some sacrifices…_

He smiled.

_What an interesting game this will turn out to be._

* * *

><p><strong>PREVIEW <strong>— Chapter 32<strong>**

Zelda was rummaging through the fridge.

"Hmm… I see."

Link drained the last of his drink and set down his mug. "Something wrong, Zelda?"

"Oh, yes, of _course_ there's something wrong." The princess stood up and faced the Hero of Time with her hands on her hips. "There's no more Lon Lon Milk."

Link suddenly had a funny expression on his face. He nervously glanced at his mug, thinking about the smooth white liquid that it had contained just mere seconds ago. "Ah…"

Zelda didn't move. "Link…you didn't drink the last of the Milk, did you?"

"Uh…"

* * *

><p><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Solid Snake

**Also known as:** David, the Legendary Mercenary, "the man who makes the impossible possible"

**Age:** 36

**Species:** Human

**World of origin:** _Metal Gear _universe

**Video game(s):** _Metal Gear_, _Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake_, _Metal Gear Solid_, _MGS2: Sons of Liberty_, _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_

**Quote:** "If you ask me, there's no happiness to be found in death…no peace, either. I'm leaving here alive."

**Occupation:** Solid Snake is a former FOXHOUND operative with an IQ of 180 and mastery of six languages. He and his twin brother, Liquid Snake, were born in 1972 from the cloned cells of Big Boss, "the greatest soldier of the twentieth century," to carry on his legacy. A secret organization called the Patriots, which carried out the cloning project, didn't want anyone else to use the two Snakes, so they altered their DNA before they were born, causing them to suffer from accelerated aging. Even when he was a child, Snake knew he was very different from other people his age—every week, he would train for combat under the watchful eyes of many "teachers." He was supposed to die in 2014, at the age of 42, but his aging was apparently stopped when he was transported to another world that followed a different timeline. He is now a member of Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear organization that he and his friend Otacon founded.

**Fun fact:** His favorite firearm is the Heckler & Koch Mark 23, also known simply as the SOCOM. He keeps it at his side almost 24/7 because, according to his words, "you never know what's next."

* * *

><p><strong><em>What a loooooooooong chapter that was!<em>**

**Ganondorf:** A bit _too_ long, in my opinion.

**_Hey, don't criticize the length of my fanfic's chapters! It's MY fanfic, after all!_**

**Falco:** Maybe you can shorten the chapters by shortening the after-the-chapter discussions—

**_ABSOLUTELY _NOT_! THEY ARE EXTREMELY VITAL AND_**_**—**_

**Wolf:** Yo. Cool down, Storm.

_***b****reathes very heavily* All right****… All right… Let's begin the after-the-chapter discussions, as Falco calls them.**_

_**Wow! Looks like Snake and Lucario had a pretty elaborate history! That historical flashback was so elaborate that it took up more than half the chapter!**_

**Samus:** My butt hurts…

**Snake:** _*apologetically*_ Sorry for making you sit in my cramped room for such a long time. _*gives Samus a gentle pat on the back*_

**Captain Falcon:** _*pervertedly*_ OOOOOOH! I SPY A SAMUS AND SNAKE SCENE—

**Samus:** _*kicks Captain Falcon really hard on the back*_

**Snake:** Thank you.

_**Okay, then. Speaking of the flashback, I hope you readers learned a thing or two about Snake. The reason why he's one of my favorite Smashers is that his past has a lot of meaning to it. Compared to everyone else's, his had a **_**much_ more significant impact_****_._**

**Samus:** _*clears her throat*_ Ahem.

_**After I do a bit of research on your past, you'll have a significant impact on me, too.**_

**Samus:** _*satisfied*_ Good!

_**Oh, no! Looks like Lucario got brainwashed into joining the Subspace Army**__**—or rather, **_**re****_joining it! (Should I start calling him Ferron?)_**

**Snake:** _*angrily*_ That bastard AntiSora is going to cry for his mother the next time we meet!

**Neku:** Does he even _have_ a mother?

_*awkward silence*_

**Neku:** …Okay, that was kind of cruel.

_**I'll just ignore that**__**… And it looks like the Smashers were successful with the stealing of the Metal Gear blueprints! What are you guys going to do with them?**_

**Sheik:** Keep them away from the Subspace Army, of course. If they steal them back, then all that work we did was for nothing!

**Lloyd:** And if they _do_ steal them, count me out of the mission.

**Pikachu:** Why?

**Lloyd:** Because Snake's going to make us crawl around in an Amazon box again.

**Snake:** …Er… _*awkwardly sneaks away*_

_**All right. Oh, no! Looks like Sora's joined the Army, too! I guess that means we should start calling him Sora-X!**_

**Toon Link:** I don't like the sound of that…

**Tetra:** …and I really don't wanna fight him. He's so nice to me!

**Vaati:** _*flatly*_ He's changed. We have to fight him.

**Dark Link:** _*pondering*_ He said, "You _four_"… So Tabuu wants me gone, too?

**_And Tabuu has begun to suspect James McCloud! Hmm… *looks at James suspiciously*_**

**James:** _*looking away*_ …Get out of my face.

**_Where did Master Hand and Crazy Hand go again?_**

**Master Hand:** Ah… _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_Credits to the Metal Gear wiki for a detailed description of Solid Snake's past! If you want more information, you should visit that wiki. And there are NO notes because pretty much everything that needed a note was a _Metal Gear_ thing, so…yeah._**

**_See you next time in Chapter 32! Remember to REVIEW!_**


	32. Another Day, Another Fight

_**Before we get started, I want to tell you something. Since school is starting tomorrow (which I'm not really looking forward to), this chapter will be the last chapter for a PRETTY long while. So…yeah. Just wanted to tell ya.**_

_**It's Chapter 32! Sheesh, my head hurts! Oh, yeah, and LAME TITLE IS LAME because I couldn't think of a better one!**_

**_…_**_**And rushed chapter is rushed. Again.**_

**_…_**_**And the chapter title is a line from a Pokémon song that played in the introduction of a Pokémon movie. What is it?**_

**Pit:** Before we get started, I have a quick interview for you, Storm.

_**OKAY! Get on with it!**_

**Pit:** Sure! First question. _Do you think _Life at the Mansion_ is a good fanfic?_

_**Well, it COULD improve a lot…but I guess it's pretty good. (Well, that's what **_**I**_** think…)**_

**Pit:** Second question. _How long are you planning to make this fanfic?_

_**From the looks of it as of this chapter, **_**Life at the Mansion**_** will probably have over fifty chapters. I wonder if I can get that far before I go to college…**_

**Pit:** Third and final question. _Is there a reason behind the sudden _Metal Gear_-ness of the fanfic that started in _Chapter 24: Assault, Disappearance, and Metal Gear_?_

_**…**__**Oh, that. I'd been waiting for you to ask that. Here I go.**_

_**It all started when I heard news of a new **_**Metal Gear**_** game being made. When that game, called **_**Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance**_**, was released, I was pretty curious about it. I admit that the cover art bugged me, but I had the sudden urge to watch a walkthrough of **_**MGR**_** (even though it was rated M for Mature and all that…heheheh).**_

_**So I watched it. (It was probably a bad idea to start with the most recent game, though. It was probably also the bloodiest.)**_

_**Suddenly, I realized how political and belief-changing the **_**MGS**_** series was.**_

_**I watched the walkthrough for the original **_**Metal Gear Solid**_** after **_**MGR**_** (actually, I watched **_**MGS**_**'s remake, **_**The Twin Snakes**_**, because I just can't stand polygonal characters). I learned that the Shadow Moses Island stage in **_**SSBB**_** was based on the main setting in**_** MGS**_**—the weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, where Metal Gear REX is stored. I think it was **_**Metal Gear Solid**_** that started my admiration of the **_**MGS**_** series.**_

_**I went on to watch the walkthroughs of **_**MGS2: Sons of Liberty**_**, **_**MGS3: Snake Eater**_**, **_**MGS4: Guns of the Patriots**_**, **_**MGS: Portable Ops**_**, and **_**MGS: Peace Walker**_**. I think I learned a lot about life and stuff from those games. They can really change your thoughts.**_

_**…**__**And I guess that just about sums it up.**_

**Pit:** Thanks for your time. _Now_ let's get started!

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing here belongs to me!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 32: Another Day, Another Fight<strong>

* * *

><p>James McCloud was given the task of monitoring and giving orders to Fox McCloud—or rather, Fox-X.<p>

"Monitoring and giving orders" was probably not the best phrase to describe what James was really doing.

It was more like…"monitoring Fox-X and having a telepathic conversation with Fox while avoiding AntiSora by chilling out in Room 13."

Speaking of AntiSora, James wasn't too fond of him. The boy was relentless, demanding, and, in the fox's opinion, downright evil. He was always looking for a chance to lash out at some unsuspecting person, be it a prisoner or member of the Subspace Army.

"Always looking for a chance to hurt anyone…"

Fox-X was still working in Department Z; in his mind, Fox was still awake. _What was that?_ he asked mentally.

James realized that he was talking out loud. _"Oh…nothing. Just talking to myself."_

_You were saying something about always looking for a chance to hurt someone._ There was a short pause. _I think I know who you're talking about. It's AntiSora, right?_

James sighed as he removed his sunglasses. "…Yeah. AntiSora."

_You seem to hate him a lot,_ Fox remarked. _Did something happen between you two?_

_"No. We didn't know about each other until I joined the Army about four months ago."_ James made a face. _"After watching AntiSora for a week or so…it was pretty obvious why Tabuu recruited him without having to use a mind-controlling device."_

_Really? He's _that_ bad?_

_"You should see him on one of his bad days. _Then_ you'll see how bad he can get."_

_…__Yikes,_ Fox said softly.

_"To tell you the truth, I don't like him at all."_ James looked at his hands, narrowing his eyes. _"In fact…I'm a little _afraid_ of him. It doesn't matter if you're on the same side as him; he treats everyone the same. No, I take that back,"_ he added. _"He's noticeably nicer to Ferron."_

_Ferron? Who's—oh._ Fox remembered. _Lucario…_

_"What _used_ to be Lucario,"_ James corrected him.

_Wow…_ Fox sounded a little incredulous. _I never knew the reappearance of the Subspace Army would cause _this_ big of a mess… Man, Snake must be devastated. He's really close to Lucario._

_"Snake is close to Lucario? Hmm… A rather cynical human and a constantly cheerful Pokémon are friends… That's an odd pairing."_

_Yeah, it _is_ a bit weird,_ Fox admitted. _But then, what in the Smash World can you _not_ call "weird"?_

James smiled. _"Exactly…"_

He sat still for a while. In his mind's eye, he saw Fox-X sketching out a vague structure of Metal Gear Z in Department Z, two rooms away.

Fox spoke up. _Hey, James._

_"Yeah?"_

_You know… For a guy who's part of the Subspace Army, you're actually not that bad._

James was surprised. _"…Is that so?"_

_Uh-huh,_ Fox confirmed. _I guess that's how you easily pulled off the "hi, I'm just a guest here" act at the Smash Mansion._

_"That act…"_ For some reason, James felt a sharp pang of guilt deep within him. _"Damn… Sorry about that."_

_…__Did you just say _"sorry"_?_ Fox asked, stunned.

_"Did I just…?!"_ James shook his head. _"Forget it. Just…keep working, Fox-X. And Fox—we've been talking for too long. Time to shut up."_

_…__Fine,_ Fox grumbled.

James smiled in the darkness. _"You sound disappointed."_

_H-hey! …Oh, jeez!_ Fox snapped. _Go away! Good night!_

_"It's afternoon,"_ James pointed out.

_Screw that! Good night!_

_"Ha… You're a funny boy, Fox."_

_I am now asleep. Good night and please do not disturb. _BANG._ I just slammed the door in your face._

James let out a quiet chuckle. "All right, then," he said out loud. "If you insist…good _night_, boy."

There was a snort on the other end, then silence.

-ooo-

9:02 AM. It was a new day at the Smash Mansion.

After he had finished his breakfast, Solid Snake wanted to do the 15-Minute Brawl on the Battlefield stage, but something was stopping him from doing so.

"Shadow bugs…are floating around the Brawl System…_again_…" The mercenary swore loudly and clapped a hand to his forehead. "That damn Army's ruining everything…"

He cautiously inched towards the System. "All I wanted to do was fight some Alloys… Argh…!" He shook his head in exasperation and went back out of the tiny room. "Didn't Samus say the remote control was broken or something? …In any case, my training will have to wait. Hell."

Snake turned left and walked in the direction of the library. "If I can't train, then I might as well go down to the library and read a novel or something."

"Outta my way!"

A blue ball of fur barreled down the hallway and straight towards Snake at a freakishly fast speed. Driven by his superb reflexes, the mercenary rotated to his left and flattened himself against the wall just as the ball shot right past his face. The moment it had passed, Snake unstuck himself from the wall and yelled, "What the hell?! Sonic, you'd better quit that!"

The ball came to a stop and uncurled. The blue hedgehog had a funny expression on his face. "Sonic? I'm not Sonic!" His body glowed purple and grew larger. When the light died, a tall, black and red Pokémon stood in the hedgehog's place.

Snake raised his left eyebrow. "Oh. Hello, Zoroark."

"Hi, Snake," the Illusion Pokémon replied. "I was just demonstrating my transformation ability to the kids. That Piplup was a bit hard to convince, so…"

At that moment, the Ice Climbers, Klonoa, Ness, Lucas, Paula, Red, and Genis joined Snake and Zoroark, followed by Pikachu and Taki.

"See, Taki?" Pikachu was saying triumphantly to the Piplup. "I _told_ you he could transform into things that aren't Pokémon!"

"Hey, I come from a place where there are only Pokémon, so how could I have known?" Taki argued, his brown eyes shining with amusement. "Sheesh…!"

Popo and Nana danced around Zoroark. "That was so cool, Zoroark!" Nana gushed.

"We've seen you do it before, but it's just so awesome that we want you to do it again! _Pleeeeeease?_" begged Popo, trying to make puppy eyes.

Zoroark made a face. "I'll do it again when you stop trying to look all cute…'cause you _don't_ look all cute right now."

_"Ooooooooh!"_ Klonoa and Genis said, looking at each other and grinning.

Popo crossed his arms and pouted. "You're mean!"

Zoroark smiled and patted the boy's head. "Just kidding. But seriously, don't make that, uh, _cute_ face. It gives me the creeps. All right, then…" He rubbed his paws together. "What do you want me to turn into?"

Lucas jumped up and down excitedly. "Oh, oh! Do something that's not alive!"

"Uhhh… Sorry, Lu, but only Ditto can do that," Zoroark said to him, shrugging. "Pick a Pokémon, any Pokémon!"

"Let's do a Legendary Pokémon," suggested Ness. He turned to Paula. "You know any good ones?"

"Oh, um…" Paula blushed. "I'm afraid I only know the original ones from the first generation…"

"That's totally fine," Red told her, smiling kindly. "Just name one."

"Okay, then… Uh…" Paula looked at Zoroark. "How about the one that looks like a big yellow bird?"

"That would be Zapdos," said Zoroark, "which, unfortunately, is a Pokémon that is too large for this cramped hallway. Try something around my size or smaller."

"Turn into Mewtwo!" shouted Klonoa.

_"NO!"_ roared a telepathic voice. _"Do Darkrai!"_

"Ew, no!" Zoroark said, grimacing. "He's freaky!"

Darkrai happened to be passing by, and he heard the comment. "…Thanks a lot," he said emotionlessly before vanishing into a shadow.

"I'm sorry!" Zoroark called after him, but the Legend did not reappear. "Ah, shoot… That must've hurt…"

"What the heck, Zane?" Taki hissed into Pikachu's ear. "_Darkrai_ lives here?!"

"Don't worry, Taki; he's not the Darkrai we fought," Pikachu reassured him. "This one's a good guy."

"I really hope you're right, Zane," Taki said, still looking suspicious. "That guy makes me feel a bit edgy…"

"Ya know what?" said Zoroark. "Forget the Legendary Pokémon. Just pick something. Any suggestions?"

Genis timidly raised his hand. "Hey, um… Can you do…Lucario?"

Snake froze.

Oblivious to the mercenary's sudden cease in movement, Zoroark nodded. "Sure. No problem."

"No," Pikachu whispered, eyeing Snake with alarm. "No! Don't do it, Zoroark!"

The Illusion Pokémon did not hear the Electric-type. He closed his eyes as his body flashed purple—and then he was a Pokémon with blue, black, and creamy tan fur, red eyes, and steel spikes.

"Cool!" exclaimed Popo, Klonoa, and Genis, running up to what used to be Zoroark.

"Whoa, I can't believe it!" said Klonoa as he gingerly put his hand on one of the steel spikes. "This isn't an illusion! This is _real_!"

Zoroark nodded proudly. "Am I awesome or _what_?"

Lucas suddenly noticed Snake. He went up to him, feeling concerned. "Uh, Snake? Are you okay? You look really sick."

To the boy's surprise, the mercenary roughly pushed him away. "I'm fine," he snapped. "Just…leave me alone, all right?" He turned around and stalked off, leaving the group of excited young Smashers, a Lucario-turned Zoroark, and a puzzled-looking Lucas.

-ooo-

Zelda was rummaging through the fridge.

"Hmm… I see."

Link drained the last of his drink and set down his mug. "Something wrong, Zelda?"

"Oh, yes, of _course_ there's something wrong." The princess stood up and faced the Hero of Time with her hands on her hips. "There's no more Lon Lon Milk."

Link suddenly had a funny expression on his face. He nervously glanced at his mug, thinking about the smooth white liquid that it had contained just mere seconds ago. "Ah…"

Zelda didn't move. "Link…you didn't drink the last of the Milk, did you?"

"Uh…"

"I remember saying that _I_ would be the one to get the last of the Milk," Zelda cut in. "Even Toon Link promised not to break that rule. How could you have forgotten, Link?"

"Look, I'm sorry, and I'll—"

"That's right, Link, you'll go out right now and shop for some Lon Lon Milk." Zelda looked into Link's sky blue eyes. "Twelve jars should be enough for now."

"So you're basically saying that I have to drag twelve—"

"_Quiet!"_ Zelda ordered, silencing the Hero of Time with a sharp look. She continued, "And you _should_ have enough Rupees to buy twelve jars. They're thirty Rupees each, so that's 360 Rupees. You have a lot more than that."

"Um, actually…" Link shifted his eyes toward the left, looking sheepish. "…I kind of used up all my Rupees last week…"

Zelda stared at him.

Then she exploded.

_"WHAT?!"_

Outside the kitchen, Ganondorf was listening in to the conversation.

_Hmm… It's been a long time since Zelda's last tantrum. Could today be the day that she starts having them again?_

"HOW COULD YOU HAVE USED UP _ALL_ YOUR RUPEES?!"

"H-hey, I had to get my sword repaired!"

"THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, YOU HAVE 9,000 RUPEES IN YOUR WALLET!"

"Fixing a sword that had been broken in half is really expensive!"

"BUT IT COULDN'T HAVE COST _OVER 9,000_ RUPEES!" **_(1)_**

"It could have cost _over 9,000_ Rupees when it's the _Master Sword_ that needs to get fixed!"

"THEN BE MORE CAREFUL WITH YOUR OH-SO-POWERFUL MASTER SWORD NEXT TIME!" Zelda shrieked into Link's face, making him flinch back and knock over his empty mug. "HOW IN HYRULE DID YOU BREAK YOUR SWORD INTO TWO PIECES?! THAT THING IS MADE OF THE STRONGEST METAL KNOWN TO HYLIANS AND WAS FORGED BY ONE OF THE BEST BLACKSMITHS IN THE WORLD! YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING INCREDIBLY STUPID TO HAVE GOTTEN IT SNAPPED!"

"…Rayquaza bit it in half…"

"NOW _THAT_ IS _INCREDIBLY_ STUPID, YOU IDIOT!"

Ganondorf had finally had enough. _"Zelda!"_ he said harshly, glowering at the princess. "Calm down, will you? The people on the other side of Smashville probably heard all that. They're probably pretty shocked at the fact that the distinguished princess of Hyrule Kingdom could be so…er…temperamental."

Zelda folded her arms and looked away from the king of darkness. "Ngh… It's just that Link finished the last jar of Lon Lon Milk…"

Ganondorf chuckled. "That's it? All he did was drink the last jar, and you blow up on him? You sure aren't the Zelda I used to know. I really miss the times when Link had to rescue you like Mario had to rescue P—"

"All right, I get it!" Zelda interrupted impatiently.

Link glanced at the ground. "So, um… I guess I have to go down to the Smashville Market and do some shopping…"

"Hold on." Ganondorf threw a small sack at Link's feet. "That's 500 Rupees. Use them to buy the Lon Lon Milk and maybe some weapons. And you need to pay me back later."

"Well…um…" Link bent down to pick up the sack. "Thanks… Gee, you sure aren't the Ganondorf that Zelda and I knew all those years ago."

Ganondorf gave a snort of amusement. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Link slung the sack over his left shoulder. "I should be going now. I'll probably be back in an hour or so." He walked out of the kitchen, waving. "See you."

"Bye," Zelda said as she watched him go. When she heard the _slam_ of the entrance doors, she sighed and shook her head.

"He sure isn't the Link you and I used to know."

Ganondorf let out a rumbling laugh. "You can say that again, Zelda. Remember when he practically _never_ said a single word to anyone?"

"Oh, yes. All those conversations I had with him were so uncomfortably one-sided!" **_(2)_**

"Right…well…it's a good thing that he's changed."

"You can say that again, Ganon."

"Is it just me, or am I hearing an echo?"

"It's just you."

-ooo-

"Damn Zoroark."

Snake shoved the library door open and stormed inside. Luckily, there was no one else in there to watch the mercenary vent his frustration.

"I thought he knew about the whole ordeal. Didn't Pikachu tell him? Or did he just forget about it?"

He went over to the _Metal Gear_ section of the library and plopped himself down on a beanbag. "Damn it," he muttered as he grabbed the book closest to him, which turned out to be_Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty_ by Raymond Benson. _**(3)**_

"I wasn't planning to read _this_…but it's better than nothing." He flipped to the first page of Chapter 1.

_"_The Hudson River…_ We had classified intelligence that a new type of Metal Gear was scheduled for transport. The whole thing stank, but our noses have been out in the cold too long…"_

_Solid Snake stood on the middle of the George Washington Bridge in the torrential downpour, overlooking the water below. The tanker U.S.S. _Discovery_ was approaching and nearly at Snake's "Point of No Return." Snake looked out from under the hooded rain poncho and eyed the traffic on the bridge moving in both directions. Just headlights. No other figures on the walkway. If any people in vehicles saw him, they'd think he was just another suicide statistic. No cause for alarm._

_That thought made Snake smile wryly._

_Visibility was close to zero due to the heavy rain and high winds. The tanker was just a big, black shape moving along the—_

"Hey, there."

In a flash, Snake had flung aside the book and drawn his gun. He snapped off the safety and found himself pointing the gun at…a white-skinned woman in yoga clothes.

The woman was startled, and she quickly raised her hands. "Whoa, don't go pointing that thing at anything that moves!"

"What the…?" Snake hesitated for a moment, then slowly lowered the gun and slid it back into his leg holster. "Ah… Sorry about that. I've been pretty jumpy ever since the Subspace Army attacked the mansion…and took Lucario," he added under his breath.

The woman looked confused. "Subspace Army?"

"I'll explain later. Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm just a guest." The woman smiled. "Call me Trainer. That's short for Wii Fit Trainer."

"Wii Fit Trainer?" Snake looked at her, and sure enough, she was wearing a blue tank top with the words _Wii Fit_ written on it. "You're that woman from the game called _Wii Fit_, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Snake."

Trainer raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Snake? Is that your real name?"

Snake's hands curled into fists.

Trainer realized that she was straying into dangerous territory, so she quickly apologized. "O-oh… That must've been a pretty personal question. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Snake told her gruffly. "Lately, I've been really anxious… I guess I'm letting my irritation fly around a bit too much. But…yeah," he continued, staring at the ceiling, "_that_ one question was pretty personal."

He picked up his book and started reading again, while Trainer gazed about the large library. "Wow… This room is so vast! Wait, no—the _entire mansion_ is so huge! It's nothing like where I came from. Who designed it?"

"Bowser and Zelda drew out the structure, and Master Hand provided some tips on support and stuff," Snake replied, his eyes not wandering away from his book. "About half the Smashers built the mansion once Master Hand confirmed the final design."

"_Half_ the Smashers? What about the other half?"

"We were busy helping the Smash Worlds and a few other worlds recover from the damage that the Subspace Army had caused."

"There you go again. What's the Subspace Army?"

Snake glowered at his book. "A big army of bastards led by this bastard called Tabuu. You should've heard of him."

"Actually, I never have," admitted Trainer. "What's he like?"

"Let's just say he's a totally power-hungry bastard who wants to take over all the worlds and universes by enveloping them within Subspace. The Smash World is his first target."

"You seem to say _bastard_ a lot," Trainer remarked.

"_You_ seem to ask a lot of questions," Snake retorted with a small smirk.

The two of them laughed lightly. Then Snake set his mouth in a straight line.

"We defeated the Army about four years ago," he said, "and then, they came back. Turns out that we didn't kill the leader. He's still up and kicking, and he's recruited a few more villains to help him achieve his goal." He frowned. "There's one guy in particular… He's called AntiSora. Currently, I'd say he's even worse than Tabuu. That damn sadist will do_anything_to hurt the Smashers. A few days ago, he made off with Sora, one of the Smashers. Fox McCloud, James McCloud, Toon Link, Tetra, and Vaati mysteriously disappeared on the same night, and I'm pretty sure _he_ planned it out." A shadow crossed his stern face. "And just yesterday…he took and brainwashed my best friend Lucario."

Trainer gasped with horror and put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my goodness… I'm so sorry."

Her expression was that of pity.

"I don't need your sympathy, Trainer," Snake muttered. "It makes me feel so useless and…pathetic. I let AntiSora slip away with Lucario, and what was I doing?" He dropped his book and grasped his head in his hands. "I was just watching them like some helpless idiot. _Watching_ them. Maybe I couldn't have prevent AntiSora from brainwashing Lucario, but I_definitely_could have prevented AntiSora from taking Lucario." He gnashed his teeth in rage as he pulled at his brown hair. "Maybe I _should_ feel pathetic. No—I _am_ pathetic! I'm so pathetic that I can't even—"

"Shut _up_, Snake!"

Zero Suit Samus burst into the library, her normally calm, blue-green eyes now shining like two stars. She rushed over to Snake and pulled him aside. "Seriously, Snake!" she hissed. "What's with you? Aren't you suppose to be the stoic type of person? I've never seen such anxiety before!"

Snake remained silent.

"Snake, if you wanna get Lucario out, you first have to be _confident_," Samus whispered to the mercenary, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Trust yourself. You're _not_ helpless. You're _not_ pathetic. You're the complete opposite. You have the ability to get him back. You have the ability to kick AntiSora's ass. So you'd better stop whining and calling yourself stuff that you shouldn't call yourself. Stand tall and stay strong—and can you _please_ get rid of that look of apprehensiveness and fear in your eyes?!"

Snake did not say anything. Samus was about to let out a frustrated sigh when the mercenary suddenly spoke up.

"You're right."

Samus stepped back as Snake raised his head, smiling weakly. "You're right," he said again. "I have to stop acting like this. I can't let Lucario's disappearance take control of me. Gotta stop acting all depressed… That's what AntiSora wants. But I'm not falling for it." He narrowed his blue eyes. "Hell, that kid will _pay_ when we meet next time." He chuckled darkly as he made his way to the door. Just before he stepped out of the library, he turned around and looked at Samus. "Oh, and Samus?"

"Um… What?" asked the bounty hunter.

Snake nodded towards her. "Thanks—_again_—for calming me down." He winked. "You know, there's something _veeeery_ special about you and your presence…"

Before Samus could say anything, Snake was gone.

"…What the…?!" she stammered after a minute of silence. "That man is such a…!"

Behind her, the Wii Fit Trainer raised her hand hesitantly. "Ummm, Samus, is there something going on between you and—"

"SHUT UP."

-ooo-

"Twelve jars of Lon Lon Milk, two sets of arrows, and four Smart Bombs, please."

"That makes a grand total of 500 Rupees, sir!"

With a sigh, Link gave the sack of Rupees to the Hylian salesman, who opened it and quickly counted the Rupees to make sure the Smasher wasn't trying to trick him. Finding exactly 500 Rupees, he nodded with satisfaction and gave Link all the things he had asked for.

"Here you go! Twelve jars of Milk, two quivers with ten arrows each, and four Smart Bombs."

Link picked up each item, one by one, and packed them away. The salesman chuckled.

"Ah, so you haven't lost that ability yet, hm?" When Link looked confused, the man explained, "You're still able to tuck away all your items into your nonexistent pockets, no matter how many items you have. How do you do that?"

"Oh, uh…" Link just shrugged. "I dunno… I've always been able to do that. I'm don't know how it works. Maybe you should ask Solid Snake; he can stuff a whole rocket launcher and more into his Sneaking Suit." **_(4)_**

The salesman guffawed. "Hahahahhhhh! Good one! Maybe I should." He raised his hand and waved as Link left the shop. "Have a nice day, sir!"

Link strolled around the town square, whistling a little tune. With a jolt of realization, he discovered that he was whistling "Epona's Song."

_Hm! I guess I haven't forgotten about it. I wonder if Epona's nearby…_

He stopped walking and waited for a short while. When his horse did not appear, he felt disappointed.

_Well, how is she supposed to hear me when I'm _here_ and she's all the way in _Hyrule_? Ugh… I really regret leaving her behind._

Link unsheathed his Master Sword, examining it. The Smashville bladesmith had done an amazing job on the blade; now it looked like Rayquaza hadn't done anything to it. The Smasher smiled to himself. True, it _was_ rather stupid of him to annoy the Legend by waving his sword right in his face. He owed him an apology.

_As long as he doesn't try to bite my sword in half again, everything will be fine,_ he thought with a grin as he slid his sword back into its blue and gold scabbard.

_I think I'll pay Brewster a visit. I really miss his coffee. Ahhh, coffee…_

As he made his way to The Roost, he puckered his lips and began to whistle a well-known song called Zelda's Lullaby. When Zelda was a little girl, her mother sang her to sleep with this song. Many years ago, a Sheikah names Impa taught Link the song, telling him that "only Royal Family members are allowed to learn this song. Remember, it will help prove your connection with the Royal Family."

_Other than being an important song, it sounds very peaceful,_ Link thought as he walked along the path that led to The Roost.

That was when he heard someone yell.

"Can you just please _go away_?!"

Link promptly stopped whistling.

"Ha! Y'think a little question like that'll stop me? Think again, punk! _Nyaaaaaaaaa!_"

Link darted behind a tree and peeked out from behind its trunk. He carefully surveyed the commotion.

About twenty feet from where he was, there were two boys and a Pokémon. The Pokémon was a spiky-eared Pichu, and she was cowering on the ground, covered in bruises. (Link wasn't sure how he knew the Pichu was a girl.) One of the boys, who had short brown hair and wore a red T-shirt and brown-gray shorts, stood protectively over the Pichu. The other boy was larger (and much fatter) than the first boy and had his right foot raised.

_Oh, goddesses!_ thought Link with horror. _He was kicking the poor Pichu!_ He glowered at the bully. _That damn kid!_

The boy in the red T-shirt glared at the fatter boy. "You bully! Why'd you beat up this Pichu so badly? She's only seven!"

"Age doesn't matter when someone fries my hair," the bully declared. "_No one_ fries my hair, and that's _that_, Retarden!"

Link noticed that the ends of the bully's hair appeared to be slightly burnt. He smiled wryly.

_Serves you right, kid._

The red-shirted boy let out an irritated huff. "Excuse me, but my name is _Arden_." _**(5)**_

"Doesn't matter to me…Retarden! Hahahaaaaaa!"

Crouched on the ground, the Pichu trembled with fear. "Nghhhh…" she whimpered.

The bully raised his foot higher. "Now prepare to get a beating from yours truly!"

_Hmm,_ Link thought as he watched the scene from behind the tree. _This is getting bad. I think Arden and that Pichu need some help…_

The boy called Arden stood up. His black eyes were flaming with rage and…what was that? Glee?

_"Heeheehee,"_ he giggled in a creepy voice. _"Heeheeheeheehee!"_

Startled by Arden's sudden change of mood, the bully paused with his foot in midair. "Heyyyy," he drawled in a nasally voice. "What's with you, Retarden?"

"You picked the wrong Villager to mess with."

"Eh?"

Arden reached into his pocket…and took out an axe.

An _axe_.

"And this is what you get for messing with the wrong Villager."

Arden brought the axe over his head.

The bully's eyes widened with terror. "Holy sh—"

_SMASH!_

Link's jaw dropped with shock.

_…__or not._

"AHHHH!" the Pichu squealed hysterically. "You killed him!"

Arden was somehow able to put the axe back into his pocket, and he patted the Pichu on the head. "Don't worry; I just hit him on the head with the butt of the axe. He'll wake up in an hour or so with a huge headache, and next time, he'll have second thoughts when he's about to kick a poor kid like you!"

The Pichu sniffed and smiled. "Wow. Thanks a lot!"

"That was a pretty interesting moment."

Arden and the spiky-eared Pichu turned around to see a young man in a green tunic walking towards them, nodding with approval.

"I'd hate to meet your 'wrong Villager' personality in a dark alley at night," he said, laughing. Turning to the Pichu, he asked, "You okay? No broken bones or anything?"

"A bunch of bruises and a broken arm," the Pichu replied, looking at herself and wincing. "Nothing else."

"That's good to know." The young man nodded to Arden. "So you're Arden, right? I'm Link, one of the Smashers."

Arden blinked with surprise. "Smashers? You guys live right here?"

"Uhhh…yeah?" Link answered slowly.

"That's really…COOL!" the Villager shouted ecstatically. "I've always wanted to meet you guys! Can I have your autograph?"

"Uhhh, later," Link told him. "First, we should get this Pichu up to the Smash Mansion's hospital wing. Dr. Mario will patch you up in no time."

"Thanks!" the Pichu said gratefully.

Within five minutes, Link, Arden, and the spiky-eared Pichu reached the mansion. Link shoved the doors open and, after telling Arden where the hospital wing was, ran to the living room and dropped off all the things he had bought at the market. Then he went up to the hospital wing just as Arden, with the Pichu in his arms, was entering the room.

"Hey, that was fast," the Villager remarked.

Link shrugged. "I know this place better than you do."

"Hm. Makes sense."

Mario, dressed in his doctor's clothing, was already waiting for them. "Bruises and a broken arm-a bone?" he said when he saw the Pichu. "This-a will take an hour or so." He pushed Link and Arden out of the room. "Now, shoo! Shoo! The doctor is IN-a!"

While Mario—or Dr. Mario—was patching up the Pichu, Link and Arden walked around the third floor.

_"Wowwwww,"_ Arden breathed, taking in his surroundings with shining eyes. "I never knew I'd be able to enter the Smash Mansion—and get invited by one of the _Smashers_! This is so_cool_!"

"Good for you, Arden," Link said to him with a smile. "Want me to take you on a private tour?"

"Well, why _not_?!"

"All right. Let's go. But…hold on a sec."

The Hylian and the Villager looked at each other.

"…For some reason, I think we've met before," said Link. "Something about _questions_ and _answers_…?"

Arden shrugged. "Must be déjà vu or something. Let's go!" **_(6)_**

Link stopped him before he could tumble down the stairs. "And let's make it quick. I need to talk to a certain swordsman as soon as possible…"

-ooo-

Primid 0001, Zelda, Lloyd, Neku, Wolf, Pikachu, Taki, Samus, Snake, Otacon, Trainer, Mega Man, Shadow, and Silver sat in one of the Smash Mansion's underground computer rooms, surrounding a small desk with a one-foot-tall, bipedal, black-colored robot sitting on it. The robot was called Metal Gear Mk. IV, a miniature Metal Gear. The original Mk. II was destroyed while the Mk. III was given away, so Otacon and his adopted daughter Sunny designed a third one. **_(7)_** Other than being a remote mobile terminal, it could also be used as a slide projector. Right now, the Mk. IV was projecting images of the stolen Metal Gear blueprints onto a screen on the wall.

"REX, RAY, Gekko, RAXA, ZEKE, EXCELSUS, and Peace Walker…" Primid 0001 nodded with satisfaction. "Yes, that's all seven of them. Good work, Zelda and Lloyd."

The princess and the swordsman smiled at each other and high-fived.

"Now we must be very careful with these blueprints," continued the Primid, looking at all the present Smashers in the eye. "We're in trouble if the Army steals it back."

Neku raised his hand. "Hold on… But can't they just use the stolen Metal Gear themselves and refer to _them_ when building their MG?"

"In order for them to build MGZ, they also needed RAXA, ZEKE, EXCELSUS, and Peace Walker," Primid 0001 explained. "However, the legendary Big Boss destroyed RAXA, ZEKE, and Peace Walker about four decades ago, so the Army couldn't rely on those MGs themselves." **_(8)_**

"Because they got blown to scrap metal, right?" asked Silver.

Primid 0001 nodded. "Exactly. And EXCELSUS is far too big to store in any of the Army's headquarters or bases, so they were forced to leave that one behind. Later, Tabuu learned of the existence of the highly classified _blueprints_ of those MGs, and he sent some members of the Army to steal them from Solid Snake's world. They succeeded…" He gave everyone a little thumbs-up. "…but _we_ succeeded by stealing the blueprints from them. Now they are left with only REX, RAY, and Gekko. They will still continue with Project MGZ, albeit much slower than they had originally planned."

Wolf let out a whistle and applauded. "So we slowed their progress, eh? That's _good_!"

"Now let's take a look at the blueprints to see exactly what's so special about those Metal Gear. Maybe we can make guesses as to which parts MGZ will incorporate."

The Mk. IV made a small beeping sound and showed REX's blueprint on the screen.

"The rail gun."

Everyone turned towards Snake.

"The rail gun," he said again. "I bet the Subspace Army wants it. After all, _that's_ what makes REX's nukes invisible."

"True," Primid 0001 said, nodding.

"That's probably it for REX," said Otacon. "Only the rail gun is special. Let's move on."

The next blueprint that the Mk. IV displayed was the one for RAY.

Pikachu pointed at the screen. "RAY's swimming ability. It's the only MG that can go underwater, right?"

"…Well, actually…" Snake paused. "No, RAY isn't the only one. But that's a story for another time."

"So they need RAY for underwater travel," said Primid 0001. "That's a good guess. Moving on."

The third blueprint had a Gekko on it.

"Maybe they'll examine the Gekko's legs and give MGZ some sort of jumping ability," Shadow suggested. "The most dangerous thing about a Gekko is its kicking ability, right?"

"Yes," agreed Primid 0001. "Let's look at the next slide."

The fifth slide that the Mk. IV showed had the blueprint of a Metal Gear that no one except Otacon and Primid 0001 recognized.

"Hey," said Otacon, pointing at the image of a Metal Gear with four legs and two wing-like structures. "Isn't that RAXA?"

"Yes, that's the Metal Gear that Big Boss destroyed in 1970," said Primid 0001. "Really, it was just the prototype of the real Metal Gear he was supposed to destroy. Fortunately, the real one was quickly destroyed during its launch, thanks to Big Boss and his FOXHOUND unit."

Snake grunted. "FOXHOUND…"

"RAXA has the unique ability to hover, utilizing a sophisticated rocket propulsion system," the Primid went on. "MGZ will definitely have the ability to fly. I won't be too surprised if it does. Next slide."

Once again, the sixth blueprint had a Metal Gear that only Otacon and Primid 0001 knew about.

"What the heck is that?" asked Samus. "An older version of Metal Gear REX?"

"That's Metal Gear ZEKE," Otacon replied. "It could be thought as REX's ancestor. Look at how similar they are!"

"True, it's kind of like a more primitive version of REX," agreed Primid 0001. "It even has a rail gun and radome."

"But why would the Army need ZEKE when they already have REX?" wondered Mega Man.

"Kid, the older things sometimes have something that the newer things don't," Snake told him. "Maybe ZEKE has something that REX doesn't have… Next slide!"

The seventh slide had the blueprint of a giant, hexapedal Metal Gear.

"That's Metal Gear EXCELSUS," Snake said. "Raiden fought and took it out of commission in 2018 during Operation Tecumseh. That thing was a _beast_."

"If I remember correctly, it was armed with plasma cannons, heat blades, and missiles," added Otacon. "Maybe MGZ will have heat blades or something… Now this is _really_ starting to sound like one of my Japanese animes!" he said quietly to himself, sweating a bit.

"We have one more blueprint to look at," said Primid 0001.

The seventh and final slide depicted a monstrous Metal Gear with two forms—a bipedal form and a quadrupedal form. It had a long, rectangular container on each "shoulder" and almost had a dinosaur-like appearance for both forms.

"Peace Walker," muttered Snake, narrowing his eyes. "Probably the strongest Metal Gear I've heard of… I can't believe they were able to build that thing in the twentieth century."

"Big Boss destroyed it in 1974," Otacon said quietly. "My own father was one of the designers. He created the frame, while another person called Dr. Strangelove created the Mammal Pod AI."

"AI?" Wolf barked sharply. "Artificial intelligence? Ya mean that monster was _unmanned_?!"

Otacon nodded. "The Sandinistas and locals called it _el basilisco_—'the basilisk,' which is the name of a mythological creature that's also called the King of Snakes. _Basilisk_ was one of Peace Walker's code names. It was controlled by two AI systems—the Reptile Pod and the Mammal Pod. The Reptile Pod was mainly responsible for operating the main frame, while the Mammal Pod possessed more advanced decision-making capabilities, giving it the capacity to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike at the most effective target. The Mammal Pod AI's neural processes were modeled after The Boss herself, making it pretty intelligent and difficult for Big Boss to fight it…"

Trainer's eyes widened. "And this Big Boss guy took it down…all by himself?"

"Yes," Primid 0001 answered. "It's no wonder he's known as the greatest soldier of the twentieth century."

Taki exhaled and shook his head slowly. "Whoa… That's totally crazy…"

"Everything about my family is totally crazy," Snake muttered, crossing his arms.

"The guys building MGZ will probably want to do something about a hydrogen bomb," Otacon guessed. "_That's_ what makes Peace Walker so dangerous… It's that hydrogen bomb mounted on its frame." He gestured towards the rectangular container on the Metal Gear's left "shoulder."

Pikachu shuddered, feeling cold all of a sudden. "I won't be able to go to sleep tonight… These Metal Gear are worse than all the Legendary Pokémon Taki and I have fought…"

"We'll be dealing something worse than Peace Walker," said Primid 0001, walking to the Mk. IV and shutting it off, ending the slideshow. "MGZ will probably be something that combines the traits of REX, RAY, Gekko, RAXA, ZEKE, EXCELSUS, and Peace Walker. Sounds quite formidable, no?"

Silver made a face. "Ugh. Sounds like trouble."

"Nah, sounds like something way worse than trouble," Wolf corrected the white hedgehog.

Pikachu glanced at Taki—and gasped loudly. "Holy Arceus, what's that?!"

"Huh?" the Piplup said, confused. "What's what?"

Pikachu stared at him for a few more seconds. Then he shook his head.

"Errr…" Pikachu scratched the back of his head. "…Nothing. I thought I saw something just now. Really, it's nothing."

_That's a lie,_ the Electric-type Pokémon thought. _I saw _something_, all right. I'm pretty sure Taki's left eye was glowing _yellow_ just now!_

-ooo-

After the presentation, Lloyd made his way to the kitchen.

"I'm feeling a little hungry, but I don't know if I should have chips or pretzels. I like the barbecue flavor of the chips, but the pretzels' salty taste appeals to me, as well," he mused aloud as he walked through the hall. He passed the tiny room with the Brawl System in it.

"Maybe I should have pretzels. I don't think I've shown them to Colette yet—WHOA!" he yelped when he saw the Brawl System. "It's glowing purple and has little black stuff floating around it!" He tiptoed into the dark room and observed the corrupted System. "Hmm… Didn't this happen before? Some Smashers got sucked in and I had to get them out by cutting the fabric of time and space with my Fusion Sword…"

"That's right. And you'll have to do it again."

Link approached the swordsman with his arms folded and a serious expression on his face. "Hello, Lloyd," he said. "I think I know where the cartoon Smashers went. And I'll be needing your help."

Lloyd glanced at the corrupted Brawl System. Then he looked at Link and grinned.

"You want me to cut a hole again? No problem."

-ooo-

AntiSora was feeling quite content.

"Hey," he said, sounding pleased.

James looked at him strangely. When was the last time he ever heard the boy speak so cheerfully?

_No, wait,_ he thought. _I've _never_ heard him talk this cheerfully before._ He cleared his throat. "Um, AntiSora…did something happen?"

The shadowy boy turned around to face him. James flinched a little when he saw the wide grin on the boy's face.

"Of course something happened," AntiSora said. He put his arm around James' shoulders, making the latter feel somewhat uncomfortable. "Those Smashers managed to steal the blueprints of the Metal Gear."

James blinked with surprise. "The blueprints? You mean the ones _we_ stole from the world of _Metal Gear Solid_?"

AntiSora nodded. "The Primids stored the blueprints in one of the computers in that base hidden beneath the ruins of King Dedede's castle. I was supposed to get them yesterday. However, the Smashers beat me to it. But then," he said in a slightly louder voice as he pulled Ferron forward, "_I_ took this guy from them. Poor little Solid Snake… I wonder what's he doing right now? Crying his eyes out?" He laughed as though he didn't have a care in the world. "Hahaha!"

James' crimson eyes narrowed as he looked at the silent Aura Pokémon. "So the Smashers got the blueprints, and you got Luca—er, _Ferron_. We're equal now, huh?"

"Wrong."

The fox raised his eyebrows questioningly, urging AntiSora to explain further.

"The Smashers may have taken the blueprints, but we still have the upper hand." AntiSora's yellow eyes bored into James' red ones. "Remember Taki?"

"Taki? Isn't he the Piplup we took from the Mystery Dungeon World about two weeks ago?" said James. "What about him?"

AntiSora's sinister smile widened even more as he pointed to his left eye. "Last week, I…ah…_altered_ his left eye just a bit. I put a tiny bit of my power into his eye while he was unconscious. Then, to make sure he wouldn't randomly wake up and try to escape, I had to keep him in a coma—"

"—by putting him in a glass tube filled with water that was mixed with liquid thiopental to keep him drugged," James finished.

"Exactly," said AntiSora, nodding.

James stared at the boy. "…You must have put that tube in an easy-access room in that base for a reason. Let me guess." He put a hand on his chin. "Oh, so you _wanted_ Pikachu to find him and free him?"

"And _that_ is where Taki's little alteration of the left eye comes in," AntiSora said, snickering a little. "He is now in the Smash Mansion, living with the Smashers. And he doesn't know it, but he's helping us a great deal."

James pushed AntiSora's arm away from him. "How?"

AntiSora pointed to his left eye again. "Because I gave his left eye a bit of my power…his left eye is _my_ left eye. I see whatever he sees. And that's why we don't need those blueprints."

James paused. Then he let out a sharp gasp. "You mean…Taki saw the blueprints and…"

"That's right, James. He saw the blueprints. That also means…" AntiSora's voice suddenly became a whisper. "…_I_ saw them."

"So we don't need those blueprints for Project MGZ anymore… We can just rely on Taki, is that right?"

"Correct. All thanks to that little Piplup…" AntiSora looked up, smiling. "The obliteration of the Smashers is so close… I can almost _taste_ it…!" He lifted his hand and curled it into a fist. "We'll be _crushing_ those Smashers very soon. I just can't wait to see the blood pouring from their lifeless bodies…"

James shuddered, feeling disgusted.

_He's an insane, barbarous sadist, all right. No doubt about that._

-ooo-

"Oh, come on! I don't wanna fight Sora!"

"I don't want to fight him, either."

"Honestly, I don't even care who this guy is. All I know is, he wants to kill us, but I'll kill him first!"

"Uh… You know what? No killing today, Dark Link. And I don't want to fight, so…_RUUUUUUUUN!_"

Toon Link, Tetra, Vaati, and Dark Link ran for their lives. Right at their heels was Sora, grinning like a maniac as he brandished his Keyblade left and right like a machete.

"Aww!" he groaned mockingly. "You guys are no fun! Come here and play with me!"

"Um, I think it should be fine if I refused that invitation," Toon Link called over his shoulder. "GREAT HYLIA!" he shrieked when a fireball nearly singed the tip of his hat. "That's dangerous!"

"Come oooooon! Master Tabuu said we can play together at home!"

"Shut up!" Tetra yelled, throwing a bomb behind her. It detonated with a _BOOM_ and gave the Smashers a temporary smokescreen.

"Keep running straight!" Vaati shouted. "I think we've lost him—"

_CLANG!_

Sora smiled crazily as he blocked the Smashers with his Keyblade. "Where are you guys going? Stop being such party poopers! I hate party poopers!"

"Um…" Dark Link cautiously raised his hand. "What if I said we were party poopers?"

Sora's red eyes were shining like two tiny wildfires. "Then I'll have to _kill_ you!"

He swung his Keyblade like an axe, and Toon Link and Tetra narrowly avoided the attack. Then they, Vaati, and Dark Link began to sprint across the Subspatial field again.

"But I thought you just said that you were gonna take us to Tabuu!" hollered Tetra indignantly.

"Too baaaaaad!" Sora drawled. "You're too late, so you asked for it! And that's _Master_ Tabuu! Didn't your mothers teach you anything about _respeeeeect_?!"

"Seriously, when you extend a word like that, it's _creepy_!" Vaati complained. "Stop that!"

"No one tells me what to do, _stuuuuupid_! Oh, except _Master Tabuu_, of _courrrrrrrse_."

Toon Link picked up his pace so he could run alongside Tetra. "All right, so we're screwed," he hissed. "What do we do?"

"Don't ask _me_, dummy!" the pirate whispered fiercely. "Unless you want to keep throwing bombs at him."

"Uhhh, no. Vaati, Dark Link, you have any ideas?" the cartoon Hero of Time shouted.

Dark Link shrugged. "We fight him?"

"He's gone completely insane," Vaati said. "We'll be torn to shreds within two seconds! GAHH!" He quickly threw out three wind blades to increase the distance between him and the mind-controlled Sora, who was still wildly swinging around his Keyblade. "It appears that his craziness is giving him power. He won't be getting tired anytime soon!"

"Yeah, that's, like, _so_ reassuring, Vaati!" Toon Link snorted.

"Hey, I'm just telling you the truth!"

That was when disaster struck.

Behind the four fleeing Hylians, Sora suddenly stopped running. He bent down, placed his Keyblade on the ground, and slid it towards the Hylians. The Keyblade spun in rapid circles as it skimmed across the glass-like ground. Vaati heard it coming and hopped into the air, dodging it. Dark Link, however, was not so lucky.

_Smack!_

"Son of a Miniblin!" the dark Hero of Time swore furiously as he tripped onto the hard ground. When Toon Link looked back, he saw that Dark Link's right leg appeared to be twisted at an awkward angle. "Damn it! I think I twisted my ankle!"

"Oh, no! Dark Link!" Toon Link skidded to a stop, turned around, and ran towards the dark swordsman. When Tetra saw her friend running back, her heart nearly stopped.

"What the heck are you doing, Toon?! Sora's gonna get you! Just keep running!"

Dark Link clutched his ankle. "She's right, boy. Leave me! I can distract Sora." Then he smiled. "And on the bright side, you won't have to worry about me anymore, right?"

"STOP BEING SARCASTIC!" Toon Link yelled, kneeling next to the swordsman. "There's something different about you, Dark Link. And I just have this feeling that I should keep you alive. Yep, you're different, all right." He put Dark Link's right arm around his shoulders and dragged him forward, groaning. "I just wish your _height_ was a little different! You're way too tall!"

"That's because YOU'RE too damn SHORT!" Dark Link snapped back, hopping on his left leg.

Vaati paused. "…Isn't it supposed to be 'too damn _high_'?"

"NOW ISN'T THE TIME, STUPID!" the two Links bellowed in his face.

The mind-controlled Sora streaked across the plain, laughing madly all the way. He was swiftly closing in on Toon Link and Dark Link.

"Guess we won't be having any fun. Oh, well!" He snatched up his Keyblade and raised it. "Now playtime's _over_!"

He slashed the Keyblade.

There was a burst of purple light.

_CLANG!_

Toon Link blinked with surprise when he didn't feel the Keyblade tearing into him. He looked up, and his mouth fell open when saw a familiar swordsman in a green tunic. _"Link!"_

The Hero of Time parried Sora's Keyblade and threw him ten feet back. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "Hey, Toon. Long time, no see." Then he glared at Dark Link. "If you want a duel, we're having one when we get out of this freaky place."

"Tch!" Dark Link snorted. "Fine with me. I'm in no condition to fight, anyway."

Link gestured towards his left, and everyone saw the spatial tear floating in midair. "Lloyd's on the other side, holding open the portal. Get in! Go! GO!"

Sora leaped up and dived towards Link, who dodged him by doing a backflip. He whipped out his Clawshot, put it over his right hand, and fired the claw at Sora. The claw grabbed Sora' leg, but he managed to pull himself free. Link rushed forward and used Spin Attack. Sora jumped over the Hylian's sword and retaliated with Strike Raid, throwing his Keyblade at Link with much force. Link jumped aside and Sora's Keyblade struck the glassy ground, cracking it.

"Hey!" shouted a voice from within the spatial tear. "Link! We have to go!"

"Just a minute, Lloyd!"

Link quickly leaned back to avoid getting smacked in the face. Then he stuck out his foot and kicked Sora as hard as he could. The mind-controlled Smasher flew backwards and landed on the ground about fifteen feet away.

"Sorry, Sora," Link called. "But I have to leave now." He ran towards the portal and jumped in, then looked back. Sora lay flat on the ground and still had that crazy look on his face. He picked up his Keyblade—

Then a _second_ Sora appeared.

"Wait, what?!" Link shouted. He peeked out of the rapidly closing portal. "Who—?!"

The other Sora turned around and looked at the Hylian. Link saw that this Sora appeared to be pixilated.

"I'm Data-Sora. I'll take care of him." **_(9)_**

Then the portal closed.

_…_Data_-Sora? A computerized version of Sora? What's going on here?_

-ooo-

James slammed the door of Room 13 and plunked himself down in a chair. He let out a long sigh and grasped his head.

_"Fox. Can you hear me?"_

There was a shuffle on the other end, and Fox answered. _Loud and clear, James. Now what do you want?_

_"Fox, AntiSora just told me something pretty startling…"_

_Well, what is it? Get on with it!_

James paused. _"Originally, we were planning to refer to the blueprints of some Metal Gear while constructing MGZ. But the Smashers stole the blueprints from one of our bases just yesterday."_

Fox sounded pleased. _Oh, yeah? Go, Smashers. Woo! They're still kicking Subspace butt, I see._

James groaned mentally. _"Shut up, boy. But it turns out that we _didn't_ even need those blueprints._

_…__Oh, yeah?_

_"Yes. There's an unwary spy within the Smash Mansion…"_

Fox was quiet for a minute._ …Who is it?_

_"There's no need for you to know,"_ James told him bluntly. _"That's all you need to know."_

_NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!_ Fox bellowed._ Who's the spy? Why don't you need the blueprints? Why is the spy "unwary" of what he's doing? Why won't you tell me—_

_"Fox-X. Project MGZ. Good-_bye_."_

James cut the connection, and Fox's panicked voice faded away.

"Hnghhh…" James grunted, relaxing in his chair. "No one's suspecting anything…kind of like how no one suspected _me_ that time…"

He leaned back and closed his eyes.

_Now the king's knight has a plan. And the pawn silently watches…_

_…__Yes, this will be a _very_ interesting game, indeed._

* * *

><p><strong>PREVIEW — Chapter 33<strong>

HA! There's NO preview because I don't know if I'm going to post a chapter before the Halloween special…or just go straight to the Halloween special! DEAL WITH IT!

* * *

><p><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Link

**Also known as:** Hero of Time, Hero of Hyrule

**Age:** 21

**Species:** Hylian

**World of origin:** Hyrule

**Video game(s):** _The Legend of Zelda_ series

**Quote:** "Hyahhhh!"

**Occupation:** Link is known to be one of the greatest swordsmen throughout all of Hyrule. He and his ancestors and descendents, who were also named Link, were destined to save their world from peril. He possesses the Triforce of Courage and is very close to Zelda and Toon Link. Other than being an expert swordsman, he is also a skilled horseman and archer who enjoys drinking Lon Lon Milk.

**Fun fact:** He is somehow able to hold on to all his equipment, despite having no (visible) pockets or bags. Oh, and before the Subspace Incident, he almost never spoke a word.

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

_**(1) **__IT'S OVER 9,000!_ We all should know about this!

_**(2)**_ We all should also know how Link never talks in his games. He pretty much only said, "HIYAA!" and "HEUUHHH!" and "HAAAHHHH!" and… Well, you get my point.

_**(3)**_ This book is real! Check the preview out on Amazon or something!

_**(4) **_Yep, Link and Snake are somehow able to keep all their stuff in one place when they don't have pockets. Link can randomly take out and put away his Gale Boomerang, and Snake can stuff a whole Nikita missile launcher into his Sneaking Suit…

**(5)** A friend of mine wanted me to put him in this fanfic, so I did. Because you can name an Animal Crossing character whatever you want, this one's called Arden. Deal with it.

_**(6)**_ Remember _Chapter 26: Questions and Answers_?

_**(7) **_Really, Otacon never built another robot in the Metal Gear Mk. series. The last one he made was the Mk. III, which his daughter Sunny Emmerich gave to a friend in _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_. But it's such a useful little robot, and it'll definitely come in handy sooner or later. So, in Life at the Mansion, Otacon makes the Mk. IV. Yippee. _Fun fact:_ The Metal Gear Mk. series is controlled by a PS3 controller!

_**(8) **_If you wanna know who Big Boss is, check out your Naked Snake trophy in your _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ game…if you have one. (It appears at random, so keep your eyes out for it!) The description will give you a little bit of information.

_**(9)**_ Character request from a fellow FanFiction author named _blastburnman_. Here you go!

* * *

><p><em><strong>Aaaaaaaaaaand that's it.<strong>_

_**Hmm… Looks like James McCloud is a lot more enigmatic that we thought!**_

**Fox:** You can say that again. He's a weirdo.

**James:** _*clearing his throat*_ I heard that, boy.

**Fox:** _*nonchalantly*_ Pfffft! Like I care!

**_Snake must be feeling a _****lot****_ worse that we thought! Then Lucario must've been _****VERY****_ close to him._**

**Snake:** _*sarcastically*_ You don't _say_?!

**Samus:** Hey, Snake. What was that thing you said to me in the library?

**Snake:** _*blushing*_ …What _did_ I say?

**Wii Fit Trainer:** _*eagerly*_ Something that suggests that there's something going on between you and—

**Snake and Samus:** _*loudly while blushing*_ SHUT UP.

**_WOW! Zelda finally had another temper tantrum! When was the last time she had one?_**

**Link:** I'm pretty sure the last tantrum was in Chapter 9: Color Craze.

**Ganondorf:** Oh, you mean that chapter where no one reviewed?

**_*indignantly* …Sh-shut up, Ganon!_**

**Zelda:** But it's the truth, right?

**_I'll just ignore that… Oh, hey! The Villager's here!_**

**Arden:** Yep! I'm here and I'm rocking!

**_So that means all the new Super Smash Bros. U characters are here!_**

**Mega Man, Arden, and Trainer:** Woohoo!

**_Who's Data-Sora?_**

**Link:** To be revealed in Chapter 33!

**Toon Link:** …Which probably won't come out anytime soon…

**Link:** _*shocked*_ Goddesses! Where'd _you_ come from?!

**Toon Link:** _*punches Link's arm*_ Don't you remember?! You rescued me, Tetra, Vaati, and Dark Link from that virtual Subspace!

**Link:** _*rubbing his arm*_ Ahhhh, yes. It all happened so quickly, so my brain's still trying to register everything.

**_Taki is a SPY?!_**

**Taki:** Say WHAT?!

**Pikachu:** _*quickly covers Taki's eyes*_ Errr, nothing!

**_Is that PORKY?!_**

**Ness and Lucas:** Say WHO?!

**Snake:** _*quickly knocks out Ness and Lucas with his CQC*_ Sorry, but I had to do that, boys.

**_Neither Master Hand nor Crazy Hand appeared! Where the heck are they?_**

**Crazy Hand:** _*cheerfully*_ RIGHHHHHHHT HERE!

**Master Hand:** _*panicking*_ Shhhh! We are not supposed to let them know that we are hiding in the basement!

**Crazy Hand:** …But now that you just said it, they all know now, right?

**Master Hand:** …Ah. Then we must resort to _that_ thing.

**Crazy Hand:** _What_ thing?!

**Master Hand:** This. _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

**_See you next time in Chapter 33, which will probably come out next month or something! Sheesh, the next chapter will probably be the Halloween special…_**

**Darkrai:** _*excitedly*_ Did you just say…"HALLOWEEN special"?!

**Mewtwo:** _*slaps Darkrai*_ Don't start getting any ideas.

**_Uh… Anyway, remember to—_**

**Snake:** _*interrupting*_ —hit the damn REVIEW button before I get my grenade launcher!

**Samus:** _*nervously*_ …Wow, you're violent.

_**…**_**_Uh, yeah. Do what he says._**


	33. SPECIAL — Halloween ExFEARience‼ Part I

_**Woohoo! Welcome to the Halloween special! I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this thing! Please enjoy.**_

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here and I don't think I'll ever own anything here…**

* * *

><p><strong>SPECIAL — Chapter 33: The Halloween ExFEARience‼ Part I<strong>

* * *

><p><em>"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage,<br>"The star appears with the tempest's rage.  
>"Stories anew he can create<br>"By composing with the pen of fate._

_"Shall time expire, then all will remain  
>"As their other selves, bound by the chain<br>"Of the star whose aura has no form  
>"And reflects the aura of the storm…"<em>

-ooo-

"WARIO!"

_Crash!_

The date was October 30 in Smashville. It was only 8:12 AM, but almost the entire first floor of the Smash Mansion had been destroyed already—courtesy of a certain fat and greedy plumber who had the guts to steal a certain galactic bounty hunter's Power Suit straight from her own closet.

"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE, WARIO!"

And the bounty hunter was not happy about it.

Samus Aran chased after the greedy plumber in her Zero Suit, Paralyzer in hand. Wario sat on his motorbike, which spluttered smoke and gas (as usual) and was chained to a tubular container that held Samus' Power Suit (not as usual). As Wario rushed up and down the mansion, his motorbike was dragging the container around and causing mayhem all over the place.

_Boom!_

Yep, it was just another day of life at the mansion.

"YOU LITTLE…!" Samus shouted angrily.

"I ain't doing nothing!" the greedy plumber shouted back, laughing and grinning like a maniac as he rode the motorbike into the kitchen and scattered all the Koopa Troopas and Waddle Dees. Samus was about to corner him when he suddenly swerved into a U-turn, barely missed a large pot of boiling soup, and sped out of the small room. The chain that connected the Power Suit's container to the motorbike was still intact, despite all the collisions and near-accidents Wario had made. Samus hopped aside to avoid getting hit and found a meat cleaver lying on a cutting board next to her. She picked it up and threw it with deadly accuracy, severing the thick chain with one blow. Wario continued to ride all around the mansion, narrowly missing Pikachu and Jigglypuff as they were walking down the stairs.

"What the…?" yelped Jigglypuff, looking at her balloon-like body. "_Ewww!_ Motorbike gas!"

Pikachu shook his small fist at the retreating motorbike, ignoring the ash and dirt that covered him from ears to tail. "Hey, Wario! _Keep calm and STOP RIDING THAT BIKE!_"

In the dining room, Falco Lombardi sniffed at his cup of freshly brewed, steaming cup of coffee.

"Ahhhh…" Falco smiled at the coffee. "Nice, hot coffee. Using Lon Lon Milk sure helped. I'll thank Link when I'm done." He put the cup near his beak to take a sip. "And here it—"

A motorbike zoomed by. When it passed, there was no coffee in Falco's cup because it had splattered all over his feathers.

"—goes…?" The Star Fox pilot looked at himself. "Ah, shoot! I spent an hour combing through my beautiful blue feathers! And I spent half an hour making that coffee! Now look what happened!" He stood up, tossed his empty cup aside, and drew his Blaster. "All right, that's it! No one messes with the bird!"

He charged into the entrance room, shooting at the zooming motorbike with Wario on it. "WARIOOOOO!" he hollered. "YOU SPILLED MY COFFEE! AND TO TOP THAT OFF, _YOU SCREWED UP MY FEATHERS_! NOW YOU'LL _PAY_!"

Wario guided the motorbike around the pillars in the entrance room, making surprisingly graceful jumps whenever Samus or Falco came near. "I ain't gonna pay till I'm done playing!"

"And when will _that_ be?" asked Samus, her blue-green eyes shining like two bright stars.

_"NEVER!"_ Wario shouted. "WAHAHAHAHHHH!" He continued to ride around the room. Arden the Villager, Toon Link, and Mr. Game & Watch came into the room and had the privilege of getting run over.

"Ow, that hurt!" shouted Arden, rubbing his tire marks-covered face.

Neither Toon Link nor Mr. Game & Watch said anything because they had been knocked out.

Arden did his best to dust himself off, then gave up. "Okay, you asked for it!" He whipped out his axe and brandished it. "YAHHHHHH!"

Wario turned white with terror. "Ah, damn, not the Villager! _Eeyah!_" He turned tail and fled.

Falco was amused. "Did he seriously just say 'eeyah'?"

_CRASH!_

The motorbike shot right through the entrance doors, splintering the mahogany and sending slivers flying through the air. In the midst of the shower of needle-like bits of wood, Samus dived behind a pillar, Falco took out his Reflector and activated it, and Arden did his best to use the blade of his axe as a shield. Wario appeared to be completely oblivious to all the chaos he was creating as he rumbled down the path that lead to Smashville Plaza.

A pink puffball popped out from under a coffee table that was still intact. "Is it over?" asked Kirby.

_Vrrrrrrooooom!_

"Guess not," said the Dream Land hero, taking cover beneath the table again.

As Wario and his motorbike came back into view, Falco cocked his Blaster. He frowned and said, "Funny, I thought he was gonna mess around in the Plaza, too."

Samus peered into the distance, then nodded in understanding. "Sudden change of plans," she said, "because of Lucario and Snake."

The Pokémon and mercenary were chasing after Wario at full speed. Lucario was carrying Snake on his shoulders, and the latter had his Nikita missile launcher positioned on his shoulder. One look at their faces was enough to tell Toon Link that Wario had pissed them off quite badly.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!" roared Snake, firing another missile. "Get back here!"

"Suuuuuuure, I'm comin'!" Wario replied.

The rocket whistled over his hat.

"On second thought…NOPE!" Wario put his motorbike on full throttle and blazed ahead—riding right towards Falco, who pressed the trigger on his Blaster.

_Pew-pew-pew!_ Three narrow beams of blue energy hit the front tire of Wario's motorbike. The shots simply bounced off the rubber.

"Sorry, Birdbrain!" Wario called out tauntingly as he wheeled around and down the hill. "I replaced the tires with anti-Blaster ones! Hah!"

Falco cursed loudly as he put the Blaster back into its holster. "Shoot!"

Arden took out his slingshot and let a pebble fly. It missed. "Gee, I really need to do some target practice!"

Lucario and Snake were still in pursuit of the fat plumber. Snake grunted, put his missile launcher away, and whipped out his gun from his leg holster. "Nikita's too bulky… Lucario, stay on his trail."

The Aura Pokémon grinned. "Gladly!" He picked up his speed and started taking twenty-foot-long strides across the dirt and grass. When he was about thirty feet from Wario's motorbike, Snake took careful aim with his gun, using its laser aiming module to guide him, and pressed the trigger.

_Pew!_

A single tranquilizer dart zipped out of the SOCOM and buried its head through the back of Wario's _HURRY UP!_ jacket. Wario felt a faint sting on his back, and he stepped on the brakes of his motorbike to stop. He reached back and came up with a small bullet that was leaking some kind of liquid.

"…Uh?"

And he slumped onto the grass in a deep sleep, his rear end in the air, snoring like there was no tomorrow.

Lucario skidded to a stop, and Snake jumped down from his shoulders. Together, they inspected the greedy plumber with content expressions.

"And _that_," Lucario proclaimed as he gave Snake a high five, "is why you never screw with Team SiAura!"

Samus, Falco, and Arden cheered. "YEAH!"

Kirby crawled out from the coffee table. "Is it over?" Then he saw Wario and grinned. "He's down!"

Since Lucario was being Snake's taxi, the mercenary had to pay for the Pokémon by being the one to drag the unconscious Wario back to the mansion.

"I knew I should've just used my own two feet to run," Snake groaned as he pulled Wario's prone body up the hill, trying not to get a whiff of the greedy plumber's many odors.

Lucario just shrugged. "Well, _you_ were the one who asked for that piggyback ride. And _you_ were the one who took him down, so he's all yours. You should be grateful that I'm not making you pay real money."

"畜生。ルカリオ…あなたは私を怒らせる。"

"That was Japanese, wasn't it, David?" asked Lucario as they entered the mansion with Samus, Falco, Arden, and Kirby. On the way, Samus picked up the KO'd Toon Link and Mr. Game & Watch.

"Заткнись," Snake grunted. "И не называйте меня Давида."

Lucario smiled. "Russian?"

"Ne, vážně, drž hubu!" Snake snapped irately.

Lucario paused. "…Excuse me?"

Someone jumped out of the shadows. "You're excu—"

_Smack._

"Va-t'en, Darkrai," Snake said bluntly as he kicked the Dark-type Legend into a wall. "Vous êtes agaçant."

"I have no idea what that meant… Nonetheless, I shall take that offensively!" Darkrai yelled irritably, rubbing his throbbing shin.

"He said you're annoying," Samus translated, giggling into the palm of her hand.

Darkrai stared at the bounty hunter, then at Snake, who was smiling. "…Gee, thanks." He turned around and stalked off. The Smashers could hear him muttering, "It's been _such_ a long time since I got to say that…and someone _always_ gets in the way…!"

"Это начинает действовать на нервы, так что теперь мы не позволю тебе это сказать," Snake called after the Legend's retreating figure.

Arden poked the mercenary's side. "Can you stop speaking in Russian?"

"…Fine."

"And what's with your clothes?" Kirby questioned, looking at Snake. The mercenary was wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the red _Metal Gear Solid_ logo, and a pair of blue shorts. Strapped to his right leg was a holster with his gun in it.

"My Sneaking Suit got a bunch of tire marks and rips when _this_ guy went on a rampage yesterday," Snake explained, dumping Wario onto the floor. The greedy plumber continued to snore, despite the fact that Snake had dropped him on his head. "An hour ago, Lucario and I went down to Smashville Plaza to drop it off at the Laundromat. Then Lucario saw that the Oran Berries were on sale, so we went shopping."

"Little did we know that Wario would go on _another_ rampage!" Lucario added, laughing. "I think we were able to teach him a lesson today."

"I honestly don't think so," Falco muttered darkly.

The Smashers began to trudge up the stairs when Lucario suddenly said, "Hey, where are my Berries?"

"You threw 'em into a drainage ditch so you could chase Wario with both paws free," Snake reminded him.

"Oh, _right_!" The Aura Pokémon was enraged. "That dolt! He owes me a bag of Oran Berries!" The look of anger quickly morphed into that of shock. "Wait—what the heck was a_drainage ditch_ doing in the middle of Smashville Plaza?!"

Samus shrugged as she took out a cloth and began to polish her Paralyzer. "Smashville's a weird place. You never know what's going to turn up where."

"That's why I _love_ Smashville." Arden giggled a little and shouldered his axe. He had a strange gleam in his black eyes.

Falco looked at him and the axe suspiciously.

-ooo-

"Ugh… G'morning, Master Hand…"

_"Ah! Good morning, Captain Olimar,"_ the hand replied as he passed the Smasher on the stairs. _"What is with that expression? You are usually quite cheery in the mornings."_

Olimar sighed as he stooped down to pick up his White Pikmin and check the flower on its head. "It's about Wario. He wrecked the entire first floor."

Master Hand was exasperated. _"What?! He destroyed the second floor just yesterday!"_

"He must have been eating some heavily caffeinated garlic lately," Olimar said, petting one of his Purple Pikmin. "I heard that eating lots of caffeine can make you go crazy."

_"I do not know if that is true, Olimar…"_Master Hand sighed. _"Time to get to work."_ When the hand reached the first floor, he inspected the damage and made some calculations.

_"Hmm… Just as Olimar said, the entire first floor was damaged,"_ he said to himself. He made a mental note to find and punish Wario later. He flex his fingers several times and cracked his knuckles. Then he floated above the mess and snapped his fingers. In response to the loud snap, all the broken furniture and things repaired themselves and went back to their proper positions. Within half a minute, the first floor looked the way it was before Wario's motorbike came along.

_"Yes… Much better."_ Master Hand did a quick check of the floor and, seeing that everything was back to normal, went to search for Wario.

-ooo-

Peach climbed on top of the coffee table in the living room and clapped her hands loudly. "Good morniiiiing!" she said in her singsong voice. "I have an important announcement to make!"

The Smashers stopped their chatter and looked up.

The Mushroom Kingdom princess smiled. "Thank you. As I was saying, I have an important announcement to make. So you all should know that tomorrow is October 31—"

"—so Halloween's tomorrow!" Nana said excitedly to Popo.

"Oh, boy!" Popo shouted. "I can't wait to dress up!"

Peach held up her hand for silence. "Before we can start talking about costumes and things, we all have to do something _veeeery_ important."

Now most of the Smashers were groaning. One voice was heard above the rest.

"You're talking about the decorations, right?" called out Red.

Peach nodded. "Exactly! We _all_ have to help set up the decorations. If we don't work together, then we won't get the decorations up in time, and if we get any visitors, it'll look very obvious that we didn't get the decorations up in time."

The Wii Fit Trainer joined the princess on the tabletop. "Also, helping with the decor can be pretty good exercise!" She did some torso twists. "Running up and down the mansion with fifteen-pound boxes isn't something you can do effortlessly, y'know!"

Lucas raised his hand. Ness tried to stop him by pinching his arm, but he went on to ask, "What if you have PSI?"

Trainer gave him such a long look that he felt like she was staring right into his soul. "If I catch _any_ of you using psychic powers or not physically moving things around," she said calmly, "I'll make you run five laps then and there. Understand?"

Ness and Lucas hugged each other, quaking with fear. "Y-y-yes, ma'am!"

The other Smashers shifted around uneasily.

Peach spoke up. "Trainer's right. We can exercise while setting up. That's killing two birds with one stone."

"One of those birds isn't me, right?" Falco asked warily. Next to him, Fox and Wolf laughed.

"One of them will be if I catch you bribing someone to do your share of work," Trainer warned him.

Falco gulped. "Aw, man…"

Fox elbowed him. "What, were you planning to use me and Wolf again?"

"Wh-what?!" Falco snapped, his cheeks turning red. "Of course not!"

Wolf sighed and shook his head. "Stop trying to deny it, Lombardi. I can see through all of your fibs."

"Oh, really?" Falco retorted, grinning tauntingly. "I bet you can only see through _half_ of my fibs. How's that left eye of yours?"

Wolf snarled as his hand moved towards his unseeing left eye, seething with rage. "You… You son of a…!"

_"BURN!"_ crowed Bowser and King Dedede, exchanging a high five.

Ganondorf slapped them upside their heads. "You two are such idiots. No wonder your castles were always destroyed by Mario and Kirby."

"Hey, look who's talking…Mr. Evil-King-Who's-Always-Getting-Beaten-Up-By-Link-And-Sometimes-Zelda!" King Dedede countered indignantly.

Just then, a yellow-eyed, black- and white-haired teenage boy wearing a business suit with white rectangles, black pants, black shoes, and a metallic skull under his color appeared out of nowhere and pointed at Wolf.

"Nooooo!" he cried out with despair. "I thought all the Smashers were perfectly symmetrical! Ahhh, beautiful symmetry…" He stared at Wolf with horror, while the latter just looked bewildered. "And then it's revealed that your eyes aren't symmetrical! That means _you_ aren't symmetrical, which means not all the Smashers are symmetrical!" He collapsed onto his knees and began to hit the ground with his fists. "_Nooooooo!_ My life is RUINED!"

Popo whispered into Nana's ear. "Hey, isn't he Death the Kid from that anime called _Soul Eater_?"

"Yeah, it is!" Nana whispered back. She went up to the moaning boy and tapped his shoulder. "Um, Kid… I think you're in the wrong universe."

Kid suddenly looked up. "Say what? I'm in the wrong universe?"

"This is the Smash World," Nana told him. "Uh… Aren't you supposed to be at Death Weapon Meister Academy or something?"

"Probably…" Kid said slowly as he stood up. "Sorry I interrupted your meeting. And now…" He made a strange pose and announced, _"Shinigami Teleportation!"_

There was a _bang_, and he disappeared.

Everyone was quiet.

"…Ohhhh-kay…" Mega Man said awkwardly. "That was weird."

Peach clapped her hands. "_Ahem!_ As I was saying, we can exercise while setting up the decorations. Now, there are several boxes in the basement with Halloween decorations. If we all pitch in, we should be able to finish everything a couple hours after lunchtime." She smiled and shot her fist into the air. "So _let's go_!"

As the Smashers filed out of the living room, Zelda told everyone, "The boxes are in a supply room in the lower basement! Go to the first floor elevator, take it down to the second basement, and immediately turn right when you step out. You'll be in a hallway with doors in both sides. Stop at the door with a label that says 'Decorations' and go in. There are several doors in the Decorations room… Go to the one that says 'Halloween.' The Halloween decorations should be in there."

"Okay, thanks," R.O.B. said impatiently as he exited the room.

Soon, there was no one left in the living room except Fox, Falco, Wolf, Pikachu, Lucario, and Snake.

Falco turned to Wolf. "Hey—"

In the blink of an eye, the Star Wolf leader had drawn his Blaster and was pointing it at Falco's face. "You take that back."

Falco held his hands above his head. "All right, I'm _sorry_!"

Wolf shoved his Blaster right under the Star Fox pilot's beak, forcing the latter to look at the Blaster's gleaming claw cross-eyed. "Don't ever mention the left eye again. _Ever._"

Falco sniffed and looked away, while Fox quietly struggled to muffle his chuckles. "Yessir…"

Wolf lowered the Blaster and put it back into its holster. "Good."

Fox couldn't hold it in any longer, and he exploded into a raucous round of laughter. "Hahaha! That look on your face when the Blaster…" He snorted and slapped Lucario on the back. "Priceless! Hahahahaaaaa!"

Now it was Falco's turn to point his own Blaster at Fox. "Sh-shut up, Fox! What kind of leader laughs at his own teammate?!"

Fox stopped laughing and aimed his Blaster at Falco. "Watch where you're pointing that thing," he warned, nodding towards Falco's Blaster.

Snake was amused. "All these Blasters just popping out so suddenly… Huh."

The three Smashers immediately trained their Blasters on him. Snake raised his eyebrows.

"I'm pretty sure I'm better with a gun than all three of you combined."

Pikachu jumped around like his feet were on fire. "Seriously… Can you guys put away those guns and be a bit more civil?" He glared at the canid, lupine, and avian Smashers until they reluctantly put their Blasters away. "Let's talk about Halloween!" he then suggested enthusiastically. "What are you guys gonna dress up as? I'm going to be a Raichu."

Fox smirked. "You're going as your evolution? I thought you didn't like Raichu."

"Not _all_ Raichu," Pikachu told him. "Just that one Raichu that Thundered me when I stepped on his tail." He made a face. "He was so—"

"Yeah, that's great to know," Falco interrupted. "I'm not too sure what I'll be… Still stuck between a _Call of Duty_ character and a _Modern Warfare_ character."

"Falco…" Snake sighed and facepalmed in exasperation. "_CoD_ and _MW_ are the same thing."

Falco was surprised. "'Scuse me?"

There was a ripple on the edge of a bookshelf's shadow. Darkrai emerged from it and proceeded to say his signature line, but thought the better of it when Snake began to stare daggers at him. Darkrai grinned sheepishly, gave a little wave, and quietly slunk away.

"あなた馬鹿… " Snake murmured under his breath.

Fox thumped Falco on the back. "Anyway, I'm going to be a zombie. I have no other ideas, so why not? And heck, zombies are _awesome_."

"True," agreed Lucario. "I think I'll just put on Sir Aaron's hat and cape and call myself…" He took a breath and said in a dramatic voice, _"…Lucario the Aura Guardian!"_

Silence.

"…No applause?" Lucario frowned. "Fine." He turned to Snake. "Any ideas?"

"I'm not dressing up," the mercenary replied gruffly. "This stuff's for kids."

"That's not true!" cried Pikachu. "Some people older than you cosplay all the time! Some even do it for a living! And I'm fifteen and I _love_ dressing up for Halloween!"

"You're fifteen?" asked Fox incredulously as he looked the Pokémon up and down. "I thought you'd be…younger."

Pikachu shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, Snake, if you really don't have any big costume ideas, just slap on an eye patch and some camouflage and call yourself Na—"

"Absolutely NOT!" Snake exploded, making the Smashers jump. "First of all, Naked Snake is my own _father_, and he was a great soldier, so dressing as him would pretty disrespectful. And second of all, I never really liked him, so…" He shook his head. "Nope. No eye patch, no costume. I'm just gonna be _me_—Solid Snake, former FOXHOUND operative, hero of Shadow Moses, and son of Big Boss. Period."

"…W-well, if you say so…" Pikachu stammered nervously. He looked at Wolf. "How about you?"

Wolf was looking at his claws. "Eh, not interested. I was never a big fan of parties to start with."

Pikachu's mouth fell open. _"Seriously?!"_ he yelled with disbelief. "You guys aren't dressing up?! Arceus, you two are the biggest party poopers _ever_!"

"No, we're just a couple of mercenaries who have no interest in this stuff," Wolf corrected the Mouse Pokémon. Snake nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Trainer popped her head into the living room and exclaimed, "Aha, I see six slackers!" She began a countdown. "Ten…nine…eight…"

In a flash, the six Smashers were out the door and running all around the mansion. Falco went with Fox.

"Jeez, things sure have changed with _her_ in the mansion!" he complained as he picked up a box.

"Pfffft" was all Fox said in reply.

-ooo-

About two miles southwest of the Smash Mansion lay the infamous Dusk Forest, and right now Mario and Yoshi were hiking towards its center. It was almost noon, but barely any light penetrated the thick canopy. The fact that today was the day before Halloween didn't help all that much.

Yoshi spoke up, shattering the eerie silence. "Hey. Any ideas for tomorrow?"

The red-clad plumber was resting on the dinosaur's back. "Mmm. I haven't-a really reached a decision yet-a. Luigi and I are thinking about-a switching our clothes-a."

Yoshi groaned and shook his head as he kicked aside a rock that was lying in his way. "So you're going to be Luigi and he's going to be you? Didn't you do this last year and the year before that?"

"Well, yes," Mario admitted reluctantly, "but-a what else can-a we do?"

"There are millions of things to dress up as!" his dinosaur friend exclaimed. "Some won't cost you anything! Like a toilet paper mummy… All you need is a lot of toilet paper. Or you can just paint that cape you use in brawls black and get some fangs—"

"—and-a call myself a vampire or something-a?" Mario frowned. "Nope-a. I _despise_-a vampires."

Yoshi turned his head to look at the plumber straight in the eye. "'Despise'? Since when did ya start saying that?"

Mario shrugged. "I don't-a know. It-a just came out-a like that-a."

Yoshi shrugged. "Whatever…"

The two Smashers walked on. Yoshi began to complain about the burden on his back, so Mario reluctantly slid off and went alongside the dinosaur. Together, they walked on in silence, stopping occasionally to get a good view of some colorful birds or unusually noisy squirrels.

"Oh, look, we're in the middle," Yoshi said happily when he caught sight of a large boulder in the middle of a clearing with the words "DUSK FOREST CENTER" etched upon it. "Now let's turn around go back to the mansion."

"I wonder what-a the others are-a doing right-a now," Mario mused aloud.

"Getting beaten up by Trainer, I bet!"

"Then-a we went out at a great-a time, eh?"

The two Smashers laughed and began to walk in the direction of the Smash Mansion.

The leaves of a bush behind them rustled.

Yoshi had more acute hearing than Mario, so he heard the noise. "What was _that_?" he squeaked.

Mario looked at him. "What-a?"

"That noise just now. It was like…crackling or something."

The red-clad plumber frowned. "I'm-a pretty sure that-a was just-a your imagination-a."

"No, really! I heard something!" Yoshi insisted, his blue eyes darting around.

Mario just shrugged. "You're just-a getting paranoid-a. Let's-a just get-a back to the mansion before you get a panic attack-a."

"_Panic attack!_ I never get panic attacks!"

"Oh, really? Well-a, remember the time when-a—"

_"Noooooo!"_ Yoshi tackled Mario onto the ground, throwing up a cloud of dirt and leaves. "Shut up! Don't say it!"

"Yoshi! Lose-a some weight-a!" yelled Mario, getting squashed several times as he and the dinosaur rolled down a hill.

"Says the plumber who eats a plate of spaghetti almost _every night_!" Yoshi countered.

"Mama mia, shut _up_-a!"

"Make me!"

As the two Smashers grappled with each other, the bush rustled again. Two pale yellow eyes stared through the foliage and watched the skirmish intensely.

"Hmm, a fight between friends…" he murmured. "How _fun_!"

He almost burst out laughing when Mario walloped Yoshi's snout, to which Yoshi responded by giving the plumber a nice whack in the face. Then he remembered that he was supposed to lie low until the perfect moment.

"But…the _real_ fun hasn't quite begun yet. Oh, no, not quite yet. It starts _tomorrow_…"

He grinned to himself.

"I'm looking forward to it."

-ooo-

"Hey, David."

Snake grunted. He was sitting on a footstool, taking a break from the decorations set-up. "Why do you insist on calling me that? Call me Snake."

Lucario smiled as he draped the last of the cobwebs over the lamps in the third floor's corridors. "What's wrong? It's not like it sounds weird or anything."

"I just…feel more like myself when I'm called Snake…"

Lucario stepped back and surveyed his work. He made some adjustments to the cobwebs until he felt satisfied, and he took a seat on the ground next to Snake's stool. "You're starting to sound like the day we met. You were all, like…" He attempted to mimic Snake's deep, gravelly voice. "'A name means nothing on the battlefield. After a week, no one has a name!'"

The mercenary couldn't help but laugh at the failed Solid Snake impersonation. "Very funny. But I didn't sound that cheerful."

Lucario snorted and began to speak normally again. "Heck, when did you ever sound cheerful?"

_Smack._

"Shut up."

Lucario rubbed his cheek, still smiling. "Sheesh…"

They sat there for a while, not talking. Lucario tried to disentangle some strands of cobweb from his ears and fur. Snake leaned against the wall and lowered his bandana so that it completely covered his eyes.

"You wanna take a nap right now?" Lucario asked.

"Sure." The mercenary yawned. "We're done with our part, so let's just relax for a bit before Trainer makes us run ten laps."

"Tch…" Lucario looked away, snickering quietly. "If we _do_ have to run ten laps, let's race. But it won't be really fair. I can beat you any day."

Snake lifted his bandana just a bit. His blue eyes were shining with amusement. "Oh, really? Then let's make it more fair. I get to carry my weapons while you just run."

Lucario coughed and glared at the mercenary. "What?! Now that's _totally_ unfair!"

"Your speed is a lot better than mine, so I gotta have some of my own strengths to be at an equal match with you," Snake pointed out.

"Ugh! No!" Lucario jumped up and stomped the ground. "Snake! I could get _killed_ if you get to carry around your stuff!"

"Don't worry," Snake reassured him. "The SOCOM's bullets are just tranquilizer darts."

"I didn't mean THAT, you idiot!" Lucario shouted.

Snake watched the Aura Pokémon with those sharp blue eyes of his. He chuckled. "You know, Lucario…you look really funny when you're jumping around like that."

Lucario growled and muttered something under his breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," said Snake, removing his bandana and stuffing it into the left pocket of his shorts.

"It doesn't concern you."

"Hmm."

They were silent again. Then—

_Thud—CRASH!_

Snake leaped up, knocking over the stool. "The hell was that?!"

Lucario scanned the area with his Aura Sight. He snorted with laughter. "Looks like Wolf's having a bit of trouble."

On the second floor, there lay a pile of boxes and random Halloween things. A clawed hand stuck out from beneath the largest of the boxes, twitching every now and then. Lucario and Snake approached the heap, threw the boxes aside, and dragged Wolf out.

"You know, Wolf, it wasn't really wise to carry six boxes at once," Snake said, chuckling a little as he laid the Star Wolf leader on the floor. "How are you feeling?"

"A bunch of boxes isn't enough to take me down," Wolf muttered, blinking his right eye. "I can handle it."

"No, you can't," Lucario corrected him. "We'll help you. Two boxes for everyone." He rushed around, testing each box's weight. "I got dibs on the lightest ones!"

"WHAT?!" roared Snake furiously. "You're a _Fighting_- and _Steel_-type Pokémon, you bastard! You should get the _heaviest_!"

Lucario pretended not to hear him as he picked up two boxes. "Yep, I got these." He winked and stuck out his tongue. "Have fun, suckers!"

Snake chose two random boxes and immediately swore when they turned out to be the heaviest ones. He gave Lucario the finger and hollered, "Screw you!"

Lucario made a face and put his boxes down. "Hey! Don't go flashing those obscene gestures at me! They're _obscene_." His eyes grew wide and he flapped his arms up and down in a very dramatic way. "_OBSCEEEEEEENE!_ Master Hand will _KILL_ you! He will tear off your third finger and feed it to the wild dogs! Then he will tear off _ALL_ your fingers, nice and sl—" He froze. "…What the…?"

Snake dropped his boxes and rushed to his friend's side. Wolf scratched his head and followed the mercenary. "Somethin' wrong?"

Lucario collapsed onto his knees and clutched his head. _"Ughhhhh,"_ he moaned. "My head hurts…"

"Could it have been something you had for breakfast?" Wolf asked. "What did you eat?"

"…Ugh… Toast…bacon…and some MooMoo Milk…"

"Maybe the milk passed the expiration date," Wolf surmised.

"Uhhh, Wolf, I'm pretty sure spoiled food gives you a _stomach_ache instead of a headache," Snake told him nervously. "Hold on…"

The mercenary went silent as he stared at Lucario. Wolf immediately knew that he was trying to form a telepathic link with the Pokémon to see what was going on in the latter's head.

"…THE HELL!" Snake suddenly exploded, jumping back with shock.

Suddenly, Lucario reared up and let out an unearthly scream of pain.

"Whoa, Lucario!" Wolf tried to reach for the Pokémon, but Snake held him back.

"Don't," he said in a low voice.

"Hey!" hissed Wolf. "What's going on? What did you see?"

"Nothing. I couldn't connect."

"Say _what_?!"

"Someone had _already_ made a connection and put up a mental barrier. I couldn't get past it." Snake's voice dropped to a whisper. "It was _much_ stronger than anything I'd encountered before…"

Lucario abruptly stopped screaming and became deathly quiet. He slowly turned his head to stare at Snake and Wolf. With a jolt, the Star Wolf leader realized that the Aura Pokémon's lively red eyes had become a sickly shade of pale brown.

"Damn, this is _freaky_…"

Snake and Wolf quickly took a step back as Lucario shuddered, closed his eyes, and began to say something that sounded oddly like a prophecy.

_"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage,  
>"The star appears with the tempest's rage.<br>"Stories anew he can create  
>"By composing with the pen of fate.<em>

_"Shall time expire, then all will remain  
>"As their other selves, bound by the chain<br>"Of the star whose aura has no form  
>"And reflects the aura of the storm."<em>

With that, Lucario gasped and fell to the ground, unconscious. Snake immediately rushed to his aid and supported him.

"Lucario! Hang in there!"

With a grunt of effort, he lifted the Pokémon, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and ran up the stairs in the direction of the hospital wing. "DR. MARIOOOOOO!"

Wolf was the only one on the second floor, surrounded by a pile of boxes filled with Halloween decorations. Lucario's trance-like state and eerie prophecy had frightened and bewildered him greatly.

_…__What the hell did I just hear?_

-ooo-

It was 1:10 PM.

When everyone was done setting up the Halloween decorations, they all went to the cafeteria for a snack. Peach and Zelda had baked several hundred chunky chocolate-chip cookies about half an hour ago (no one wanted to know how they managed to make so many in so little time), and they were now sorted out into groups of seven. The smell of the cookies alone was enough to almost drive Yoshi and Kirby mad with hunger. Only Wario was not allowed to have any of the treats.

"Ehhhhhh?!" he yelled, stomping the ground like a kid having a tantrum. "Why?!"

Master Hand floated before him, a figure of menacing power and authority. _"You destroyed parts of the Smash Mansion two days in a row,"_ he said calmly. _"Of course you should not deserve those cookies."_ He turned around to face away from the squat Smasher. _"Consider yourself lucky. Had it not been for the holiday tomorrow, I would have made your punishment much more severe."_

"But… But…!" Wario cried, a panicked expression dawning upon his sweaty face. "Ya ain't letting me have any when there's more than enough for—"

_"That is enough, Wario."_ Master Hand's voice was quiet but firm. _"Good day."_ He flew off, leaving the frustrated Smasher to let out his steam by himself.

In the cafeteria, all the Smashers were enjoying themselves. They ate the cookies while discussing plans for the next day. Most of the Smashers were quite proud of how well they had set up the Halloween decorations.

"This place looks epic! I can't wait for tomorrow!"

"We did a great job of putting up the decorations. Woohoo!"

"Look at all the cobwebs… They're so realistic."

"Yeah, scary!"

"Even the spiders look real!"

"_AHHHHHH!_ I THINK SOMEONE GOT KILLED HERE!"

"Calm down. It's just paint. It's too bright and thick to be blood."

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING, MARTH!"

Fox slammed his hands onto his table, making everyone around him jump with surprise. "So, Falco! You gonna dress up as a purple Pikmin or what?"

Falco stood up defiantly. "Fox, we already discussed this. And my answer will stay the same. _Never!_ And I don't care if that means I don't get to take your Great Fox on a joyride. I'll just have fun with my own Arwing!"

Fox snickered. "So be it…"

Falco stuck out his tongue at the vulpine Smasher before sitting down to eat his third cookie. Then he said, "You never said what you're going as, Fox."

"I thought I told you already, but I'll just say it again," Fox said, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm going to be a zombie. Bring on the blood and guts!"

"And brains," added Captain Falcon.

"And brains!"

Red squinted his eyes and scooted away from both of them. "Eww."

Falco patted his back. "Don't you worry, Red. I'm dressing up as a _Modern Warfare_ dude. If McCloud tries something sneaky…" He pointed a finger gun at Fox. _"Bang!"_

Fox gasped and clutched his chest. "_Ohhhh…_ I'm dying! _Nooooo…_ _Aarghhhhh… Must…have…brains…_" He slid off the bench and fainted.

Toon Link looked over Falco's shoulder. "…That was…pretty dramatic."

Behind their table, Donkey Kong was pounding on his chest. "YEAHHH! I'm going to be a mummy!"

"No one is stealing my idea!" Nana shouted from her table. "It's copyrighted!"

"Try Funky Kong," suggested Diddy Kong. "You guys look a bit similar."

"What about you, Diddy?"

The monkey shrugged. "A sheet ghost. Totally boring, right?"

"You should dress up as Dixie Kong," Ganondorf told him.

Diddy Kong nodded. "Okay, thanks for the suggestion! I'll think…about…it… Wait a minute… _Dixie_?" His jaw dropped. He whipped out his Peanut Popguns and fired away at the laughing king of evil. "GANON! GET BACK HERE!"

"HAHAHA! That look on your face was _priceless_!"

_Pop-pop-pop!_

"SCREW YOU, GANON!"

Yoshi eyed Diddy Kong's plate of cookies. "…Hnghhhhh…"

Donkey Kong pushed it towards him. "Stop grumbling and just eat it."

Five Smashers were engaged in a conversation at yet another table.

"Tomorrow is Halloween," Peach said to the others. "You know what that means."

"Good food," Bowser immediately said.

"Yeah, and a party-a!" Mario added.

"And lots of great costumes," said Yoshi, nodding.

"And…uh…lots of gh-gh-gh-ghosts-a!" Luigi finished, shaking with fear.

Bowser laughed so loudly that the Smashers at some other tables turned around and glared at him. "BWAHAHAHAAA! Are you serious, Lil' Weegee? You're still scare of _ghosts_?"

"Hey, my bro has-a severe phasmophobia!" Mario shouted as he patted his younger brother comfortingly on the back. "And so what if-a he's scared of ghosts-a?"

"He shouldn't be by now," Bowser declared, "since he had to face ghosts in his mansion _twice_."

_"Yoshiiiii!"_ exclaimed Yoshi, banging the table. "How about we all shut up and talk about tomorrow instead of Luigi?"

"Yes, that's a wonderful idea," Peach said quickly. "So, what are you guys going to dress up as?"

"I have the perfect idea," bragged Bowser. "I shall go as…the fearsome _DRY BOWSER_!"

"How _very_ interesting," Yoshi said as dryly as he could. "I think I'll be a Koopa Troopa. How about you two?"

"Luigi," replied Mario.

"Mario," replied Luigi at the same time.

The two plumbers looked at each other, then laughed.

"We've-a been doing this every year-a."

"It's-a very…uh…_plain_-a, but still, it's-a kind of fun-a!"

"Wario still gets-a mixed up-a when we switch our clothes-a."

"No, I don't!" Wario yelled indignantly on the other side of the cafeteria. He was still steaming. "I ain't that stupid!"

"What are _you_ going to dress up as, Peach?" asked Yoshi.

The Mushroom Kingdom princess put her hand to her chin, thinking. "I'm still not too sure. I have to decide between Daisy and Rosalina."

"Either one is okay," Yoshi told her.

Snake, Wolf, Kirby, Meta Knight, and Mega Man were at a table near the back of the cafeteria. Kirby was ravenously munching on Meta Knight's cookies while the Dream Land knight watched him silently. Mega Man's blue eyes were unfocused as he daydreamed about some event in his past. Wolf drummed his fingers on the table, making sharp clacking sounds with his claws. Snake was napping on the bench with his legs crossed, arms folded behind his head, and bandana covering his eyes.

Kirby finished swallowing the last crumbs of Meta Knight's cookies, then turned towards Mega Man. "Hey, you didn't eat any of your cookies…" he said slowly.

Without a word, the robotic boy slid his plate towards Kirby. The pink puffball let out an elated squeal before jumping right on top of the plate and eating the cookies.

Wolf let out a loud sigh through his nose and stopped tapping on the tabletop. He glanced to his right and found Snake lying there. The Star Wolf leader reached out and tapped his arm.

"What?" the mercenary grumbled.

Wolf bent down so no one else could hear him. "What was with Lucario earlier this afternoon? Do you think that was a warning or something?"

Snake pushed his bandana upwards so he could look at Wolf. "It was a warning, no doubt at that. But the question is, _how_ did he say that, and _why_? _Who_ was the person who set up the telepathic link and blocked me? _Where_ is that person? And _when_ this it all happen?"

"So many questions," Wolf remarked quietly.

_"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage, / The star appears with the tempest's rage,"_ Snake recited, staring at the ceiling.

_"Stories anew he can create / By composing with the pen of fate,"_ Wolf finished. "Sounds bad."

"Not to mention confusing," said Snake. "What's the 'pen of fate'? Something that changes our lives?"

"At least 'when' is answered." Wolf paused. "…Well, kind of."

_"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage,"_ Snake murmured thoughtfully. "'The week's fifth stage,' huh? …The fifth day of the week?"

"That's Friday," Wolf said instantly.

Snake pointed at him, smiling. "Nope. Friday is the fifth _work_day of the week. The _real_ fifth day of the week is _Thursday_."

Wolf shuddered. "Tomorrow is Thursday…"

"Which means the 'star whose aura has no form' is coming tomorrow," Snake concluded. When Wolf looked confused, the mercenary said, "Remember? _Shall time expire, then all will remain / As their other selves, bound by the chain / Of the star whose aura has no form / And reflects the aura of the storm._"

"What could all this mean?" Wolf wondered. "Should we tell the other Smashers?"

Snake considered this for a moment, then shook his head. "If we do, everyone will go into a frenzy. This is a secret between the two of us and no one else. We can't even tell Master Hand."

"Does Lucario know?"

Snake sat up and put his bandana back on. "Let's find out."

At a table behind them, Samus was listening in.

_So how did it go? "On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage…the star appears with the tempest's rage,"_ she thought as she absentmindedly spun her Paralyzer in her hand._Hmmm…_

-ooo-

"Just twelve more hours…and the fun will begin!"

-ooo-

Lucario recovered quickly and rejoined the other Smashers within the hour. He had no memory of what had happened during his trance-like state, and Wolf and Snake agreed to not say anything. It would only make everything more confusing.

After the snack time, the Smashers hurried through their four daily brawls and finished them in no time at all. Rather than using two lives, the chosen Smashers had six minutes to defeat their opponent as many times as they could. The victor was the Smasher who had the most kills. If time ran out and the Smashers were tied, the winner was quickly decided by means of a rather…_explosive_ finish called Sudden Death.

In the first brawl, two best friends found themselves pitted against each other—Marth and Ike. They found it difficult to land blows on one another as they traveled up the DK Falls stage, but right before the timer reached zero, Marth performed an act of self-sacrifice by jumping off a platform, allowing the bottom boundary to sweep past him. Ike won as a result, and he easily understood the Altean prince's actions—neither of them wished to get caught up in a Sudden Death match.

Luigi and Ganondorf were chosen to fight in the second brawl. Mario nearly had a heart attack and expected Ganondorf to beat the tar out of his little brother, but to the surprise of many, Luigi defeated Ganondorf by one kill, which he did by kicking the dark king into the path of an 8-bit Sidestepper on the Mario Bros. stage.

The third brawl had Captain Falcon and Solid Snake fight each other on the Flat Zone 2 stage, where everything, including the Smashers, were two-dimensional like Mr. Game & Watch. The two of them were rivals and fought each other fiercely, but what really got them was when Samus promised to to go out to lunch the next day—with the victor. Suddenly hyped up by this statement, the two men pounded each other the best they could, both of them determined to be Samus' date for tomorrow afternoon. (Lucario was groaning with exasperation for the duration of the six-minute brawl.) In the end, Captain Falcon won, thanks to a successful execution of his Final Smash, and he had the privilege of seeing Snake's extremely-disappointed-because-he-didn't-have-a-date-with-Samus face.

In the fourth and final brawl, Peach was up against Wario on the Final Destination. Mario almost had another heart attack when he heard his (girl)friend was to fight the greedy plumber, but he managed to keep his head and watch the brawl without getting any cardiac problems. Peach and Wario each had one kill when time ran out, so a Sudden Death match was called. After about ten seconds of standing around and staring worried at their 300% damage meters, the two Smashers were suddenly bombarded by legions of Bob-ombs that dropped down from above. Both of them were struck by a Bob-omb and were blown sky-high. Wario passed the border first, though, so Peach won. When the princess saw how irritated the greedy plumber looked, she kindly gave him some cookies she had saved, which he readily accepted. Master Hand was slightly miffed at this, but he didn't say anything, and no one noticed anything. After all, how can you tell how a _hand_ is feeling?

The brawls took much more time than usual to get over with, all because of Crazy Hand's habit of playing with the Brawl System. Today, he did something to the System that caused the two lions' cages on the Flat Zone 2 stage to glitch and vanish, allowing the lions roam freely in the middle of Captain Falcon and Snake's brawl. The situation was taken care of when the two Smashers went to the lions and knocked them unconscious, taking about twenty minutes because the lions refused to sit still. After teleporting to and from several worlds, Master Hand found his brother hiding in the laundry room, gave him a sound beating, repaired the Brawl System with a snap of his fingers, and returned to the Brawl Room; all that took almost two hours because Crazy Hand was playing an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse with Master Hand. Captain Falcon and Snake were given four extra minutes for their brawl.

By the time the four brawls and everything were over, it was already 4:15 PM. Everyone spent the rest of the day wasting time, lazing around, and doing all sorts of stuff.

The kids, who were very excited for Halloween, locked themselves in Ness and Lucas' room and schemed about the best ways to get the most candy. Link and Zelda later went in to monitor them and ensure that Toon Link wasn't planning to do something that involved bombs.

Master Hand banned Wario from using his motorbike in Smashville for one month. The greedy plumber quickly found a loophole, though—he simply went to Silver City, the town closest to Smashville, and wreaked havoc there.

Kirby and King Dedede were having a Gourmet Race around the town, which Meta Knight was keeping track of.

Fox and Wolf walked around Dusk Forest to train for a bit and just have some fresh air. Peach's perfume was really getting on their nerves.

On the opposite side of the forest, someone spoke to himself.

_"Become…"_

The pale yellow eyes flashed.

"Curse complete."

-ooo-

9:30 PM. The Pokémon Smashers were getting ready for bed.

"Arceus, I can't wait for tomorrow!" Jigglypuff gushed ecstatically as she hopped onto her bed. "Seeing everyone in costumes… Wow, it'll be so fun!"

"Not _everyone_ will be in costumes," Lucario told her, "like Wolf and Snake."

"…Oh." The Balloon Pokémon's ears went down. "Too bad."

Pikachu tossed Jigglypuff's green polka-dotted nightcap at her. "They're party poopers, that's why."

Lucario sat on a cardboard box in a corner of the room. He folded his arms and sighed. "Just three more hours and it'll be October 31."

"I _must_ not let the kid Smashers beat me in candy collecting this time!" Jigglypuff proclaimed determinedly. "_I'll_ be the victor this time! _I'll_ make _them_ eat my dust!"

"If you wanna win that badly, stay away from Kirby…" Pikachu said sleepily before flopping face down onto a purple beanbag.

"…and King Dedede and Yoshi and Mew," Ivysaur finished for him.

Charizard looked at the Grass-type. "Why Mew?"

"She gets even more sugar-high than Kirby, King Dedede, and Yoshi combined," Ivysaur explained. "So if you don't want to face a pissed-off Darkrai, Mewtwo, Yveltal, Groudon, Terrakion, all the Poké Ball Pokémon, and all the Pokémon Smashers tomorrow, stay away from her when you have a bucket of candy. Oh, and stay the heck away from Groudon, too."

"…Uh-huh."

Squirtle was surprised. "Wait, Groudon…?"

Lucario looked up. "You know, it's been a really long time since we mentioned Mew… When was the last time?"

"Uh… Last year?" Squirtle guessed.

"The last time she had dialogue was way back in Chapter 22," Charizard said.

_CRASH!_

Pikachu snapped awake and gave Charizard a smart slap. "You broke the fourth wall!"

"I'm sorry!" the Fire-type bawled, trying to hide behind his wings.

The bathroom door was kicked open, and Red stormed out. He was somehow able to look menacing with damp hair and pajamas. "Pikachu, did you zap him? If you did, I'll—"

"—yell at me? Throw a Poké Ball at my head?" Pikachu stuck out his tongue. _"Nyanyanyaaaaaaaa!"_

The Pokémon Trainer just huffed and went to his bed. "…Turn off the light…and shut up."

-ooo-

The next day…

"Wake up!"

"Please, Lady Palutena, just five more minutes…" Pit muttered, burying his face into his cloud pillow.

"If you don't wake up in the next five seconds, she'll personally come down from Skyworld and whip your wings off!"

"Nonononono!" screamed Pit, tumbling out of his cloud bed. He bumped his knee on the way down and faceplanted on the ground. "_Ouch!_ Okay! What the _heck_," he demanded, rubbing his knee, "was that for?!"

Someone waved his hand in Pit's face. "Good morning, Pit!"

Pit groaned as he stood up. "Great, now I have a bruised knee…" He stopped. "Hold on. You don't sound like Ike or Marth…"

"Then why don't you open up your eyes?"

Pit blinked twice before looking up to see a young man standing over him. He was dressed similarly to Ike and Marth, indicating that he was probably from their world. A blue headband with gold trimming held back a shock of red hair. His blue-gloved hands were resting on the large gold hilt of a sword, which had a guard that looked like two wings.

Pit sprung up from the floor and grabbed his bow. "Whoa, there! No one told me that I'd be starting my Halloween by dealing with an intruder!"

The red-haired swordsman smiled and let go of his sword. "Don't worry, Pit. I'm just here to say hello."

"…What?"

The door to the bathroom flew open. Marth burst out, his cape flapping wildly. Falchion was in his hand. "So what's all the—" He gasped. "Roy! You actually came!"

"Ah! Marth! Long time no see! Thanks for inviting me!" The two swordsmen ran to each other and embraced.

Pit was surprised by the friendliness. "You guys know each other?"

Ike came out of the bathroom. "Those two have known each other for five years now," he said. "I was introduced to Roy three years ago. And yes, we're all from the same world," he added, seeing Pit's expression.

"I sent an invitation to him a couple days ago," Marth explained. "I wrote about the fun and sheer ridiculousness he'd encounter here at the mansion on October 31. So here he is."

The angel nodded, then stared at Ike. "What are you dressed as?"

"Oh, me?" Ike gestured to his black clothing and gray-colored sword. "Let's just say I'm…Dark Ike."

Pit continued to stare. "…Dark Ike?"

"Yup." Ike suddenly grinned like he was insane. _"I kill for my friends. Then I kill my friends."_

Marth suddenly noticed that Pit was now standing on the other side of the room, opposite to Ike. "…Ike, I think you're scaring him."

"Oh. Whoops." Ike went to Marth and Roy. Pit watched him warily, then grabbed his bow, a pair of black sandals, and a black tunic, then scuttled into the bathroom.

_SLAM._

Marth looked at Ike with an expression that said, "Well, what did I tell you?"

Roy was still smiling. "Halloween, huh?"

"Yeah." Ike stabbed Ragnell into the ground. Marth raised his eyebrow and made a mental note to tell a Waddle Dee to repair the hole later. "A nut fest is guaranteed to occur today."

"Marth, you aren't wearing a costume," Roy noted.

"All I need are my fangs," Marth told him.

"…Fangs?!"

"He's being a vampire," Ike said. Roy let out a sigh of relief.

_SLAM._

Pit reappeared. His wings and hair were black, and he was wearing black sandals and a black tunic with a purple pendant. His bow had silver edges instead of gold. "I am Dark Pit!" he announced. "I am Pit's dark self! I serve no one but myself! Unlike Pit, I can use the dark powers of Pandora to fly on my own! Witness my powers of self-done flight!" He jumped into the air, flapped his wings twice, then crash-landed. "Now that makes two faceplants in the same day. Ow."

Ike tried not to laugh. "Pfffft."

Marth grinned and said, "Your eyes are still blue."

"If I wore red contacts, then some guys would think I really _was_ Dark Pit and beat me up," Pit explained, and the Altean prince nodded in understanding.

A loud explosion sounded from one of the lower floors, followed by lots of angry yelling.

Ike grinned. "It's begun. Let's go down and introduce Roy to everyone."

-ooo-

"Hi, Pichu! You're here!"

The spiky-eared Pichu blushed and scratched the back of her left ear, which had three tufts of fur at the tip. "Yeah, I actually tried to get here on time. Am I late?"

Pikachu patted her on the head. "Actually, you're really early. But that's good! You can spend more time here. Do you have a costume?"

Pichu squealed with surprise. "Ahhhh! I left it at home!"

Red, Ivysaur, Charizard, Squirtle, Lucario, and Jigglypuff were standing off to the side, staring at the two Electric-types.

"…Um," said Ivysaur awkwardly.

Pikachu remembered about the other Pokémon Smashers. "Oh, sorry. Hey, do any of you have a spare costume?"

Red was wearing a hat that belonged to Ethan, one of his Pokémon Trainer friends from Johto. "I'd lend you my hat, but it's sitting at the bottom of the swimming pool right now, so…yeah." He pointed at Lucario. "Ask him."

Lucario was wearing a certain Aura Guardian's hat and cape. "Sorry, I don't have anything."

"Awww!" Pichu slapped herself. "My Minun costume's just hanging there on the wall! I'm so dumb!"

"It's okay," Jigglypuff said quickly. She was wearing a straw hat with little flowers, which she also sometimes wore during brawls. "You can borrow my nightcap."

Pichu laughed. "Thanks. What are you supposed to be?"

Jigglypuff held up a hand hoe. "I am Jigglypuff the Great Gardener, also known as Jigglypuff the Great Weed Exterminator! I shall remove all your weeds at a low cost of 500 Poké per weed!" With the hand hoe, she started walloping invisible weeds. Everyone fell over with laughter at the act.

Four swordsmen came down the stairs. The Pokémon Smashers easily recognized Marth, Ike, and Pit; however, none of them could identify the fourth man, who had red hair.

"Everyone, meet Roy," said Marth, clapping the swordsman's back. "He's a good friend of mine and Ike's."

"Cool, you brought a guest!" said Squirtle. "Nice to meet you, Roy!"

An Assist Trophy named Knuckle Joe came in. "Hi. Where's Kirby?"

"I last saw him in the kitchen," Marth answered.

Ike rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. "He's always in the kitchen, Marth."

Joe nodded. "Okay, thanks! _Kirbyyyyy!_"

Just then, Mario and Luigi came into sight, huffing and puffing.

"Good…morning-a!" Luigi gasped, grinning sheepishly. "Ah… Are we late-a…?"

Pit pointed at Mario. "I thought you were being Luigi."

"And I thought _you_ were being Mario!" Charizard said to Luigi.

The green-clad plumber, who was dressed as his evil alter-ego Mr. L, just shrugged. "My bro insisted on-a making me dress up as someone scary-a…"

Mario looked at himself. "As for me, Wario kind of-a destroyed the Luigi clothes-a last night-a. Luckily, I had a spare costume-a." He showed off his lab coat, his head mirror, and the stethoscope around his neck. "It's-a me! Dr. Mario!"

A deep, telepathic voice resonated through the air. _"Having fun, everyone?"_

Mewtwo appeared out of thin air, arms folded. _"Everyone's dressed up… Good! And Jigglypuff, I thought you were going to get your nightcap for Pichu to use."_

"Oh, yeah!" The Balloon Pokémon zipped off.

Pichu was spellbound by the sight of Mewtwo. "Whoa! A Legendary Pokémon! Can I have your autograph?"

"Oi!" Pikachu hissed, but Mewtwo just laughed.

_"I'll do that later. First, you have to go to the cafeteria for breakfast. No one wants to miss out Peach's pancakes."_

Wario came roaring by on his motorbike. He was wearing his traditional purple overalls, yellow shirt, and yellow and hat with the "W" instead of his motorbike clothes. "Hey, all y'all Smashers!" he squawked. "If ya don' hurry, I'm gonna take all the pancakes for myself and it ain't gonna be my fault!"

"OH, NO, YOU DON'T!"

"CLEAN UP YOUR BIKE! IT'S HURTING THE ENVIRONMENT!"

"YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE RIDING THAT BIKE IN THE FIRST PLACE! RIDE IT OUTSIDE, NOT IN THE MANSION!"

"DIDN'T MASTER HAND BAN YOU?!"

"GET BACK HERE!"

The Smashers rushed after the greedy plumber.

Mario, Roy, Pichu, and Mewtwo looked at each other.

"…Any of you having that weird sensation of déjà vu?" asked Roy after an awkward pause.

_"Yes, it does feel rather nostalgic all of a sudden,"_ Mewtwo mused.

"I know, right?" said Pichu. "It's like we've all met before."

Mario fixed his lab coat. "It-a must be our imaginations-a. Let's-a go."

The Smasher and the guests went to the cafeteria. Mewtwo went off to do who knows what. Most likely he was going to annoy Darkrai about how he made an appearance in this chapter while the Dark-type did not.

"You idiot!" Darkrai raged. "I appeared at the beginning! Storm, you _retard_!"

_CRASH!_

"And no, I seriously did NOT intend to break the fourth wall!" yelped Storm Aurastar as he quickly started patching up the wall, hoping that Master Hand did not notice anything strange yet.

-ooo-

Master Hand sneezed.

_"Is it just me, or did the fourth wall break just now?"_

_"It's just you,"_ Crazy Hand reassured him.

-ooo-

Link stretched his arms, let out a loud yawn, and went to the Smash Mansion's entrance doors. They opened with his gentle push. He stepped outside and took in the light of the morning, smelling the cool and crispy October morning air. "_Ahhhh! _It's another nice day here in Smashville!" He smiled to himself. "This is why October is my favorite month. The air in October reminds me of Kokiri Forest, for some reason…"

"Hey, _Liiiiiink_…"

The Hylian turned around—and let out a piercing shriek of terror. "MOTHER OF DIN!"

He was face to face with a ReDead—and a rather small one at that…

"…Toon Link?"

The cartoon Hero of Time pulled off his Spooky Mask and grinned at his older counterpart. "Hiya, Link!"

Link was breathing heavily. He put his hands on Toon Link's shoulders and shook him. "Toon Link! Don't scare me like that! Great Hylia… If I had my Master Sword with me, I probably would've skewered you already!"

"Y'know, the Hero of Time should _never_ go without his Master Sword," Toon Link said, patting his sword's scabbard to prove his point. "That goes for Dark Link, too," he added, nodding at Link's costume.

Link was already prepared for this. "I left it in my room for the sole purpose of not accidentally killing someone—_you_, for example."

Toon Link snorted as he strapped the Spooky Mask back on. "Yeah, right. I'm gonna go scare Bowser now. Then I'll go to Dedede…"

"Don't complain to me if Bowser barbecues that mask and your face," Link warned him.

Toon Link waved off his concern. "I'll be fine! It's just Bowser!"

"…'_Just_ Bowser'?" Link repeated. "Really, Toon? Now you're being reckless."

Toon Link snorted again.

"Even if you manage to escape Bowser," Link continued, "you have King Dedede to deal with. If you aren't careful, sooner or later you'll become the Pancake of Time."

Toon Link turned around. Link fought the urge to look away when he caught sight of the kid's Spooky Mask. "I'll be okay," said the boy cheerfully, giving Link a thumbs-up. "Bowser's just a big, fat turtle who seriously needs to work out. King Dedede's just a big, fat penguin who seriously needs to stop abusing his Waddle Dees. See ya!" He ran off.

"…Whatever you say…Toon…" Link shrugged and prepared to go down to Smashville Plaza and pay a visit to The Roost.

A whisper in the wind…

_"Become…"_

The Hylian stopped. "Say what?"

_"…your other selves…"_

Link slowly backed away. "I knew I shouldn't have left my sword in my room… Hey!" he shouted. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

A shadow on the ground…

_"…Become!"_

Link's body tingled, as though a weak electric current was running through his body. He staggered backwards and lost his sense of balance, then collapsed onto the ground, clutching his forehead and groaning with pain. His vision went red…

…and then it was over.

_"Get up."_

He stood up.

_"That's right… You're not just Link _dressed up_ as Dark Link now."_

The Smasher's eyes snapped open. The sapphire-blue pupils were now blood-red.

"I am Dark Link."

A grayed-out Master Sword and Hylian Shield appeared in his hands.

"Time to put this sword to good use."

-ooo-

_"…Become!"_

Ike and Pit's legs gave way, and they fell onto the ground. _"AGHHH!"_

Roy was shocked. "Guys? Guys! Are you okay?!"

"…It hurts… Make it stop…"

"…Roy…! Get outta here!"

The red-haired swordsman took a step back. "Wh-what?!"

_"…You're under _my_ command now…Dark Ike and Dark Pit."_

The two Smashers suddenly snapped awake. Their eyes had turned as red as blood.

Roy instantly knew that things just got serious.

"…Should I start running now?"

The simultaneous roars of the two Smashers answered for him.

-ooo-

Luigi, Bowser, and Yoshi let out ghastly howls of pain.

"Luigi!" shouted Mario, frightened at the sight of his little brother's shrill yells. "What's-a going on-a?!"

At that moment, Bowser and Yoshi changed dramatically.

"UGH! _Gross!_" shrieked Peach, covering her eyes when the two Smashers' flesh began to fall off.

Mario, too, tried to turn away, but he found himself mesmerized by the horrifying sight.

Now Bowser and Yoshi were nothing more than skeletons—two skeletons that were very alive. As for Luigi…

"HAVE AT YOU, MARIO!"

Mario tapped Peach's arm. "Princess…I think-a we must get-a going now-a."

-ooo-

"I swear to God, Falco, I didn't touch your AK!"

"Then where the freakin' hell is it?!"

"I dunno, ask Wolf!"

"No need! I know he doesn't have it!"

"Wha—?! Why?!"

"'Cause he's just chillin' around and playin' _Assassin's Creed IV_, that's why!"

"That's not a good enough reason!"

"Well, TOO BAD, MY REASONS ARE _ALWAYS_ GOOD ENOUGH!"

"Good enough, my ass! Your reasons are _never_ good enough!"

"Ah, shut up, Fox!"

"_You_ shut up, Falco!"

Fox, who was wearing ragged clothing and had streaks of fake blood all over himself, started slapping around with Falco, who had a military uniform and a black balaclava with the bottom jaw of a human skull.

If _Life at the Mansion_ were an anime instead of this crappy fanfic (_CRASH!_), Wolf (who was the only one not wearing a costume) would have at least five angry signs on his head by now. He tried to block out the harshly noisy sounds of Fox and Falco's bickering by focusing on the television, the Xbox One, and his game of _Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag_.

"Guys! Shut up and let me play in peace! You nearly got me killed just now!"

"Our argument is much more important than your game," Falco snapped back, "so _shut up!_"

"Urghhh…" Wolf grumbled and shook his head in exasperation. _Why do I have to share a room with these idiots…?!_

_"…become your other selves…!"_

Fox and Falco stopped squabbling and looked at each other. Then they looked at Wolf.

"Did you say something?"

Wolf was confused. He paused the game and shrugged. "No…?"

"That's funny," Fox said with raised eyebrows. "I swear I heard someone say 'become your other selves' just now."

_"Damn right I did! _Become!_"_

"GAHHH!" Fox and Falco hollered simultaneously, grasping their heads and falling to the ground.

Wolf turned off the television and Xbox without bothering to save his progress on the game and ran over to his friends. "Guys! What's happening?!"

"D… Damn it," cursed Fox, gnashing his teeth. "Can't see…"

"Everything's…turning…red…" Falco panted.

Then they silently slumped onto the ground.

Wolf didn't move. _What the hell…?_

Suddenly, the two fallen Smashers leaped onto their feet. Falco had a strangely intense gleam in his blue eyes, while Fox looked a bit…creepily emotionless.

Just like a zombie.

What used to be the leader of Team Star Fox turned towards Wolf and reached out for him, his hands grasping at the empty air. _"Ahhhhhh… Braiiiiiins…"_

_BANG!_

A small hole appeared in the middle of Fox's chest. He staggered backwards, swaying a little, and fell.

A thin line of smoke trailed out of the barrel of the SPC 2022 in Falco's hand. He snorted and holstered the pistol. "Well, that takes care of it for now."

Wolf was aghast. _What the freakin'—?! What's going on?!_

Falco whirled around. The crazy look in his eyes and the skull-patterned balaclava made him look like a skeletal psychopath. "Who the hell are _you_," he demanded, "some kind of anthro wolf or something?"

Wolf gave no response. Falco frowned and glared at the lupine Smasher.

"Anthropomorphic wolves…" He chuckled darkly. "Not normal at all. I oughta take you down…and maybe show the pelt to the Lieutenant." He smirked at Wolf and held up an AK-47. "Sound good to you?"

On the other side of the room, Fox was already recovering. _"Aaarghhhh…"_

Wolf didn't move. Instead, he uttered a single sentence.

"I do believe…that I…am…_screwed_."

-ooo-

"S…A… That _bastard_…!"

A black-haired boy wearing a blue and white jacket, a white T-shirt with gray stripes, slate-gray pants, and cyan-striped shoes was storming through Dusk Forest.

"…causing trouble already…shouldn't have left him alone…! Aargh…"

He was in such a fit of rage that he nearly walked headlong into a tree.

"Whoa, there!" He wheeled around at the last possible second. "…That was close. Anyway…I hope my message got through. Sorry for the blockage, Dave, but it had to be done. Otherwise…all will remain as their other selves, bound to the chain…"

He lowered his voice.

"…of the star whose aura has no form…"

His hand tightened into a fist.

"…and reflects the aura of the storm."

* * *

><p><em><strong>DUN-DUN-DUUUUNNNNNNN!<strong>_

**Wolf:** What the hell just happened?!

**Snake:** Don't ask me! Ask Fox!

**Wolf:** _*panicking*_ HE TURNED INTO A FREAKING _ZOMBIE_, GOD DAMMIT!

_**Let's finish up quickly before Fox decides to have our brains for dinner.**_

**Roy:** Can I just be the first one to say…_eww_?!

_**Part II of the Halloween special will be coming along on…well…Halloween! See you then, and REMEMBER TO REVIEW!**_


	34. SPECIAL — Halloween ExFEARience‼ Part II

**_By the way…I'm not really sure why this chapter is so unusually short. Hmm. Maybe it's because I wrote this in a rush. Or it's because I didn't have enough motivation or something. Oh, well._**

**_Another thing! REMEMBER TO VOTE IN MY _****VERY_ INTERESTING POLL (emphasis on "very")! I want at least fifty participants!_**

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing here belongs to me (sadly).**

* * *

><p><strong>SPECIAL — Chapter 34: Halloween ExFEARience‼ Part II<strong>

* * *

><p>"Okay, I was definitely NOT planning to get attacked by a werewolf-turned-hedgehog-thingama—<em>DAMN IT<em>!"

Snake dived under the dining table just as Sonic the Werehog barreled right through the mercenary's previous position. Upon reemerging at the other end of the long table, Snake lifted his gun and fired away. Bullets pelted the werehog all over his body, but he did not seem to be affected by them. In fact, he only became all the more enraged, and he bared his teeth at Snake and snarled.

"Oh, so you want some more, huh?" Snake shoved his gun into his leg holster and brought out his Nikita missile launcher. "Glad to oblige. _Eat missiles, furface!_"

He pressed the trigger. A missile exploded from the barrel of the Nikita with a loud, elongated _foooshhhhh!_ and zoomed towards Sonic. Snake saw that the hedgehog—no, _were_hog—was turning around too slowly to successfully evade the missile. For a brief moment, he was hopeful…

Then Sonic reached out—_and stretched his arm_. He plucked the missile out of midair and squashed it in his large, clawed hand.

Snake's eyebrow twitched. "…How is that even physically possible?" **_(1)_**

Sonic roared with pain when the missile burned his hand. He jumped around, trying to cool himself down. Snake decided that now was an excellent time to escape, and he quickly dashed out of the messy dining room. He slammed the doors shut and bolted them, double-checking and triple-checking to make sure they were secure.

_They oughta be able to hold back that furface for a bit…_ The mercenary sneaked away as quickly and quietly as he could.

_Oh, here's the library. I'll camp out in here for a bit._ He entered the dark library, relieved to find himself alone.

But not for long…

_Pew-pew-pew!_

"Aagh!" Snake hollered, pressing his body against the wall of the hallway to dodge the three bright green bullets of energy. He immediately knew who it was. "Hey! O'Donnell! What gives?!"

Wolf stepped out from behind a bookshelf with a sheepish look on his face. "Eh, sorry about that, Dave. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Please call me Snake, and does it look like I have any idea what's going on?"

Wolf was quite used to the mercenary's brusque attitude, so he didn't bother to retort. Instead, he said, "All these monster-turned Smashers started randomly turning up about ten minutes ago. Just a couple minutes ago, I met the Ice Mummies—"

"—wait, _what_—"

"—and before that, I had to deal with a zombified Fox McCloud and a Falco Lombardi who thought he was Simon Riley—"

"—all right, this is getting seriously crazy—"

"—so, to make a long story short, everything here is getting seriously crazy—"

"—hey, I just said that—"

"—and we gotta find a stop to this mess before it's, uh, unable to be stopped," Wolf concluded somewhat lamely, shrugging.

Snake stared at the lupine Smasher. "…You know there's a word for 'unable to be stopped,' right? It's called _unstoppable_."

Wolf grunted and facepalmed. "Seriously, David, who cares about vocabulary at a time like this?!"

"And don't call me—"

"Also, who the hell cares about names at a time like—"

The horrifyingly familiar skeleton of a certain Koopa king came wandering into the library.

"Oh, _hell_, is that Bowser?" yelped Wolf with terror.

Hearing the exclamation, Dry Bowser turned his head towards the Star Wolf leader and Snake. His ghastly red and black eyes bored into Wolf and Snake, seemingly seeing right into their souls.

Then he roared.

_"GRAAHAAHAHAAAARRRRR!"_

Even Wolf O'Donnell and Solid Snake had to panic when they heard that hollow-sounding, bone-rattling howl that only skeletal Koopas could make.

"AHHHHHH!" The two Smashers made a mad dash for door. Snake swung around Dry Bowser while Wolf slammed right into him with Wolf Flash, attempting to buy Snake some time. The skeletal Koopa King was knocked off his feet and sent flying into a bookshelf, toppling it over and burying him with a large mountain of books about Shadow Moses Island, the Peace Walker Incident, and how to eat snakes properly. **_(2)_**

Snake looked at Wolf. "So, you wanna shoot or run?"

"I say we _HAUL ASS_!" Wolf suggested wisely.

The two Smashers sprinted out of the library, trying to locate some other Smashers who hadn't been affected by the strange occurrences yet.

-ooo-

_Oh, heck! I wish I'd stayed home!_

The Wii Fit Trainer found herself cornered by three Smashers who had become their dark selves—Dark Link, Dark Zelda, and Dark Marth.

_No… More like a _vampire_-turned Marth,_ Trainer thought when she saw the Altean prince's glinting fangs. As she braced herself for battle, she instantly knew that it was hopeless—what good was a pair of fists and feet when the opposing force consisted of a sacred sword, powerful magic, another sacred sword, and who knows what else?

_Yep, I sure am screwed._ Trainer quickly ducked when Dark Link lunged forward, burying the blade of his black Master Sword deep into the wall behind the former. Trainer went down and circled her leg, tripping the darkened Hylian. Dark Marth came forward and swung Falchion in a wide arc. The blade went hissing so close to Trainer that she swore she saw the tip of her ponytail fluttering onto the ground.

_Now I _really_ wish I'd stayed home!_

Trainer jumped up and jabbed Dark Marth in the stomach with her pointed foot. The swordsman appeared to be unaffected, and he countered with a sideways slash. Trainer bent backwards and felt a cold breeze as Falchion pass right over the tip of her nose.

_Wow, things sure are getting intense here! Of course, I'm not having _any_ fun…_at_…_all_._

Marth sprang at Trainer again, this time with exposed fangs. The Wii Fit Trainer's eyes widened as she realized what the swordsman was going to do, and she sidestepped just in time. Marth rushed forward and missed his target—Trainer's neck.

_Whew! That was close!_

She smacked Dark Link and Dark Marth in their faces with her hands, managing to push her way past them and escape from the corner. Dark Zelda suddenly thrust out her hand and threw a ball of magical crimson-colored fire at Trainer.

_Wahhhh! That's Din's Fire!_ Trainer jumped as high as she could, and the flaming ball flew under her. The moment she touched back onto the ground, she was off and running.

"Now, if only I could find some other Smashers…!"

-ooo-

"Hmmm… Things are going just as planned, eh…? Heeheehee!"

The boy's pale blue eyes were shining with glee as he surveyed his work from his hiding spot.

"Everyone has become their other selves… Good, good. Everything is going just fine…"

He looked at the pen in his hand and grinned.

"No one can ever hope to stop me when I'm armed with _this_!"

-ooo-

Earlier, Samus had gone to her room to change from her Zero Suit to a much more comfortable sky blue T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

And the first thing she saw when she came back out was a blood-covered Mr. Game & Watch with a white hockey mask and a whirring chainsaw, the teeth on the rapidly rotating chain jangling and rumbling with a sound that reminded the galactic bounty hunter of a crowd of Brugs scuttling towards her en masse. **_(3)_**

That was the first—and hopefully only—time she'd run away from someone so quickly and willingly.

Now she found herself on the third floor, hugging the wall, trying to keep herself out of sight and avoid running into any other "strange" Smashers like Mr. Game & Watch. Then she saw a familiar blue-furred Pokémon wearing a cap and a blue, wide-brimmed hat.

"Hey, it's Lucario…"

Zero Suit Samus dashed towards him. He had his back turned towards her appeared to be looking blankly at the ceiling.

"Hey! Lucario!"

The Pokémon slowly turned around to see the galactic bounty hunter, who stopped running when she reached his side.

"I've been looking all over for another _normal_ Smasher…" Samus paused to catch her breath. "Thank goodness I found you! Gee, you will _not_ believe how freaked I was when I went to look for Toon Link and found a green tunic-wearing _ReDead_ standing in his room… No, seriously, it was a ReDead, I'm telling you—"

"Who are you?"

Lucario's crimson eyes looked so menacing that Samus immediately took a wary step back. "Who are you?" he repeated. "I have seen many other humans before, but not you. You… Your aura…" His eyes seemed to be glowing with an intense red light. "Both are completely unfamiliar to me. Tell me, _who are you_?"

"…You're kidding me, right?" said Samus, laughing weakly. "I'm Samus. Samus Aran. Galactic bounty hunter from the Earth colony K-2L. How could you not recognize me?"

A boy with an axe came in. _"Samuuuuuuus!"_

Arden the Villager ran to Samus. "Come with me!"

"Wait, whaaaaaa—?!" Samus was unable to finish her sentence; at that moment, Arden had grabbed her hand and was now dragging her away from a bewildered Lucario. Arden ran all around the third floor of the Smash Mansion before stopping at his room. He threw open the door, flung Samus inside, and slammed the door shut. Then he locked it and put a fishing pole across it. "There, that should keep out any unwanted Smashers…er, monsters and things."

Samus was dazed. "A-Arden…? What's going on?"

Arden leaned against the door and crossed his arms. "I don't know, but I have a hunch."

"What is it?"

The Villager closed his black eyes and inhaled deeply. Then his eyes snapped open again, this time with a fierce little light in each of them. He raised his hand and pointed towards the ceiling. "All the Smashers," he proclaimed in a clear voice, "are _turning into their costumes_!"

Samus looked at him blankly. "…Please explain."

"Okay," Arden agreed. "So…you saw all those Smashers who were turned into monsters, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And the Smashers who didn't want to kill you didn't know who you were, right?"

Samus nodded numbly, remembering her encounter with Lucario.

"Did you notice that they all turned into whatever they were dressed as? For example, Pikachu dressed as a Raichu and turned into a Raichu…"

"So _that's_ why I saw a Raichu sitting on his bed…"

"…and Mr. Game & Watch dressed as a chainsaw dude with a hockey mask and is now trying to kill everyone…"

"Don't remind me…"

"…and Crazy Hand dressed as a girl and—"

Samus immediately clamped her hand over Arden's mouth. Her green-blue eyes were flashing dangerously. "Do. _Not._ Continue." **_(4)_**

Arden looked like he was trying not to laugh. "…Mm-hm-hm-hm…!"

When Samus finally released him, he quickly positioned himself five feet farther from her. He then finished, "And, to make a long story short, the Smashers are turning into their costumes."

"But it only applies to the Smashers who dressed up," Samus pointed out. "Not everyone has become nutty."

"Yeah, and that's a relief!"

Samus sat on Arden's bed and flopped down. "Should we look for some other normal Smashers?"

The doorknob rattled.

"Don't worry," Arden said casually, "my fishing pole has never failed me for the past twelve years, six months, and seventeen days!" **_(5)_**

Samus' heart raced faster when the person—or thing—outside began to pound at the door. "B-but it's just a fishing pole. Are you sure we'll be all right?"

Arden let out a loud snort. "'_Just_ a fishing pole'? It's not just _any_ fishing pole! It's an _Animal Crossing fishing pole_! It's totally _indestructible_!"

_CRACK!_

Samus looked at the two halves of the broken fishing pole, then at Arden with a bored expression. "Now what was that you said about the Animal Crossing fishing pole being totally indestructible?"

"…Uh… I don't remember saying anything like that!" Arden said as innocently as he could. _Oh, snap, it broke!_ he thought worriedly. _Pun definitely _not _intended!_

"You idiot…" Samus sighed, shaking her head.

The door was shoved so forcefully aside that it completely left its hinges. A gray-colored figure staggered inside.

_"Ughhhh…"_

"EEYAH!" screamed Arden. "IT'S A WEREWOLF!" He brought out his axe from thin air and swung it wildly. "TAKE THIS, YOU MANGY FLEA-INFESTED CREATURE!"

"H-h-hold up, kid! I'm—"

The Villager's axe fell on a bookcase with a loud _crash_ and split it into two clean pieces. Then he chopped up a lamp without a second thought. He was too crazed by all the crazy events that had happened in the mansion to realize that he was trying to kill a fellow Smasher.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIN', KID?! KEEP CALM AND _STOP TRYING TO MURDER WOLF_!" **_(6)_**

All at once, Arden ceased his crazy axe-swinging act by letting go of the handle. The weapon spun in the air, its metallic blade gleaming dangerously, and finally stopped when it hit a bedpost and stayed there, quivering from the impact.

Samus had taken cover under Arden's bed amidst the chaos, and now she was cautiously crawling back out, totally disregarding the massive amounts of dust that covered her from head to toe. "Seriously, Arden, you need to keep your head on…"

"…and keep that blithering axe to yourself!" finished the "werewolf," grumbling as he stepped out from behind the remnants of the chopped-up bookcase.

Arden let out a loud sigh of relief. "Oh… It's just Wolf. Sorry about that."

"You're gonna need a hell of a lot better excuse than _that_, kid!" the Star Wolf leader shouted angrily. "You just about took my head off!"

Arden grinned wryly. "Then…that's kinda good, right? One less villainous Smasher to worry about!"

"You little _whelp_!" Wolf lunged forward to strangle the Villager, only to have his arms held back by another Smasher.

"Choke that kid and I'll break your arms, then CQC you all the way to Russia. By the way, it's autumn over there." **_(7)_**

Wolf growled menacingly. "Damn it, Snake…"

The ex-FOXHOUND operative released the lupine Smasher, who rubbed his arms to ease the pain, muttering under his breath all the while. Snake quickly entered Arden's room, picked up the fallen door, and fitted it into the doorway the best he could. "You didn't have to knock the whole door off just to get in, Wolf."

"Look, we were being chased by Dry Bowser and Dry Yoshi, so why not?" Wolf responded impatiently.

"Yeah, but now this room isn't as secure."

"Pshhh, whatever. The door ain't gonna be knocked down again."

At that precise moment, the door was knocked down again.

"…Now what was that you said about 'the door ain't gonna be knocked down again'?"

"Shut up, David."

"Don't call me—" Snake stopped. "You know what? I'm not even going to bother."

Wolf smirked and saw his chance to annoy the Smasher. "Hey, _David_, it's cool to be a mercenary, right, _David_? Let's go some cool mercenary stuff, _David_. Let's do some right now,_David_."

Snake gnashed his teeth in annoyance. "You know what? Forget what I said earlier."

"You said that twice."

"Said what twice?"

"'You know what?'"

"Yeah, what?"

"No, I mean, you said _that_ twice—"

"Said _what_ twice?!"

Wolf snarled with irritation and exasperation. "You know what? Let's—"

"Now that's the third time someone said 'you know what.'"

"That's exactly my _point_, you old geezer—"

"Watch what you're saying, you mangy mutt! I'm not _that_ old yet!"

"Watch what _you're_ saying, you—" **_(8)_**

The Wii Fit Trainer burst into the room. The Smashers could easily tell from the perspiration that dripped down her face that she had been running away from something—and for a pretty long time already. She was somehow able to grab all four Smashers by their shirt collars and haul them through the open window.

"Wait! Where are we going?" cried Arden, suddenly feeling very insecure without his trusty axe, which was still attached to the bedpost.

"Shut up" was Trainer's curt reply. She made a gentle landing on the branch of a cherry tree that Arden had planted near the window of his bedroom. **_(9)_** Then she launched herself, Wolf, Snake, Samus, and Arden from the branch, landed on the soft grass below, and dashed behind a bush. She set her "passengers" down—and not too gently at that—and faced them with her hands on her hips.

"Okay," she said in a low voice. "We need a plan."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed that," Wolf said sarcastically.

Trainer glared at him with intense brown eyes. He gulped nervously.

"…Sorry."

The Wii Fit Trainer turned back to her audience. "As I was saying," she began again, "we need a plan. The mansion's overrun by these crazy mutated Smashers, and we can't get any help from the Hands. Master Hand left for a meeting or something about two hours ago, and Crazy Hand is…uh…currently out of commission." For a moment, she was blushing. Wolf heard her muttering something about a "gender-bent, girly hand that was wreaking havoc in the basement." She shook her head and went on, "…So, um…I think we need to handle this situation by ourselves."

"Sure, but how?" Snake asked impatiently.

Trainer shrugged her shoulders. "…Somehow…?"

The mercenary groaned and smacked himself in the head. "Yes. _Very_ helpful."

Everyone was silent for a while.

_Damn,_ Wolf thought grimly. _This is looking really bad. But what can we do about it? None of us have any leads. If we don't do something, the other Smashers might be stuck as their other crazy selves forever or something… Stuck as their…_

Something struck a chord within the lupine Smasher.

_…other_…_selves…_

_"_That's it!" he cried triumphantly.

The other Smashers jumped at the unexpected outburst. "What is it, Wolf?" Samus asked urgently. "Did you think of something?"

Wolf knew he shouldn't be laughing at a situation like the one he and the others were in, but he began to chuckle anyway. "Haha… Ha… Ha! _Man_, I'm stupid!"

Arden's right eyebrow was raised. "…Why am I not surprised?"

Snake's fist suddenly collided into the Villager's chest, sending him flying into the thick foliage of a nearby apple tree. Two apples were knocked out of the branches and into Samus' waiting hands.

"…Thanks, Snake." She paused. "I think."

"You're welcome." Snake turned back to Wolf as though he hadn't just punched Arden into a tree. "You were saying?"

Wolf slapped his knee several times, still grinning and chuckling a bit weirdly. "Ha… Anyway… Haha… If we don't do something…heh…the other Smashers will be stuck _as their other selves_, right?"

The Smashers were confused. "Yes…?"

Wolf poked Snake playfully. "You couldn't have forgotten already, David! Remember that thing Lucario said yesterday? 'As their other selves'? Doesn't that sound familiar?"

For a moment, the mercenary was bewildered by what the Star Wolf leader had just said. Then, bit by bit, everything started to make sense. "…As their other selves… As their other selves? Lucario? Oh, wait a sec…" He leaped up. "CRAP! _Now_ I remember! Lucario said some weird prophecy thing yesterday, right? How'd it go? Wolf, what did it start with?"

_"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage, / The star appears with the tempest's rage."_ Wolf looked at Snake expectantly. "Remember now?"

"Oh, right…" The mercenary nodded slowly and thoughtfully. _"Stories anew he can create / By composing with the pen of fate."_

_"Shall time expire, then all will remain / As their other selves, bound by the chain—"_

_"—Of the star whose aura has no form,"_ Samus cut in, _"And reflects the aura of the storm."_

She spoke quietly, but to Wolf and Snake her words roared in their ears. Wolf was stunned.

"But—but—" he stammered. "How did you—?"

Samus smiled. "I know eavesdropping is rude, but…"

Snake let out his irritation with a grumpy huff. "Greaaaat…"

The bounty hunter looked at him, smirking a little. "What? Is there a problem?"

"…Nghhh…"

Arden fell out of the apple tree and landed on Snake's shoulders. "So," he said in a way that made it hard to believe that he was punched into a tree just moments prior, "we have some clues now!" He threw his fist into the air and held on to Snake's bandanna so he wouldn't fall. "Let's go find out what the rhyme meant! I love rhymes!"

-ooo-

"Me and my big fat mouth!"

Wolf, Snake, Samus, Arden, and Trainer were in the Star Fox room, sitting on the ground in a circle. (Wolf had barricaded the door with a heavy wardrobe to prevent—or at least slow down—any unwanted break-ins.) Earlier, Samus had written the words of the prophecy onto a piece of paper. Now they were staring intently at the paper that lay in the middle of their circle.

Staring intently didn't seem to be helping much.

"So we're pretty much solid only on the first half of the first sentence," said Trainer, circling _"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage"_ with a pen. "Today is the week's fifth stage, a Thursday. _The star appears with the tempest's rage._ Supposedly, that'll happen sometime tonight." She underlined the words. "The rest is uncertain because each stanza seems to depend on the previous one."

"I think the following lines describe 'the star that appears with the tempest's rage,'" Snake pointed out. "_Stories anew he can create / By composing with the pen of fate._ I guess that means this guy—"

"—or girl," interrupted Samus.

"—is an author of some sort," Snake continued, ignoring the bounty hunter's piercing glare. "But there's that _pen of fate_ part. Fate…" He looked up from the paper. "Could this pen alter someone's future or something?"

"That's totally unrealistic!" Wolf immediately said.

Arden patted the Smasher's knee. "But _everything_ is unrealistic in the Smash World…"

"If what Snake said is true," Samus quietly mused, "then that means the star can alter fate. That doesn't sound too fun—for us, I mean."

"Going on." Trainer picked up the paper. "Shall time expire, then all will remain / As their other selves, bound by the chain / Of the star whose aura has no form / And reflects the aura of the storm. Basically, if time runs out, then _those_ guys"—she jabbed her thumb in the direction of the barricaded door—"are screwed for the rest of eternity."

"And they'll be under the control of ol' Star," added Wolf.

"To sum it all up, we gotta stop Star before everything goes down to hell," Snake said. He cracked his knuckles. "Piece of cake."

Something rammed into the door.

Arden gulped and crawled a little closer to Samus. "Wh… What was that?"

The bounty hunter looked down at him. "What happened to that confident attitude you had about twenty minutes ago?"

"I-I lost it with my axe," the Villager admitted, embarrassed.

Trainer sighed. "It's all about the axe, hm?"

_Bang! Bang!_ The sound got louder with each hit, making the wardrobe teeter precariously.

Wolf inched away from the door when he saw the wardrobe swaying. "Should I answer it?"

"NO!" shrieked Arden, waving his small hands frantically. "What if it's G&W?!"

"What about him?"

"He turned into a 2D guy with a 2D hockey mask and a 2D chainsaw and now he's—"

Snake quickly reached over and put his hand over the Villager's mouth. "All right, all right, 'nuff said."

_Bam! Bam! Bam!_

Trainer looked over her shoulder. "There's the window…"

Before any of them could jump through it, however, the door to the Star Fox room was sliced in two. Then the wardrobe was sliced in two. Then three. Then four.

Samus blinked. "…There's going to be a _lot_ of door repairing afterwards."

"That is, if we _survive_ until afterwards," Snake told her.

"You're such a pessimist."

The mercenary bowed. "Why, _thank_ you."

The four pieces of the door all came crashing down at once, throwing up a thick flurry of dust and wood splinters.

"Oh, no, not _again_!" **_(10)_**

Samus crawled under Fox and Falco's bunk bed. Arden and Wolf took refuge in the bathroom. Snake pulled a cardboard box out of thin air and threw it over himself. Trainer, seeing nowhere else to hide, joined Samus under the bed.

_Tak…tak…tak…_

From under the bed, Samus and Trainer saw two pairs of feet enter the bedroom. One was wearing black boots with some fancy designs; the other had black sneakers with red laces on one shoe and white on the other.

Trainer poked Samus and gestured to the boots. "Link?" she mouthed.

Samus nodded. "How 'bout other guy?"

Trainer just tilted her head. "Dunno."

The two Smashers nearly hit their heads on the bottom of the bed when Link suddenly plunged the blade of a grayed-out Master Sword deep into the floor. "I don't see them."

Samus gasped silently. Was that really Link? His voice was so different from the mellow but cheery tone she knew so well; this one was uncomfortably deep and grating and sent chills up her spine.

_He dressed up as Dark Link…_ She pushed her blond hair out of her blue-green eyes. _Well, no wonder._

"I could've sworn I heard some voices in here, though…" Dark Link said with some uncertainty.

Another voice spoke. "They were here only a couple minutes ago. I'm sure of that."

Samus and Trainer looked at each other with wide eyes. Now who was _this_ person? His voice was completely unfamiliar to either of them, and even darker and more menacing than Dark Link's. The stranger sounded young—probably still in his later teenager years—and yet it echoed with power and mystery and traces of…what was that? Jealousy? The Smashers were sure of it. It was bitter jealousy.

_I bet this guy is Star_, Samus thought angrily.

_But what's he jealous of?_ wondered Trainer.

Star took a couple steps forward. "By the end of today, I _will_ prove to that bastard that I am _far_ superior to him! I _will_ find the rest of the Smashers and force them to _become_! I don't care what it takes…" He whirled around to face Dark Link, who hadn't moved ever since he stuck his sword into the floor.

"All we need," Star said to him softly, "is a little more time. You have until 2100 hours to find those five Smashers. I say that's plenty of time."

When Dark Link spoke again, he sounded uncertain. "…'You'? I'm alone?"

"Oh, of course you aren't. You have plenty of others to help you."

"…That's not what I meant…"

Star waved him off. "Whatever. Get going."

"And what will _you_ be doing?"

Star was mockingly incredulous. "Me? What will I be doing? What do you think I'll be doing?"

"Let me guess." Dark Link's voice sounded flatly sarcastic. "You'll be sitting backstage, watching us herd those five Smashers."

Applause. "Dark Link gets ten points. Let's go."

Trainer poked Samus again. "If this guy weren't the bad guy, I'd definitely befriend him."

Samus just rolled her eyes.

The two people shuffled out of the room.

"Is this the twelfth door you chopped down today, Darkie?"

"_Tenth._ Don't call me that."

The moment they were out of earshot, the Smashers reemerged from their hiding spots. Samus and Trainer were covered with dust and fur, Wolf and Arden looked very freaked out when they tiptoed out of the bathroom, and Snake threw his box aside.

Trainer sneezed as she dusted herself off. "Well…that was some valuable info, I guess."

"Not just _some_ valuable info," Wolf corrected her. "It was _incredibly_ valuable! Now we know what time the worst stuff will happen!"

"Sure, but what's 2100 hours?" Arden asked.

"It's a military term," Snake explained. "Military hours use the numbers 00 to 23; minutes are the same as normal time. So 2100 hours means exactly 9 PM. Right now, it's…" He glanced at the wall. "…3:40 PM. We have about five hours until Mr. Whatshisname does his thing."

"'The star whose aura has no form,'" Samus reminded him.

"Please don't remind me."

Arden looked rather skittish. "…L-let's go. I don't think we'll live for long if we…stay here…"

"Yeah, especially when there are zombies and stuff on the loose," added Trainer, smiling weakly.

There was a screeching sound. A red-haired swordsman came into view, running so fast that he appeared to have lost his sense of direction. He crashed into a wall and quickly recovered, only to run right smack into Arden.

"Ouch!"

A small, mouse-like Pokémon skidded across the floor, totally freaked out. Pichu took a flying leap, landed on Roy's shoulder, and immediately took shelter within the folds of his cape.

At that moment, Fox McZombie, the Ice Mummies, Sonic the Werehog, Dry Bowser, Dry Yoshi, Mr. L, Toon ReDead, Blood Falcon, and Falco "Ghost" Lombardi turned the corner.**_(11)_**Falco was focused on shooting at anything that moved while all the monster-turned Smashers were focused on pursuing the red-haired swordsman.

"Well, if it isn't Roy Eliwood!" Samus exclaimed. **_(12)_** Then she looked down the hallway. "…Oh, and those guys, too."

Roy quickly whirled around and brought down his sword, letting out a stream of fast-moving fire at the monsters. As they desperately tried to put themselves out, the red-haired swordsman jumped forward and brought the flat of his blade onto Dry Yoshi's head, causing the skeletal dinosaur to crumple onto the floor. Then he slashed sideways at Dry Bowser, following with a vertical slice that he aimed at Fox and Mr. L; Fox got the brunt of the blow an was instantly knocked out, while Mr. L managed to dodge the attack. Luigi's evil doppelgänger then lifted his arms and, in a deep voice, shouted, "BROBOT!"

There was a loud rumble, followed by the crunching sound of stones and furniture being stepped on. A large, Luigi-shaped robot broke through the wall, and Mr. L jumped into the cockpit.

"HAVE AT YOU!"

Roy started. "…Now I have to deal with a giant robot? Good heavens…" He turned around and ran through what was left of the hallway, luring Mr. L away from the normal Smashers. "This way, metalhead!"

Samus called after the retreating swordsman, "Thanks, Roy! Stay safe, Pichu!"

"WHAT ABOUT ME?" Roy roared indignantly before going out of sight.

Snake quickly whipped out an object and threw it in front of himself. _"Shut your ears!"_

The flashbang grenade detonated with a such a bright flash and a loud _BANG_ that Wolf scurried behind Trainer with his tail tucked between his legs, whining all the while.

While the changed Smashers were momentarily stunned by the light and sound, the normal Smashers rushed back into the Star Fox room. Snake took out his Cypher and jumped out the window. Wolf clung on to his leg, Samus grabbed Wolf's boot, Arden got hold of Samus' foot, and Trainer managed to grab the hem of Arden's shorts.

"DO YOU MIND?!" the Villager shrieked as he felt his underwear getting exposed.

When Snake spoke again, he sounded oddly cheerful. "Hey, guys! Did you know that a Cypher can't support the weight of even _one_ person for too long, let alone five?" **_(13)_**

Trainer looked at him. "Which means…?"

Wolf gulped. "…It's a long way down."

Everyone looked down. Then they looked at each other.

And they fell.

_"WAHHHHHH!"_

-ooo-

Meanwhile, on the fourth floor of the Smash Mansion…

"DAMN ALL YOU FREAKIN' ZOMBIES AND THINGS!" Falco roared.

The mutated Smashers screeched back at him and attacked. Falco raised his FAMAS and fired away. For some reason, something deep within him told him not to mortally wound the monsters.

_I dunno what the hell it's about, but I just know I gotta keep 'em alive…_

Toon ReDead leaped at him, his hands reaching forward and groping blindly. Falco got a full view of the skeletal Smasher's creepy mask before shooting him in the shoulder. Toon ReDead reeled back, screaming horribly.

Falco inhaled through his skull-patterned balaclava, then slowly exhaled. He shouldered his gun and quickly jumped into a random room to reload the FAMAS.

There was a crunching sound, and a portion of the wall collapsed. Falco jumped and saw a massive robot stomping around outside. One glance was enough for him to recognize it.

_Well, I'll be! That's the Brobot from Paper Mario! I used to play it all the time._

_No. I didn't _used to_ play it. I still play it. I… I compete with…with…that fox… What was his name? His name reminded me of a summer sky…with clouds…_

_Clouds…_

_…Mc…Cloud…_

He remembered.

_Fox…McCloud!_

With a sudden jolt, all the memories flooded back into his mind. He remembered all the good times he had with his friends…especially the fox whose last name was McCloud.

"…Where the hell…?"

With one fluid movement, Falco Lombardi tore the skull-patterned balaclava off his face and threw it aside.

"I remember now. Something… Someone changed me into Ghost for a while." He sighed. "Damn! Star… That bastard needs to pay!"

At that moment, he heard a loud _THUD_ just below the window somewhere.

"Dammit, Snake!" someone howled angrily.

Falco's eyes widened.

"…Wolf?"

He looked towards the window.

"Let's check it out…"

-ooo-

"Dammit, Snake, you should've warned us earlier!"

"Hey, you've seen me fly with a Cypher hundreds of times, so you should've _known_ earlier."

"You know, he's got a point."

"…Touché."

The five Smashers lay in a heap at the roots of another cherry tree. Wolf was at the very bottom and didn't look too happy about it.

"This is rather awkward…"

Suddenly, Trainer leaped up and jabbed her finger towards the sky. "Okay, this is totally STUPID!"

Arden looked up. "…The sky is stupid?"

For the second time, Snake's fist caused the Villager to fly into a second apple tree, and two apples fell into Samus' waiting hands for a second time. In a way that sounded like he didn't just punch a kid into a tree for the second time, Snake asked, "What's wrong?"

Trainer glared at everyone. "Why sit around and wait until 2100 hours?! Where's that Pokémon?!"

"Don't you mean _who's_ that Pokémon?" **_(14)_**

"DIALGA! GET YOUR BIG BLUE ARSE HERE BEFORE I WHIP IT INTO SHAPE!"

Right after she said this, the said Temporal Pokémon appeared in a flash of blue light.

"All right, you sauropod!" Trainer sounded furious. "Fast-forward us to 2100 hours pronto! It's an emergency! It's a matter of life and death!"

"She's gone high," Wolf whispered to Samus, who nodded in agreement.

Dialga looked a little miffed at being bossed around by a yoga and aerobics trainer, but he complied anyway. As he began to gather temporal energy into the large diamond on his steel chest plate, Trainer nodded with approval and went back to her friends.

"Smart," Snake commented, "but why?"

Trainer shrugged. "Who wants to spend five hours doing nothing except trying not to get caught by Star and his henchmen?"

Then Dialga spoke in a deep, rumbling voice that resonated of wisdom and mystery. _"Or is it because the author of this fanfic wishes to get straight to the point of this chapter?"**(15)**_

Arden tumbled out of the apple tree and landed on Snake's shoulders for the second time. "Wait, _whaaaaaaaa_—"

A familiar figure rushed towards them. "Hold oooooon—!"

With a blinding flash, the five Smashers were transported five hours into the future.

-ooo-

"Damn! It's almost time already! I'm going to be late!"

The boy marched up a hill.

"…Damn Star…" he grunted. "Control…"

The Smash Mansion was so close, and yet so far…

"…Z…"

-ooo-

"It's already 2034 hours, and you're telling me that _no one_ has found them yet?!"

"We still have half an—"

"_Only_ half an hour! There's no way you can locate them in time for the _ExFEARience_! …Bah, whatever. Keep searching! Better late than never."

"…Are you just going to sit at the b—"

"_Yes_, that's already given. Now go."

"…All right, Star…"

As the two of them shuffled off, five heads popped out of a bush and looked at each other.

"ExFEARience?" Arden asked.

He was met with blank looks.

"Either that's some really important event or a mispronunciation of _experience_," Samus said.

Snake grunted. "I hope it's the latter."

"But it's most likely the former," said Samus.

The mercenary glowered at her. "_Now_ look who's being a pessimist."

A blue-feathered falcon jumped up between them. "You're both pessimists."

Snake and Samus yelped with shock. _"FALCO?!"_

The avian Smasher just smirked and casually saluted with two fingers. "'Sup, dudes…and dudettes," he added, seeing Samus and Trainer nearby.

Trainer was speechless. "But… But…" she stuttered, "b-but how?"

Falco looked at her with a raised brow. "You mean how'd I turn back into Falco Lombardi, ace pilot of Team Star Fox? I'm not too sure, actually." He scratched his head. "I just remembered some bits of my past and"—he smacked his hands together—"_bam!_ I came back. I gotta thank Luigi…Mr. L…later."

"Were you aware of your…er…other personality?" Wolf asked.

Falco nodded. "I also know about the 'star whose aura has no form' and all that gibberish…except it's not just gibberish."

"Good, no explanations needed," said Arden happily. "Oh—my axe is still up there…"

There was a roar of rage.

_"It's 2038 hours, you bastards!"_

_CRASH!_

"Gahhhhh!"

The Smashers looked at one another.

"Let's look for that Star guy."

-ooo-

"So you didn't find them, after all."

The mutated Smashers shuffled nervously under their commander's cold gaze. The more mindless ones simply looked at each other, drooling.

Star observed the line of monsters, staring at each other with emotionless pale blue eyes. He suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"The bird is missing…" He shook his head. "No matter. He'll end up under my control in the end, anyway."

Suddenly, Dark Pit convulsed, falling to the ground in pain. Star glanced at him with a bored expression.

_"Become."_

The dark angel immediately stopped writhing and stood up again. "…Sorry."

Star shrugged. "Whatever." He faced the row of mutants again. "Well, then! Despite being unable to find those five…I still think we were still pretty successful, eh?"

The Smashers roared. Star smiled.

"It's 2100 exactly. Let's make this an _ExFEARience_ that no one will forget!"

"Nah, I don't think so!"

Six Smashers jumped into the scene. Wolf O'Donnell, Solid Snake, Samus Aran, Arden the Villager, Falco Lombardi, and the Wii Fit Trainer all assumed battle stances and raised whatever weapon they had. Arden had a psychotic gleam in his eye as he patted his trusty axe every now and then.

Star widened his eyes with feigned surprise. "Oh, my! Who do we have here?!"

Samus glared at him intensely as she grumbled, "We're the guys you tried to look for—"

"—and failed!" Arden crowed triumphantly.

"—and now we're gonna kick your sorry ass," Wolf finished with a growl.

"Oh, my." Star sounded sarcastic. "I'm _so_ scared."

Trainer took a step forward, feeling the adrenaline pumping through her body. "Change our friends back to what they were and get the hell out of here."

"No can do, Ms. Trainer. I need them—"

"—for your stupid _ExFEARience_ thingamajig, you big ol' bastard," Falco interrupted.

Star smiled. "So _that's_ where you went off to, you chicken."

"Hey! I'm not a chicken, ya bastard! I'm Falco Lombardi, ace pilot of—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Star suddenly whipped out a fountain pen. "I bet you guys don't know what this is."

"It's the pen of fate, you bastard." Snake said, grinning.

For the first time, Star expressed genuine shock. "What? How'd you know?!"

Snake shrugged. "We just know. Too bad bastards like you couldn't ever figure out how." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue-furred Pokémon.

"Tch!" Star narrowed his pale blue eyes. "No matter. None of your weapons are effective against me! I can render all of you helpless with a single sentence written by this pen! You know why it's called the pen of fate?" He took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. Immediately after that, Arden froze, then began to swing his axe at Samus.

"What the heck, Arden?! Stop it!"

Star tossed the paper at Snake. "It's called that…because it can _alter your fate_!"

"Yeah, as if we hadn't figured that out already, you old bastard," Snake said sardonically as he leaned backwards to avoid Arden's axe.

Star took out another piece of paper and raised his pen. "One more sentence… One more line, and I'll be the dominating force here! Not even Master Hand will be powerful enough to stop me! NOW! _BE_—"

_"CONTROL Z!"_

Star's pen was knocked out of his hand.

_"CONTROL Z!"_

Arden stopped swinging his axe.

_"CONTROL Z! CONTROL Z! CONTROL Z!"_

One by one, the mutated Smashers collapsed onto the ground, holding their heads and mentally screaming in pain.

_"CONTROL V!"_

In an instant, the once-mutated Smashers were back to normal and very confused.

"…What the…?" Ike looked at Link. "What just happened?"

"I don't know." The Hylian poked Marth, who was staring into space. "Hey, Marth! Earth to Marth!"

The Altean prince snapped back into reality. "Huh?! How did we get out here?! Why is it nighttime already?!"

_"Ahem."_

All eyes were on Snake, who silently pointed at Star.

"He's the culprit."

"No! Don't attack him!"

Someone ran up to the Smashers. He was a stranger to all of them. He had messy black hair, brown eyes, a blue jacket with a white-colored back and random blue letters on it, slat-gray jeans, cyan and white sneakers, and a white T-shirt with gray stripes and two words on it in capital letters: _STORM AURASTAR_.

"Sheesh, I finally caught up!" he said. He went up to Star and cuffed him soundly on the head. "What's wrong with you?! You could've altered the entire fate of the universe! Don't go writing things all over the place!"

Star was enraged. "Why must _you_ be the master, Storm?! Why can't I?! I'm _much_ better than the likes of _you_, you bastard!"

Storm's brown eyes had an intense light in them. "…Says the guy who was called a bastard, like, five times by Solid Snake and Falco Lombardi."

"H-hey!"

Storm turned around to face Wolf, Falco, Snake, Samus, Trainer, and Arden. "Sorry about all the trouble he caused. Star Aurastorm could be a bit of a troublemaker on holidays such as Halloween."

Arden snorted. "Jeez…"

"Hold on," Samus said. "His name is Star Aurastorm?"

Storm nodded.

"And yours is Storm Aurastar?"

Storm nodded again.

"So who's Star…an evil clone of yours?"

"Sort of," said Storm. "He's very jealous of me and my position. You see, I'm the author of the fanfic you're in."

"…What fanfic?" Trainer asked cautiously.

Storm shook his head. "You'll find out soon enough. Anyway, Star really wants to be the author of this fanfic so he could control what happens. That basically means he's going to alter your fates and make you guys lose to the Subspace Army."

Everyone shuddered.

"But I know better," Storm continued with a smile. "I know just how important all this stuff is. I'm going to make sure you guys win. We can't allow Tabuu and his goons to take over this world or all the other ones. I know you guys can beat him. It'll take time, but you will. I'm sure of it." He glanced at Star. "Now…I gotta take care of _this_ bastard."

"Ugh!" Star shouted. "Why do you all insist on calling me a bastard?!"

"Because you are one," Storm said calmly.

"DAMN!" Star began to write something on a sheet of paper with his pen. "Haven't you heard of that quote, Storm? 'The pen is mightier than the sword.' And that's true! My pen is_way_mightier than a dumb sword! I can control everyone's fate with it! I can make myself the master of _Life at the Mansion_!"

"And you can shut up now, because you're forgetting something very important." Storm snatched away Star's paper, crumpled it up, and tossed it over his shoulder. Then he swiped his hand across the air, bringing out a holographic computer keyboard. At a furious speed, he started to type. "Pens may be mightier than swords, but computers beat pens any day! Wanna know why?"

"No," Star said, but Storm said it anyway.

"Your fastest handwriting speed is 150 words per minute. That's very fast. But…I can type at a rate of _212 words per minute_."

Star cursed. Storm chuckled.

"You can keep writing all you want. I just Control Z you all day so you never finish."

"Crap!"

"And now, it's time for you to get the hell out of MY fanfic." Storm finished whatever he was typing and hit Enter.

"Smell ya later, Star."

"NOOOOO—!"

In a flash, Star was gone. Nothing remained of him.

"Whew…" Storm looked at the Smashers again and shrugged. "Thank God he didn't start up the ExFEARience before I got here. Otherwise, things would've gotten a bit chaotic, and we all don't want that, huh?"

He looked at the Smashers who were once mutated.

"You guys remember everything, right?" He grinned. "Next time, try double checking Dusk Forest for unwanted visitors before putting on your costumes. It could save your life."

"Ah…ha…ha…" They all laughed nervously as they threw quick glances at each other.

Storm raised his hand to the holographic keyboard, then paused. "By the way, I owe you an apology, Snake. Remember when you tried to connect with Lucario's mind? Well…I kind of blocked you."

Snake's brow was raised. "…So was it _you_ who made Lucario say that prophecy?"

Storm nodded. "I had to warn you somehow, and I could only do so through cryptic messages such as that one. Anyway…" He made a swiping motion and made his keyboard disappear. "…it's time for me to go. I have to start passing out the Halloween candy." He waved. "See you later. _Function Escape!_" **_(16)_**

Storm Aurastar vanished.

Everyone was silent for a while.

"…Well, then," said Bowser slowly, "did this chapter involve a whole lot of fourth wall breakages or what?"

_Crash!_

"MAMA MIA!" Mario and Luigi were enraged. "YOU JUST BROKE-A THE FOURTH WALL-A!"

"I'M SORRYYYYYYYY!"

The two plumbers began to chase the poor Koopa king back into the mansion, shouting things about repairing the fourth wall and making Master Hand sneeze a lot. **_(17)_**

Lucario grinned at everybody. "Since it's already nighttime…what do you guys say about a Halloween all-nighter?"

"YEAH!"

* * *

><p><strong>PREVIEW — Chapter 36<strong>

"While I am the Being of Life, my counterpart Yveltal holds the position of Being of Destruction. Even so, he knows how to fulfill his given duty…_correctly_. When the destruction of an area is needed, he comes in and completes the job. Then I go to bring new life to that area. When that same area needs destruction several centuries later, he clears it, and I rebuild it with new life. It is a never-ending cycle of life and death—I bring life; he brings its conclusion. These have been our jobs ever since we were born.

"However…"

"Don't you just hate it when they say 'however'?" Jirachi whispered to Shaymin.

"Yeah," the Gratitude Pokémon whispered back. "Everything always goes downhill from there." Mew, Celebi, and Victini nodded in agreement.

"_…_it all went in a downwards spiral five days ago…"

* * *

><p><strong>NOTES<strong>

**_(1)_** In _Sonic Unleashed_, Sonic the Hedgehog becomes a werehog at night, which is basically a hedgehog werewolf. For reasons unknown, he can stretch his limbs in this form. Any theories?

**_(2)_** …_MGS3_ reference, anyone?

**_(3)_** Brugs are small, purple insects that appear in _Metroid: Other M_. Defeating one is easy enough, but when they come at you in a giant crowd…

**_(4)_** Everyone who dressed up got turned into their costumes. Crazy Hand dressed as a girl. The rest is self-explanatory.

**_(5)_** The first _Animal Crossing_ game was released on April 14, 2001. Today is October 31, 2013. Do the math.

**_(6)_** I don't know why, but I really like using parodies of the "Keep Calm" thing.

**_(7)_** Isn't Russia known for its notoriously cold winters? The winters that are so cold that Napoleon Bonaparte ended up with only a fraction of his army (World History stuff, woohoo)? So it would make sense if autumn was cold, too…

**_(8)_** Jeez, Snake, you're such a troll. And that "old geezer" thing was an _MGS4_ reference.

**_(9)_** In _Animal Crossing_, you can plant cherry trees! It seems like Arden the Villager is quite fond of them.

**_(10)_** If you didn't get this, then you'd better read Chapter 33 again.

**_(11)_** Were you able to guess the true identity of each thingamajig?

**_(12)_** No one knows what Roy's last name is (or if he even _has_ a last name), so I just made it "Eliwood," which was his father's name… The same goes for Ike, whose father was called Greil, so I made Ike's full name Ike Greil… Doesn't sound too bad, eh? …By the way, Roy is kind of OOC here. I hope you don't mind…

**_(13)_** I'm pretty sure a Cypher isn't even meant for carrying people. It's just a hovering surveillance camera that watches for suspicious activity and shoots at you.

**_(14)_** WHO'S THAT POKÉMON?! IT'S DIALGA! _RAWRRRRR!_

**_(15)_** …I have no comment.

**_(16)_** If you understood all the "Control Z" and stuff, congratulations! You just won a free cookie that I'm currently attempting to ship through my computer without having to pay…!

**_(17)_** Please refer to Chapter 33!

* * *

><p><strong><em>Aaaaaaaand that's it.<em>**

**Lucario:** What in the world, Storm?! You just gave yourself an appearance!

**_Yup! PLOT TWIST! Heheh._**

**Ganondorf:** _*nervously*_ …All right, then…

**_WHAT…will happen next year on Halloween?!_**

**Snake:** That bastard Star Aurastorm had better not come back!

**Star:** _*angrily*_ STOP CALLING ME A BASTARD!

**Falco:** _*sarcastically*_ Oh, sure thing…ya bastard.

**Star:** AARGH!

**_…I'm just going to sit here and watch…and laugh…_**

**Lucario and Snake:** _*bored*_ …You bastard.

**_EXCUSE ME?!_**

**Darkrai:** _*randomly jumping out of the fourth wall*_ You'reeeeeeeee _excused_!

**_Where the heck did _****you_ come from?!_**

**Darkrai:** _*points at the fourth wall*_ From that.

**_…But a fourth wall isn't even a physical—_**

**Darkrai:** _*impatiently*_ WHATEVER! To me, the fourth wall exists and is a physical wall that I can use to travel through the shadows! _*attempts to shadow-travel through the fourth wall and crashes into it instead*_ …Or not.

**_Will Star Aurastorm ever get a chance to get started on his ExFEARience thing?!_**

**Star:** YES!

**Master Hand:** NO!

**_Now where did _****YOU_ come from?!_**

**Master Hand:** _*points at the fourth wall*_ From that.

**_But a fourth wall isn't— You know what? Forget it._**

**Master Hand:**_ *satisfied*_ Good. Now allow me to drag _this_ bastard away. Crazy Hand is currently _not_ at the top of my To-Get-Rid-Of list. _*drags Star Aurastorm away*_

**Star:** WAAAH!

**_Credits to the Metroid wiki for information about Brugs! Credits to the Metal Gear Solid wiki for…well…various things. And credits to the Fire Emblem wiki for some information about Roy and Ike! Speaking of which, where did Roy and Pichu go?!_**

**Roy and Pichu:** _*screaming*_ ZOMBIE ASSAULT!

_*an army of random zombies chases after them*_

**_…Okay._**

**Roy and Pichu:** DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT US?!

**_…Nope. Not at all._**

**Roy and Pichu:** _*angrily*_ SCREW YOU!

**_Jeez, how many times have I been screwed already? One, two, three, four…uh…whatever. See you next time in Chapter 35 of _****Life at the Mansion_! Remember to REVIEW! …Even though I honestly think this chapter was a bit lame._**

**Samus:** _*nodding*_ Too true.

**_*angrily* SHUT UP, SAMUS! Snake, please slap her for me!_**

**Snake:** _*grinning*_ Sorry, but I don't slap ladies who are as hot as _this_ one…

**Samus:** _*slaps Snake _very_ hard*_ You dirty old _pervert_!

**Snake:** _*rubbing his cheek*_ …I was kidding. And that hurt.

**_You deserved it, Mr. David…uh…whatever your last name is._**

**Snake:** _*determinedly*_ I shall _never_ allow _anyone_ to find out what my last name is! And don't call me David!

**_Whatever. Happy Halloween, everyone!_**


	35. A Wild YVELTAL Appeared!

_**IGNORE THE LENGTH OF THIS CHAPTER. BLAME IT ON THE AUTHOR'S NOTES. AND READING THE LAST SENTENCE IS MANDATORY.**_

_**WOW! How long has it been since the last main plot-related chapter?!**_

**Pikachu:** Chapter 32 was posted in early September.

_**Almost three months**__**, huh? *shudders violently* I was having so much fun with those two specials**__**…!**_

**Pit:** Well, now you can have fun with the main plot.

_**Yeah. It's about time I got back to it, too.**_

_**LAST TIME (and not-so last time) IN **_**LIFE AT THE MANSION: THE REVENGE OF SUBSPACE**_**…**_

**- Zelda sent Link on a mission to buy some Lon Lon Milk! ******…And he still hasn't paid Ganondorf back******…****  
><strong>

**- Snake got pissed at Zoroark for turning into Lucario! Speaking of Lucario, he's still stuck as Ferron and working for the Subspace Army.  
><strong>

**- All the _Super Smash Bros. U_ newcomers arrived at the Smash Mansion!  
><strong>

**- The Spiky-Eared Pichu made an appearance! She might be an important character later on****…**

**- Primid 0001 and a bunch of other Smashers got to watch a slideshow with a bunch of pretty pictures of a bunch of Metal Gear! Speaking of which, the Subspace Army is currently working on whatever the heck Project MGZ is!  
><strong>

**- Hal "Otacon" Emmerich and Paula Twoson came to the Smash Mansion in Chapter****…_something_****…and will contribute to the plot later on.**

**- Link and Lloyd rescued Toon Link, Tetra, Vaati, and Dark Link from the virtual Subspace, where they caught a glimpse of Data-Sora about to deal with Sora-X! ******…And** Sora's part of the Army now.**

**- And, last but not least, James McCloud continued to "monitor" Fox-X and act very mysteriously******…or should I say…_suspiciously_?****

**Mr. Game & Watch:** That's a lot of "last time" stuff.

_**That's because a lot of stuff happened last time.**_

**Mr. Game & Watch:** _*nodding*_ Good point.

_**Here's Chapter 36! It's got a huge Pokémon theme to it, since **_**Pokémon X**_** and **_**Y**_** came out last month. Have fun reading!**_

**DISCLAIMER: Nothing here belongs to me.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 35: A Wild YVELTAL Appeared!<strong>

* * *

><p>The Hall of Origin was undoubtedly the most sacred of all locations throughout the Pokémon world. Accessible to only a handful of selected Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon, it was the main headquarters for the Legendary Pokémon that kept watch over the planet, and created and debated on new rules for the natural balance between all things. It was practically the Pokémon version of the capital building, a place where all the laws for life were decided and put into place.<p>

The golden corridors of the Hall of Origin grew bright with flashing beauty with each step Xerneas took. His four-legged body continued down the mile-long hallway, his head lowered both in shame and in the act of pondering. His sapphire-colored eyes, each one marked with a queer X-shaped iris, danced across the floor's golden tiles with emotionless interest, making eye contact with his blue- and black-dubbed figure that was being reflected off of it. Small sensations of heat bounced off his fur as he passed each blazing torch that hung off the walls, their flames brightening up the whole hallway despite that their small size.

It was not long before he reached a vast golden doorway at the end, which bore indents of famous historical events that told the story of the world's creation. Xerneas wasn't interested in the carved tablets, though, and instead pushed his magnificent multicolored antlers against the door's hard surface, cringing slightly at the screeching sound that followed. Eventually the door opened slowly like the hidden entryway of an ancient tomb, filling the hall with a blinding light that came from the room inside. This did not seem to affect Xerneas, though, as he stood still in his place, his face expressing a combination of nervousness and boredom, while his sapphire eyes peered monotonically into the new opening.

The vast room that played the role of the council quarters came into view, its golden appeal radiating with beauty. Apart from its palace-like impression, the room was shaped and designed like some sort of courtroom, its large pedestal that stood tall at the top of the elegant flooring fit for some sort of judge. On this very pedestal stood the Original One himself.

Arceus.

With jade-green eyes peering down at Xerneas' nervous, yet still, figure, Arceus watched in an unimpressed manner as the Life Pokémon slowly trailed down the stunning entrance and into the pit center of the room, which was surrounded by smaller gold pedestals. These very seats were where the other Legendary Pokémon sat, watching Xerneas with piercing eyes, obviously annoyed with his late entrance.

Despite that the glorious room was large in occupancy, the air was filled with an awkward silence, although soft whispers sailed through the encompassing Legends as their eyes focused on Arceus and Xerneas, who was now staring at an empty stall among the seats.

_That seat would be _his_ if he were here…_

_"Xerneas."_ Arceus' telepathic voice echoed powerfully across the room. _"You are late."_

The Life Pokémon, Xerneas, dipped his head towards the Alpha Pokémon, his massive antlers reflecting the golden light of the room. "My apologies, Arceus," he replied in a smooth, calm voice. "I had some…business to attend to."

Arceus nodded in understanding. _"Very well. Please take your place."_

Xerneas silently turned away from the Alpha Pokémon and went to his designated spot, located between Kyurem and Genesect and directly across the empty stall. The latter gave the Life Pokémon no regard, while the former politely nodded towards him.

At the podium, Arceus struck the hard floor with his foot. _"Greetings, one and all,"_ he said warmly. _"I am glad to see that all of you are present…with the exception, of course,"_ he added, glancing at the empty seat, _"the Legend whom we shall be discussing during this meeting."_

As he said this, Xerneas couldn't help but feel a sharp pang of guilt.

_I'm partially responsible for it…_

_"Today, we shall be talking about some rather worrying things,"_ said Arceus. _"Originally, there were fifty-one Legendary Pokémon. But now, our members are one less."_

Murmurs echoed through the room. A regal-sounding voice was heard over the buzz of talk.

"Yveltal is not present."

As the other Legends turned their heads, Xerneas closed his sapphire eyes and looked away, unable to look at his fellow any of them in the face.

_Yveltal…_

Arceus tapped the floor again. _"Silence!"_ he ordered, and a hush fell over the golden room. _"Yes, Palkia, that is very true…"_ His green eyes narrowed. _"…for he has gone _wild_."_

Silence.

_"…Pun not intended."_

Cresselia spoke up. "Hold on. You mean he—?"

_"Yes."_ Arceus nodded. "_He has joined the forces of every being's worst enemy—the ruler of the Subspace Realm, Tabuu."_

The bored atmosphere of the room almost immediately morphed into one of uneasiness and shock.

"Wait!" shouted Virizion, pounding her hooves on the floor to get everyone's attention. "Even the Legend of Destruction has enough sense not to team up with _that_ villain! How could he choose Subspace over…well…_us_?!"

Arceus tilted his head. _"That is a question to ask our friend Xerneas."_

Everyone turned towards Xerneas, who slowly shook his head, shamefaced.

_I knew I shouldn't have responded to that Pidgeot's message…_

Arceus spoke. _"Xerneas… Only you know what happened to your counterpart Yveltal. Would you mind telling us the story?"_

With a disgruntled sigh, Xerneas decided that he had no choice but to give in. "I would prefer it if I didn't have to say it…but if I must, then I shall."

All the Legends fell silent to listen to the Life Pokémon's tale.

"While I am the Being of Life, my counterpart Yveltal holds the position of Being of Destruction. Even so, he knows how to fulfill his given duty…_correctly_. When the destruction of an area is needed, he comes in and completes the job. Then I go to bring new life to that area. When that same area needs destruction several centuries later, he clears it, and I rebuild it with new life. It is a never-ending cycle of life and death—I bring life; he brings its conclusion. These have been our jobs ever since we were born.

"However…"

"Don't you just hate it when they say 'however'?" Jirachi whispered to Shaymin.

"Yeah," the Gratitude Pokémon whispered back. "Everything always goes downhill from there." Mew, Celebi, and Victini nodded in agreement.

"_…_it all went in a downwards spiral five days ago…"

_"…Hello, Xerneas."_

_The Life Pokémon turned around to see a twenty-foot-tall, red-feathered Pokémon standing behind him. "Hello, Yveltal. Is something the matter?"_

_The bird-like Legendary Pokémon called Yveltal waved one of his large claw-like wings. "Nothing much. I just wanted to ask you something…"_

_Xerneas focused on a forest fire below the cliff that he and the Dark- and Flying-type Legend were currently standing on. As each second passed, the flames spread faster._

I sense…death… Yveltal must have been doing his thing again._ "All right…I'm listening."_

_Yveltal went to the edge of the cliff and watched the fire with his Fairy-type counterpart. He had a grim look of satisfaction in his eerie cyan eyes. "Xerneas…have you ever heard of the Subspace Army?"_

_Xerneas turned towards the Destruction Pokémon. "How could I have not? Its members were _this_ close to destroying the entire Smash World in 2008. The leader was perhaps the foulest being to have ever existed throughout all the universes." He looked up at the clear blue sky. Not a single cloud—neither white nor red—was in sight. "But now he's dead, thanks to the combined force of the heroes called the Super Smash Brothers. The Subspace Army has been disbanded, and all the commanders of the Army are dead or trying to achieve their _own_ goals again…or, in Bowser, Wario, and Ganondorf's cases," he added after a brief pause, "attempting to reform themselves by joining the Smashers." He looked at Yveltal. "You should know the whole story, too. Why are you asking such an odd question?"_

_Yveltal was concentrating on the forest fire—_his_ forest fire. After a minute of silence, he spoke._

_"He lives."_

_Xerneas blinked. "Who?"_

_"Him. Tabuu."_

_The Fairy-type Legend was surprised. "What are you talking about? The Smashers _killed_ Tabuu! Lucario's Aura Storm wounded him greatly and Ike Greil dealt the final blow that brought an end to Tabuu and Subspace. We Legends were watching the final battle through Zane's eyes."_

_"…Who?"_

_"You know, the Pikachu who saved the Mystery Dungeon World from Darkrai…"_

_"Ah, yes, now I remember. Please continue."_

_"As I was saying," Xerneas said again, "the Legends were watching the battle through Zane's eyes. After Lucario went to save Solid Snake, Ike went up to Tabuu and stabbed him with what strength he had left in him. Tabuu's life and reign of evil ended, thus ending the existence of Subspace as well. Nothing was ever heard of the Subspace Army again. How could Tabuu still be alive?"_

_Yveltal's voice was quiet. "All of you are wrong in one part. Not _all_ of Subspace was destroyed. There is still a sliver of it…engulfing the Isle of the Ancients till the end of eternity."_

_"The Isle of the Ancients?" Xerneas repeated. "Are you referring to the floating archipelago where the Army—"_

_"—built a factory to mass-produce and store hundreds of Subspace Bombs, yes," Yveltal finished for him, nodding. "Ganondorf ordered the R.O.B.s to detonate the entire arsenal, sealing off any chances of escape for Captain Falcon, Olimar, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and Samus…or so he thought."_

_"Captain Falcon had prepared his Falcon Flyer earlier in case of a situation such as this," Xerneas recalled._

_Yveltal nodded again. "The moment the Falcon Flyer flew out of the factory, the Subspace Bombs exploded all at once. There was so much Subspatial energy concentrated in that one area, so that place later became a permanent region of Subspace. _Permanent._"_

_Xerneas was shocked. "…You're joking, are you?"_

_"I never joke," Yveltal answered solemnly._

_An awkward pause._

_"…Please continue."_

_"Now, as for Tabuu still living—"_

_"That part just _can't_ be true!" Xerneas interrupted. "Ike _stabbed_ the damn scoundrel before our very eyes! How could anyone survive such a blow? Would you like to find out, Yveltal? I think not!"_

_"Listen, Xerneas." Yveltal stared deeply into the Life Pokémon's sapphire eyes. "The being that Ike _stabbed_ was nothing but a copy. Tabuu was prepared; he had escaped long before the swordsman dealt the so-called 'final blow.' And where had the 'damn scoundrel' escaped to?"_

_Xerneas' voice dropped to a toneless whisper. "…Oh, no…"_

_"Oh, _yes_," Yveltal corrected him, his cyan eyes flashing. "He's alive. He's currently sitting around at the Isle of the Ancients…or what it used to be."_

_The Life Pokémon's eyes were narrowed. "…Why are you telling me all this, Yveltal? What do you want?"_

_"What do I want…?"_

_Xerneas took a nervous step back as Yveltal lifted his head to look straight at him. "What do I want, you say?" he said softly. "I seek destruction. What would be better than to form an alliance with the very being who seeks the destruction of the Smash World?"_

_Xerneas gasped. "In other words, you want to _join Tabuu_? Yveltal, are you out of your mind?!"_

_"You just don't understand, do you, my friend?" There was a cutting edge to the Legend of Destruction's voice. "Tabuu can make a very useful ally. When I team up with him, we will be unstoppable! Our power will be greater than that of all the Legends combined! We will be standing at a level above Arceus himself!"_

_The Legend of Life could not believe what he just heard. Speaking such blasphemies about the Original One—the God and creator of all Pokémon—was a serious crime that would never go unpunished. "Wh-what are you saying?! Yveltal!"_

_Yveltal flapped his large wings once, lifting himself high into the air. Xerneas continued to stare at his counterpart._

_"Where do you think you're going?"_

_"Where else do you think I'm going?!" Yveltal shrieked hysterically, facing the Legend of Life with insane cyan eyes. "I'm going to the Isle of the Ancients! I'm going to talk to Tabuu myself! Together, we will rule all the worlds as their kings!"_

_"Yveltal, have you gone _insane_?!" roared Xerneas, stamping the ground with his hooves. "You don't understand what Tabuu is really like! You will end up being _used_ by him! Tell me, how does the idea of being a _slave_ sound to you?"_

_Yveltal shook his head stubbornly. "You're wrong. I understand my motives perfectly well. I have never allowed myself to fall into the hands of another being, and I never will. Many humans in the past have attempted to enslave me…"_

_"…And what did you do?" Xerneas asked warily._

_Yveltal smiled cruelly. "I did away with them."_

_"In other words…YOU _KILLED_ THEM?!"_

_With a harsh cry, the Legend of Destruction flew higher into the air and took off like a rocket. Xerneas ran to the edge of the cliff, unable to follow the Dark- and Flying-type._

_All he could do was watch him escape._

_"YVELTALLLLLLLL!"_

"…and that was the last time I saw Yveltal," Xerneas quietly concluded.

All the Legends were stunned. How could Yveltal choose the forces of Subspace over the Legendary Pokémon? It was almost unbelievable.

"What…the…_hell_," Dialga whispered, his blood-red eyes blazing with anger. "The _nerve_ of that bastard…!"

"The moment I see him, I'm going to make him _pay_!" Deoxys vowed, clenching his right hand into a tight fist.

"But that brings up a question," Jirachi said. "_When_ will be that moment you see him?"

"Also, _why_ did he suddenly change sides? It's totally unnatural," added Shaymin.

No one was able to answer neither the Wish Pokémon nor the Gratitude Pokémon's question.

"…Hey…I think I know what he's up to."

All heads turned towards Darkrai. He was standing in the corner of the room with his arms folded and a rather bored expression upon his face.

"How could _you_ know any more than us?" asked Heatran.

"Simple," the Pitch-Black Pokémon answered. "Yveltal and I are very similar in many ways. Because of that, I can easily understand his motives."

"Oh, really?" said Zekrom skeptically. "Please elaborate."

"First off, we're both Dark-type. I'm pretty sure that everyone trusts _Ghost_-type Pokémon better than Dark-types."

Giratina glared at Darkrai. "…Are you implying something?"

"Yveltal and I are both Dark-type Legends with some rather uncomfortable jobs to do," Darkrai continued, pretending not to hear the Renegade Pokémon. "I have to give everyone nightmares on nights of the new moon. Yveltal has to destroy life at certain times. Everyone sees us as the _evil_ ones of the Legendary Pokémon, so we aren't that well respected, even by our fellow Dark-types."

Cresselia and Xerneas suddenly felt sympathetic for their counterparts.

"It's easy to fall prey to all the pain and suffering we must face each day. This might be the reason for Yveltal's unexpected defection to the Subspace Army."

"Wha…?" asked Victini, bewildered.

"Yveltal wants _respect_. He wants the respect he thinks he deserves. But he's the Legend of _Destruction_. Who would respect a Legend who ends life?" Darkrai paused, then answered his own question. "_No one._ _No one_ wants to respect a Legend whose reason for existence is to kill. Everyone turns away from him. Everyone tries not to mention him. Everyone tries to get on with their lives without him on their minds. And so, everyone forgets about him. They act like he doesn't exist. Of course, he wants to change that. He wants everyone to respect him, to know who he is. But…" He shook his head. "…he's taken drastic measures to do so. He chose the wrong way to achieve his goal."

"Then we have to stop him before he gets completely corrupted by Tabuu's evil ways!" exclaimed Genesect, his red eyes gleaming in the golden light.

Mew flew around Mewtwo's head in circles. "Let's all go on a search party!"

"Yeah, then we're guaranteed to find him in no time!" agreed Phione enthusiastically. **_(1)_** "We should go right now!"

"I am afraid I shall have to say no to that."

Arceus looked at each Legend in the eye. _"What would the humans do if they saw fifty—and possibly fifty-_one_—Legendary Pokémon all at once?"_

There was a reluctant murmur of agreement.

Mewtwo slowly raised his hand. "I have a solution for that… Maybe Darkrai and I can get the Pokémon Smashers to team up with us and look for Yveltal. Then we won't have to bother with using every single Legend in the world just to look for one Legend."

Arceus nodded. _"That should work. When do you plan on beginning?"_

"As soon as possible," Darkrai replied. "First, we'll get Master Hand to reschedule their brawls this week. He'll easily understand the situation."

_"That is good,"_ said Arceus approvingly. _"The Pokémon Smashers, along with Mewtwo and Darkrai, shall search for Yveltal and bring him back to his senses."_

"One more thing," said Mewtwo. "Has anyone heard anything about…Ferron?"

No one spoke. Mewtwo sighed.

"He's going to be pretty disappointed…"

Arceus tapped his foot on the ground. "Everything has been settled. The meeting has ended."

All the Legends exited the room in a single-file line.

-ooo-

"Hi, Fred!"

If Ethan had been speaking to him personally rather than through a PC, Red wouldn't have hesitated to smash his fist into the Johto Trainer's jaw. **_(2)_** "Cut it out, Ethan! My name is _Red_! How hard can it be?"

On the screen, Ethan just readjusted his black and yellow cap. "Hey, I was just kidding. But really, what kind of name is _Red_?"

Red crossed his arms. "I told you already. My dad name me Red because—"

Ethan cut him off. "Okay, thanks for the info. Hey, I have something to show you." He disappeared from tr screen, then returned with a spherical object in his hands. "Tada!"

Red's eyes widened. He leaned closer to the PC screen, rubbed his eyes, and squinted. It was unmistakable.

"What the—! Ethan, that's a—!"

The Johto Trainer nodded smugly. "The Poké Ball that can catch 'em all. Pun totally intended."

"You can catch a Legendary Pokémon with that thing and capture it on the first try!" Red exploded. "I captured Mewtwo with mine, but I released it afterwards. Seeing that one in your hand…" He whipped off his hat and threw it at the wall. "_Aargh!_ Now I regret releasing my most powerful Pokémon."

Ethan stuck out his tongue. "And this one here is my _second_ one."

"SECOND?! How?! Even the best Trainers in the world are given only _one_ in their whole entire _lifetime_!"

"Let's just say I did a bit of…hacking." **_(3)_**

"…Hacking, huh? You're such a bad kid."

"Hey, Red!" Ethan displayed the ball to Red. "Plot twist—happy belated birthday."

"…My birthday was on September 30, so it really _is_ belated…" _**(4)**_ Red scratched his head. "But…really?"

"Sure, why not?" Ethan grinned. "I have enough Ultra Balls to last a lifetime. Heck, I bet I can catch all the Legendary Pokémon with my Ultras alone. I'm sending this Master Ball to you right now."

Red stared at the screen in disbelief. "Ethan…are you _serious_?"

"Of course he's serious."

Red turned around and saw Darkrai and Mewtwo standing in the doorway of his room, smiling slightly.

"Don't you two know anything about _privacy_?" Red asked in exasperation.

"Don't _you_ know anything about _closing the door_?" Darkrai shot back with a grin.

Red groaned. "Oh, Arceus… You drive me _nuts_!"

Ethan tapped the screen. "What's going on? Who's that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just two Pokémon in my room. One of them is incredibly annoying. The other one is…occasionally annoying."

"Even if it's _occasional_, since when was _I_ annoying?" Mewtwo asked disdainfully.

Ethan was not sure of what to say. "…Oh, uh…that's nice, I guess." Then he yelped. "_Ahhh!_ I was supposed to meet Professor Birch half an hour ago!" He slung a backpack over his shoulder and waved to Red. "The Master Ball should arrive at your place any time now. Talk to you later!"

Red's PC's screen fizzled and blacked out as Ethan disconnected. Red turned away from the PC to face Darkrai and Mewtwo.

"Seriously, get outta here or I'll use that Master Ball on one of you."

Darkrai grinned. "Even if you manage to catch one of us, you still have the other one to handle."

"…Good point. Then I'll just catch Arceus and tell him to beat you guys up whenever you're annoying me."

"The Original One wouldn't appreciate it if you kept him in a cramped little ball, you know."

"Poké Balls are neither _cramped_ nor _little_!"

Mewtwo decided to get straight to the point. "Speaking of Arceus—"

Darkrai nudged him. "No, no, let _me_ tell him this _awesome_ piece of news."

Mewtwo glared at him. "Why?"

"I have many reasons."

"Such as?"

"I have a type advantage."

"How does that even qualify as a reason?!"

"Why do I have the urge to throw a Dark Void at you?"

Mewtwo immediately shut his mouth.

"Thank you." Darkrai turned away from the Genetic Pokémon and faced Red with his arms crossed. "As I was saying, I have this _awesome_ piece of news to tell you!"

Mewtwo shoved Darkrai with the intent of knocking him into the wall; however, the latter had already anticipated this and easily kept his balance. "Don't listen to him, Red," Mewtwo said. "He calls all sorts of bad things _awesome_."

Red ignored the Genetic Pokémon. "So what's so _awesome_ about your piece of news?"

Mewtwo jabbed at Darkrai. "Seriously. This is _bad_ stuff."

Red blinked. "Bad? What happened?"

Darkrai sighed and shook his head. "Well… It involves one of the Kalos Region's Legendary Pokémon."

"Kalos?" asked Red. "You mean the place where I can roller-skate and sit on the benches?" _**(5)**_

Mewtwo threw a quick glance at Darkrai, then looked back at Red. "Uhhh…yeah."

"So this one Legend is now on Tabuu's side, searching for more power," Darkrai continued. "If we don't get him back on the good side, the cycle of life and death might be thrown off balance."

"Life…and death?" Red walked to his bed and slumped down, staring at the ceiling. "Wait a sec… I think my friend Serena mentioned that to me once. There were two Legends that resided in Kalos. One created life and the other destroyed life. I think their names were…uh…"

"Xerneas and Yveltal," Mewtwo answered for him. "And the one who defected was, quite obviously, Yveltal."

Red groaned loudly. "Oh, _man_! So now what?"

"Well… You know how me and Mewtwo sort of randomly disappeared yesterday morning?" asked Darkrai.

Mewtwo elbowed him. "Mewtwo and I."

Darkrai snorted and poked him back. "Don't be such a grammar Nazi. Anyway, we randomly disappeared because there was a meeting at Arceus' place. After the meeting, we concluded that the reason why Yveltal suddenly left us was because he felt like everyone was ignoring him."

"He's trying to get everyone to see exactly who he is," added Mewtwo, "but he's doing it wrong."

"Proving your worth by teaming up with the baddest baddie ever?" remarked Red. "That's completely messed up."

Darkrai nodded. "Our thoughts exactly. But Yveltal doesn't understand… He's been blinded by his own rage. He can't think logically now."

"And that's where _you_ step in, Red," said Mewtwo. "You seem to be good with any Pokémon. You've tamed the wildest Pokémon out there and befriended most of them. I'm pretty sure you can get Yveltal back to his senses."

"…But…" The Pokémon Trainer stared at the ceiling. "…he's the _Destruction_ Pokémon… How am I supposed to stand up to _that_ sort of power? What do I have that he doesn't?"

Mewtwo unexpectedly grabbed his forearm and yanked him up from the bed. Red shouted out with surprise as he was nearly thrown off balance. Mewtwo stood the Trainer before himself and jabbed his finger at his chest. "You have _that_," he said. "You have your heart." He then gave Red's forehead a couple of light taps. "And you have your head. Yveltal's gone downhill so much that he pretty much has neither of these. Use them to your advantage, and I'm sure everything will turn out perfectly."

"My heart and my head, huh…" Red grasped his head in his hands and closed his eyes. "Me versus Yveltal… If I fail, the Subspace Army will gain another powerful ally…" He paused. "No, not an ally. A _slave_. Tabuu specializes in enslaving other villains to make his work easier. AntiSora's an exception, though…"

"Too true," Darkrai agreed. "He's so sadistic that Tabuu thinks he's good enough the way he is."

"But if _I_ win, Yveltal will probably go back to normal and learn about what he did. Hopefully, he won't do anything so reckless again." Red reopened his eyes to look at Darkrai and Mewtwo. "All right. I'm going. Who can I bring?"

Mewtwo pointed at Red's vest. "You'll be taking Ivysaur, Charizard, and Squirtle, of course. You may also bring one Smasher of your choice."

"One Smasher, huh? In that case…"

A handful of Smashers appeared in Red's mind's eye. There was Ike Greil, known to be one of the most powerful swordsmen ever. There was Falco Lombardi, with his superb aviation and combat skills. There was Pikachu, armed with electricity and excellent agility. There was Meta Knight, able to fly and think of great tactics. And there was Lucas, one of his closest friends, utilizing various psychic powers that just couldn't be avoided.

In the end, though, he chose a Smasher who wasn't even on the list.

"In that case…I pick Olimar."

Both Darkrai and Mewtwo were visibly taken back by this strange choice. "Why him?"

"He's a great guy," Red said firmly. "He fights well. Above all, he's underappreciated. It makes me so mad." _**(6)**_

The two Legends looked at each other and had a brief telepathic conversation. After a short while, they both nodded in mutual agreement.

"Good one," said Darkrai, sounding satisfied. "Olimar it is, then. I'll inform him immediately." He ran out of the bedroom, leaving Mewtwo with Red.

The Genetic Pokémon had one more thing to say. "We don't have any information on Yveltal's whereabouts as of yet. You'll need to wait an hour or so for one of the Legends to give us a report."

At that moment, a Master Ball dropped onto Red's head. He picked it up and quickly pocketed it before Mewtwo would think he would try to use it on him.

_I wonder if this will come in handy today._

-ooo-

Everyone, including the newer Smashers and Assist Trophies, knew that it had already been a couple years since the first Subspace Incident, but Captain Falcon insisted on telling everyone about his contributions whenever he had the chance to.

"…and then I _smashed_ that hunk of scrap metal—see, my fist went _crashing_ into its head like _this_—" He brought back his flame-enveloped fist. _"FALCOOON__—"_

"NOOOOOOO!" Cloud Strife barreled into the F-Zero racer right before the latter could let loose a destructive Falcon Punch on an innocent vase of flowers. The swordsman pushed Captain Falcon through a wall and disappeared outside, leaving behind a large hole. Olimar happened to be passing by at that moment, and he heard what sounded like a small explosion coming from the courtyard at the back of the Smash Mansion.

"Aw, no!" cried Toon Link, hopping through the fresh hole to survey the damage. "I set up that bomb trap just for Marth!"

Tetra peeked through the hole. "Why Marth?"

"'Cause then we can listen to him complain about how long he spent this morning to make his hair look pretty, which will lead to Snake calling him a pretty boy all day, that's why!"

"…Ohhh-kay, then."

Olimar smiled to himself and shook his head. The Smashers these days… It was getting a bit difficult for him to believe that he had worked with _these_ people to save the Smash World from Tabuu. Now Captain Falcon was constantly prone to Falcon Punching anything in his path, and Toon Link liked to set up explosive traps for unwary people to fall for. Even some of the new Smashers seemed a bit goofy to him; it appeared that Cloud's favorite way of stopping people from unleashing attacks was by shoving them into—and usually _through_—walls.

_And that's why I love this place,_ Olimar thought. _We all fit in__…one way or another._

He left the hole in the wall to inform Master Hand of it. But before he had even put ten feet between himself and the hole, someone stood in his way.

"Hi."

"Gahhh!" the astronaut shrieked, leaping back when Darkrai suddenly appeared before him. "Gee! Can't you appear a little more _normally_ than that?!"

By now, everybody knew that the Dark-type Legend's favorite way of appearing was by randomly popping out of a wall or the ground. About two-thirds of the Smashers, including Olimar, hated it.

"I mean, _seriously_… Just _walk_ in instead of jumping out of the shadows! It's _creepy_!"

Darkrai smiled and bent down to playfully pat the little astronaut's helmet. "At least now I didn't appear in the form I used for my trophy…"

Olimar shook his head. "Ugh, no!"

"Tch." Darkrai straightened up again. "All right, let's get straight to the point. You're going on a mission."

This caught Olimar's attention. "A mission? What are you now, Master Hand's messenger?"

"Actually…this mission has nothing to do with Master Hand. In fact, he doesn't even know about it yet."

"What…?"

"So here's the deal." Darkrai crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "We have a Poké-problem."

"A…Poké-problem? Did some Pokémon go missing?"

"Kind of. And it's a Legendary Pokémon."

Olimar sighed. "This sounds bad…"

"It's _very_ bad," Darkrai told him. "Have you heard of Yveltal? He's the Legend of Destruction," he said at the sight of Olimar's confused expression. "He…well… Let's say he got corrupted by the evils of society and stormed off to join Tabuu."

Olimar let out a frustrated groan. "It's starting to feel like Tabuu's just picking out more villains every day…!"

Darkrai nodded. "He practically is. Anyway, Arceus wanted Red the Pokémon Trainer to go out and located Yveltal before the situation worsens. He wants to bring you along."

"Me…? But why?"

Olimar didn't bother to hide the fact that he was incredulous. The other Smashers rarely chose him to accompany them on even the most perilous missions. Even Captain Falcon, his fellow captain during the Subspace Incident, seemed to be ignoring him nowadays. He constantly felt like an outcast.

Yet Red, one of the most well-known and well-liked Smashers in the mansion, handpicked _him_ out of all fifty-odd Smashers to go on this mission with him.

Olimar didn't bother to hide the fact that he was grateful. Very grateful.

"Why me, though…?"

Darkrai just smiled mysteriously. "All I know is that he's a good kid. Now stop wondering why you got picked and meet up with him. You guys will have to leave soon; a report on Yveltal's current location will be coming in a little bit."

Red came into view and jumped through the hole that Cloud and Captain Falcon had created earlier. "Hi, guys." He looked at Olimar and grinned. "Sorry if it's a bit sudden, but this is really urgent. You can come, right?"

"H-huh? Ah!" Olimar recomposed himself. "Of course I can come! I've been waiting to do something…how do I say this…_out of the ordinary_ today." He began to feel the floor around his feet and smiled with satisfaction when his hands closed around a familiar shape. He gave it a little tug, and in his hands appeared a Red Pikmin with a jade-green leaf at the tip of its head. Olimar repeated the process until he had a small team of six Pikmin—two Purple and one Red, Yellow, Blue, and White—dancing around him.

"All right," the astronaut said to the Pikmin. "We're going on a mission! It's going to be very dangerous, so we have to be careful where we step."

The six Pikmin chattered excitedly and continued to jump up and down in anticipation. Red chuckled.

"They sure seem eager."

Olimar frowned. "That's because they don't understand what they'll be getting themselves into."

Red's smile vanished in an instant. "…Oh. Never mind."

Mewtwo teleported into the room. "Hey, I just got a text from Jirachi—"

The crumbling wall completely collapsed when Darkrai lifted the Psychic-type by his shirt collar and threw him against the wall. "What was that?" the Dark-type snarled threateningly. "You got a text message?"

"…Yes…?"

"Meaning that you have a cellphone?"

"…Yes…?"

"Is it a smartphone?"

"…Yes…?"

Darkrai completely lost it at that point. With a furious yell, he tossed Mewtwo out of the mansion and waited until the latter was out of sight.

"SINCE WHEN DID LEGENDS GET SMARTPHONES?!"

Red, Olimar, and the six Pikmin blinked and stared at the raging Dark-type Legend, who stormed off in a hot temper, ranting on about how he never knew Arceus allowed Legendary Pokémon to own Galaxy S4s. _**(7)**_

"Note to self," said Red. "Never have a smartphone in your hand when you're a Legendary Pokémon."

Mewtwo's cellphone was left lying on the floor. One of Olimar's Purple Pikmin picked it up and somehow unlocked it.

"Purple!" exclaimed Olimar with shock. "Since when did you know how to hack into smartphones?!"

The Pikmin just shrugged and said something in its signature whimper-like squeak, then carried the phone to the astronaut.

"There really _is_ a text from Jirachi," said Red, reading the screen. "'Yveltal located. Mt. Silver in Silver City, NOT Pokémon world! Emphasis on NOT.' Okay. Off to Mt. Silverrrrr!"

Meanwhile, Olimar was conversing with his Red Pikmin.

"Is it just me, or are things very…_rushed_?" _**(8)**_

-ooo-

Link was drinking a mug of Lon Lon Milk.

"Hello, Link."

Marth joined the Smasher and sat next to him on a second chair. "Aren't you going to pay Ganon back?"

Link shook his head. "Not now. Earning Rupees is getting a little hard nowadays."

"You could just mow the lawn." _**(9)**_

The Hylian shook his head again. "The Smash World isn't as generous as Hyrule, I'm afraid."

"Hm." Marth sighed. If only Ganondorf was lenient enough to accept Altean gold…

_But that's the problem. He's _never_ that loose. He won't accept anything but Hylian Rupees._

The two swordsmen sat there, unsure of what to say next. Marth then decided to ask a simple, overused question.

"So…what are you doing?"

Link took a slow sip of his Lon Lon Milk, looking thoughtful. "Drinking milk…and just pondering."

"Pondering? Over what?"

Link gestured towards their surroundings with his free hand. "Oh, you know… How to pay Ganon back. How to stop Zelda from having another temper tantrum. And how to deal with Dark Link."

Marth gave a start. "_Dark Link?!_ What in heaven's name is _he_ doing here?!"

Link drained the rest of the milk and set down his mug on the wooden table with a dull _clunk_. "I found him with the cartoon guys in the virtual Subspace. They were all running from Sora, which meant they had a common enemy and must've temporarily joined forces. I had no choice but to rescue all of them before Sora could kill them." _And he might have, if it hadn't been for that Data-Sora person,_ he silently added.

Marth's cerulean eyes were wide. "But… But bringing him into the Smash Mansion? Link, you're going to get all of us _killed_ by him! What were you thinking?!"

"If he _does_ start killing all of us, I'll just get Samus or Snake to blow him up first," Link replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"_Ugh!_ I'm being serious here!"

Link chuckled quietly as the Altean price started pulling at his blue hair. "Don't get so flustered, Marth. I told Toon and Tetra to keep tabs on him."

"But they're just kids…"

Link suddenly looked serious. "There are times," he said as sagely as he could, "when kids make better tab-keepers than adults. That's why we sometimes call them _tattletales_." _**(10)**_

Something small jiggled around in his hat. He lifted the brim just a little, and out popped a small blue fairy.

"Hey! Hey! _Listen!_"

Link groaned and smacked his forehead. "Navi, this had better be _very_ important, or I'm replacing you with Tatl." _**(11)**_

Navi giggled a little and landed on the Smasher's green hat. "Oh, don't you worry, Link. This is _very_ important…in a way."

"…What is it?" Link asked warily.

"Ganondorf told me to tell you that he said that he's going to kill you if you don't give him back the 500 Rupees you owe by ten in the morning tomorrow. Also, he said that if he's feeling too lazy to kill you, he'll make Dark Link do the killing, and then he'll make Dark Link give him 500 Rupees. He said he hopes _he_ won't get killed in the process."

Marth's eyebrow was raised. "…How did you get all that when you were sitting in Link's hat the whole—"

"Because I can, okay?!" Navi interrupted impatiently, smacking the swordsman's head with her wing. "To make a long story short, _you'd better pay him back ASAP, Link_!" She zipped back into the Hylian's hat and disappeared.

"…Ganondorf has the guts to make Dark Link pay 500 Rupees in my place?" Link said after a while.

At that moment, a Hylian swordsman wearing a black tunic strolled into the kitchen. "What's going on in—"

Link leaped up from his chair and seemingly pulled his Master Sword out of nowhere. He brought it down with a fast downwards slash and came very close to slicing off Dark Link's nose—much too close for the latter's comfort.

_"Gah!"_ Dark Link jumped back and raised his hands above his head as a gesture of surrender. "Hold on! Calm down! I'm unarmed!"

Marth blinked.

Link's sword was pointed at his counterpart's toes. Dark Link was practically trying to touch the ceiling. The two Hylians stood there, neither of them moving a muscle.

Marth blinked again.

After what seemed like a decade, Link exhaled and stepped back. He sheathed his sword, sat back down, and crossed his arms. "Hi."

Marth blinked again.

Dark Link was outraged. "Hi? _Hi?!_ That's it?! _That's_ what you say to me after you nearly killed me for no reason just now?!"

Marth blinked again.

"All I did was nearly cut off your nose," Link said calmly, glancing at his mug and sighing when he realized he had finished his Lon Lon Milk only a couple minutes ago. "And even if I did nearly kill you just now, it wouldn't matter too much, eh?"

Marth blinked again.

Dark Link growled furiously. "You _bastard_…!"

Marth blinked again.

Both Links turned on the blue-haired swordsman, shaking their fists. "AND STOP BLINKING AT EVERYTHING WE SAY!"

"I'm sorry, but there's a bug in my eye," Marth told them.

_"LIAR!"_

Pressing their ears against the closed kitchen door, Zelda and Ganondorf listened in to the conversation.

"Link and Dark Link seem to be getting along pretty well," Zelda whispered with a smile.

Ganondorf chuckled. "I'll say."

-ooo-

Despite Silver City being located over ten miles away from Smashville, Red and Olimar got there in a mere ten seconds.

"That's because we had Dialga time-travel us," Red boasted. "I bet all the readers of this fanfic are feeling really jealous now!"

_CRASH!_

It appeared as though Red had forgotten about the rule about the fourth wall.

"It was unintentional!"

MY GOD, STOP TALKING TO ME!

"…Ugh…" With a quiet _humph_, the Pokémon Trainer stopped talking to the author. _**(12)**_

Olimar tugged at Red's pants. "Where do we start?"

Red left his grumpy mood and snapped his fingers. "First, we buy some supplies. Then we'll see if Charizard is willing to fly us to the peak of Mt. Silver. No one wants to climb, right…?"

Silver City was named for the thin veins of pure silver on the ground that ran throughout the city—like the veins of some living being, sending silvery blood into its heart and back. Even the trees had silver veins; it was like the veins had implanted themselves into the hard bark and straight towards the heart of the tree. Olimar's Yellow Pikmin touched one of the sparkling veins, feeling the hard metal under the palm of its tiny hand. It was slick and smooth, making it feel nice and cool against its skin.

It was rumored that there was a massive ore of silver located near the top of Mt. Silver, but no one had been able to find it yet. Even the best metal detectors couldn't catch a trace of the precious metal.

"Yeah, I wonder why," Red mused.

_CRASH!_

"…Oops."

_RED!_ Do you have short-term memory or something?!

"Jeez." Red crossed his arms, feeling grumpier than ever.

Many people who knew about _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ thought that Silver City had a rather _PMD_-esque feel to it—various little shops aligned each side of all the roads. Each shop had a simple construction that generally consisted of a canvas tent and a wooden counter at the front. The shopkeepers' ethnicities varied widely—some were Hylian, others were Pokémon, some were Koopas, and still others were normal human beings from countries such as Altea, Crimea, Port Town, and America.

"We need healing items as well as status-curing items," Red said as he and Olimar walked down the silver-veined road. "Oh—there." They ran to a shop that sold various curing items such as Oran Berries, Pecha Berries, and Full Heals.

While the two Smashers were buying what they needed, Olimar's team of Pikmin wandered around the area. The White Pikmin hopped onto one of the bulky Purple Pikmin's shoulders and sat there, asking for a piggyback ride. The Red and Blue Pikmin laughed as the irritated Purple Pikmin lumbered around, carrying a cheering White Pikmin.

_"TAARRRAAALLLL!"_

The other Purple Pikmin looked up in shock. A large, bird-like creature with red and black feathers was circling the shoppers and shopkeepers directly overhead. The Yellow Pikmin squealed and jumped behind the Purple Pikmin, trying to hide itself. At the same time, Red and Olimar looked up to see the creature.

Olimar gasped. "…Oh, my."

"That's gotta be it…" Red fumbled around his pocket and took out his Pokédex, which he aimed at the flying thing.

_"Yveltal, the Destruction Pokémon,"_ a computerized voice spoke. _"When this Legendary Pokémon's wings and tail feathers spread wide and glow red, it absorbs the life force of all living creatures." **(13)**  
><em>

Red cursed and pocketed the Pokédex. "That wasn't very reassuring."

Yveltal let out another ear-piercing screech and folded his wings, dropping from the sky at an alarming speed. The civilians below screamed in terror and fled in all directions. Only two people—Red and Olimar—didn't budge. Yveltal suddenly stopped his fall by spreading out his claw-like wings, letting out a thick flurry of dust and dirt that momentarily blinded the Smashers. Even with all the stuff flying around, Olimar could easily see the crazed look in Yveltal's cyan eyes.

_Cyan…not red,_ he thought. _That means he willingly joined Tabuu. No mind-controlling devices were needed. Is that good or bad?_

Red stepped forward. "Yveltal—"

_"FOOLS!"_ the Legend shrieked. "So _puny_! So _insignificant_! You are doing nothing but taking up space! You should be _destroyed_!"

"Yup, he's cuckoo, all right," Red confirmed.

"That has nothing to do with the cuckoo bird, does it?" Olimar asked warily.

"…no appreciation _whatsoever_!" Yveltal continued to rant. "Why? WHY SO?! Why don't _I_ get any credit?!"

"What's he on to?" Olimar asked.

"…I…have no idea," Red lied.

_"You should be sent to _OBLIVION_!"_

The Pokédex beeped in Red's pocket. _"Yveltal's signature move is Oblivion Wing. It is a Flying-type move that drains most of the opponent's health and, in return, restores Yveltal's."  
><em>

"…Crap."

The Destruction Pokémon's body began to pulsate with a dark red light as he flew higher into the air. With a sudden outwards sweep of his wings, he screamed, _"OBLIVION WING!"_

A bright red beam of destructive energy shot out of Yveltal's body and straight at the two Smashers. Olimar yelped and quickly scooped up his Pikmin so they wouldn't get fried to a crisp.

The Smashers' surroundings weren't as lucky. Yveltal's single Oblivion Wing reduced everything to nothing but rubble and charred wood. Red immediately knew that it went without saying that Yveltal was the Legend of Destruction.

"Yep… We are _really_ screwed."

"We really are," Olimar agreed as he and the Pokémon Trainer ran for their lives.

-ooo-

"KLONOA!"

Kirby was running all around the mansion.

"KLONOAAAA!"

The only time he'd run was when someone took his food.

"GIMME BACK MY COOKIES!"

Pikachu stepped out of the movie theater—and was just in time to get run over by Kirby, who was still yelling for Klonoa. "Ow! What's up?!"

The Dream Lander skidded to a halt and looked mad. "Have you see Klonoa? He was last seen with a stolen bag of cookies. The bag was red and had exactly six and a half chocolate-chip cookies in it. The reward is 5,000 Smash Coins!"

Pikachu raised a brow as he rubbed his shoulder. "…What have you been reading? Criminal posters?"

"I just wanted to sound dramatic," Kirby explained. "But really, have you seen him?"

"Haven't caught a glimpse of him since yesterday…"

_"Magya!"_

Pikachu and Kirby turned around and saw Peach grappling with Klonoa.

"You stole the cookies I made, didn't you?!"

"Manya! _Magya!_"

"Yes, you stole them! I saw you stashing them in your closet the other day!"

"Wahee?! Manya! Du dabura! Palamo!"

"You have cookie crumbs on your hat, you thief!"

"Eedapee manya dabura! _Palamo!_"

Peach shook the Phantomilian forcefully. "Stop talking in that gibberish! I don't understand Phantomilian!"

_"Magya!"_

Peach sighed. "Why are you so hard to deal with…?"

Klonoa managed to escape from the princess' grasp, and he skipped away as quickly as he could, shouting triumphantly, "Padoo! _Rupurudu!_"

Peach pulled out a tennis racket and a tennis ball, swung the racket, and somehow hit the fleeing Phantomilian squarely between his shoulder blades.

_"MAGYAAAA!"_ he shrieked, falling flat onto the floor. Before Peach could serve another ace, however, all that was left of Klonoa was a trail of dust.

"Hmph!" Peach tucked away her tennis racket and folded her arms. "What a nuisance he's become!"

Pikachu and Kirby cautiously approached the princess. "What's with Klonoa?" **_(14)_**

Peach stormed down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. "High on cookies, that's what."

-ooo-

"…Hey, Red."

"What?"

"Don't you find it strange that Yveltal's signature move is called Oblivion _Wing_…and yet it appears to be some kind of _beam_ instead of a wing-related move?"

"…Hey, Olimar."

"What?"

"Shut up."

The two Smashers were hiding behind the rubble that had accumulated during Yveltal's rampage. The Legend was now flying back to the mountain that the text from earlier had mentioned—Mt. Silver. The moment he was out of sight, Olimar, accompanied by his two Purple Pikmin, cautiously crawled out of the hiding spot.

"Oooh," he said quietly. "That was a close one."

Red emerged from pile and dusted himself off. "He wasn't called the Legend of Destruction for nothing…"

Olimar pointed at Mt. Silver. "Now he's up there. Can Charizard fly us?"

Red reached into his vest and pulled out a Poké Ball, which he threw in front of himself. The ball bounced off a rock, rolled onto the ground, and opened up. In a flash of white light, Red's favorite Fire-type Pokémon appeared.

"Hi, Charizard," said the Trainer.

The Fire- and Flying-type Pokémon stretched his arms and let out a mighty yawn. "_Hrraaaghhh…_ What's going on? Why is everything in ruins?"

"Long story," Olimar told him. He had to look towards the sky to speak to the tall Pokémon. "Anyway, can you fly us to that mountain over there? It's urgent."

Charizard glanced at the distant mountain and nodded.

"Thanks, buddy." Red climbed on to Charizard's back and offered a hand to Olimar, who pulled himself up and in front of the Pokémon Trainer. The astronaut's six Pikmin formed a chain and grabbed the antenna on top of his helmet.

"All set."

Charizard flapped his broad wings twice and lifted himself into the air. Another two flaps later, he was zooming towards Mt. Silver with two Smashers and six Pikmin on his back.

_Yveltal…_ Red thought as the mountain grew larger and larger with every passing second. _I know you're still there. Just hold the evil side off a little bit longer… We're coming!_

Something seemed to be weighing down his vest.

-ooo-

"Mama mia, Luigi!"

"What did I do? What did I do?!"

"No, it's-a nothing bad." Mario dragged his brother to the computer screen. "Look at this-a!"

One look was enough for Luigi to start yelling. "Ooh! Mama mia, indeed-a! I cannot-a believe we weren't-a notified of this-a!"

"The newest-a game starring the Mario Bros.," Mario said, "_Super Mario 3D World_! It's a sort of-a sequel to _Super Mario 3D Land_ and-a came out only a few days ago."

Luigi read the Wikipedia article again. "It-a says here that _3D World_ was released on November 22, 2013, in North America—just four days ago in the author's-a country!"

_CRASH!_

…Is the fourth wall going to break every time we leave the scenes with Red and Olimar?

"It-a looks that way," Luigi answered.

Oh, great! I wonder how many times Master Hand has sneezed by now. _**(15)**_

Mario blinked. "…Say what?"

-ooo-

They were about half a mile away from Silver Peak when a giant blue deer nearly squashed them.

Charizard was gliding comfortably across the sky, using the strong breeze to carry him and his passengers to their destination. Red and Olimar were sitting comfortably on the Pokémon's back; the Trainer was playing _Pokémon Red Version_ while the astronaut was playing with his Pikmin.

"Three more minutes and we'll be there," Charizard announced.

Red looked up from his Gameboy. "Yveltal's up there…"

"Is he waiting for us?" Olimar wondered, prying the Blue Pikmin from his arm.

The Pokémon Trainer shuddered. "I hope not."

"If he's expecting us, then he wants to see us before we see him," Charizard pointed out. "I'll fly near the ground to avoid detection." As he said this, he dived to close in the distance between himself and the rocky ground below. When there was thirty feet of space, he spread his wings again and continued onwards.

A large blue figure came crashing down.

"ACK!" Charizard veered off towards the left to avoid the object, nearly crashing into a jagged pillar of rock. He wheeled back around, flapping his wings to keep himself aloft, and saw something lying on the ground beneath him. "What's that?"

It appeared to be a Pokémon, probably a Legendary one. He was probably ten feet in height and had black, blue, and cream-colored fur. Massive antlers with multicolored branches topped his head. His body was covered with gashes and the multicolored branches were barely glowing, indicating that his health was dangerously low. Charizard landed gently near the Pokémon's head and let his passengers get off.

Red stuffed his Gameboy into his pocket and brought out his Pokédex. "Oh…_deer_ god!" _**(16)**_

_"Xerneas, the Life Pokémon,"_ said the Pokédex as it scanned the deer-like Pokémon. _"When the horns on its head shine in seven different colors, it is said to be sharing everlasting life." _**_(13)_**

Olimar breathed a sigh of relief. "That's considerably less disturbing than Yveltal's entry." He cautiously approached the Legend and tapped his head. "Uh… Hi… Can you hear me?"

Xerneas shuddered and, with effort, opened his eyes. Both Olimar and Red were startled—each eye had an _X_-shaped pupil in the center of the sapphire-colored irises. The eyes were unusually dull, however, and Olimar hurried on to get as much information as possible before the Legend fainted.

"Xerneas, I'm Olimar and he's Red. We're two of the Smash Brothers and were sent on this mission. Did Yveltal do this?"

Xerneas just nodded.

Red stepped forward. "We're gonna stop him. We'll get him back—I promise!"

"…Fools."

Red and Olimar hopped back as Xerneas raised his head a little. "You two are no match for him," he said hoarsely. "When even _I_ couldn't defeat him…how can you?"

"…We'll think of something," Olimar reluctantly lied, flashing a glance at Red. "I'm sure there's a way."

Xerneas snorted. "No…"

Red knelt down and offered a Potion to the Legend, but the latter shook his head. "Don't worry about me. Right now…your main priority is to get to Yveltal. He's at the very top…waiting. His mind is unstable… If you insist of challenging him…well… He is a very powerful opponent. Proceed…with much caution." He trembled and fell unconscious.

Red and Olimar looked at each other.

"Ready?"

"I've always been."

They boarded Charizard and took off again.

-ooo-

In his office, Master Hand sneezed.

_"I must have caught a cold. How unfortunate."_

_"Eh__, I'm pretty sure it's because of the wall,"_ Crazy Hand told him.

_"__What wall?"_

_"_…_Never mind."_

-ooo-

"Sorry about that. It had to be done."

Data-Sora walked over to Sora-X's unmoving body, his right hand gripping tightly to his Keyblade. As he approached his flesh-and-blood doppelganger, thin streams of electric-blue data shimmered around him and repelled the corrupted data of the virtual Subspace. Data-Sora grimaced as each line of smoky-red, corrupted data made contact with his skin.

Sora-X was still unconscious when Data-Sora knelt at his side. The latter saw a small, metallic device clamped firmly to the Keyblade wielder's head. "So _this_ is what made you act so weirdly, huh?" Data-Sora said to himself, reaching towards the device. "A mind-controlling thing… Huh. Tabuu's still too weak to do it with his own power, huh?" He carefully pulled at the device, but it held fast. He frowned and tugged harder at it, still watching Sora's face for any expressions of discomfort.

"Stubborn…device…" he grumbled. "Ugh…"

The device refused to budge. With a grunt, Data-Sora stood up, touched the device with his Keyblade, and froze it with a bit of Frost Magic. Then he raised the Keyblade, took careful aim, and brought it down like an axe.

_Smash!_

It wasn't very loud, but in the eerie silence of the virtual Subspace, it was like a gunshot. The sound echoed across the empty field, traveling on and on and on until it traveled too far for Data-Sora to hear.

The noise instantly jolted Sora awake and back into reality. "Who?! What?! Where?! Why?! How—"

Data-Sora coughed politely. Sora leaped up from the ground in surprise.

"Data-Sora?! What the heck?!"

"…So much for a nice greeting," Data-Sora muttered flatly. "I'm glad you remembered your Five W's."

Sora calmed down a little and rubbed his head. "Ugh… So dizzy… Where am I? How did I get here? And…" He brushed some the remnants of the mind-controlling device out of his hair. "…why are there bits of metal in my hair?"

Data-Sora patted the Smasher's back. "You had a mind-controlling device on your head. I chopped it off just moments ago. Do you have any memory of what had happened?"

"Well…" Sora squinted his sky-blue eyes. "Let's see… I vaguely remember something about Toon Link, Tetra, and Vaati… Oh, wait—there was another person. He looked like Link but he was wearing a…black tunic… Dark Link? Huh." He shrugged. "There's something nagging at me. An… Anti… _AntiSora!_" He balled up his fists. "That bastard! He'll _pay_! Why, I'll—"

"Yeah, looks like you're okay," Data-Sora hastily interrupted before Sora could start listing the ways he could kill AntiSora. "We're in some kind of virtual Subspatial area right now. In other words, we're in a different dimension. I'm afraid I don't know how to get out."

Sora stared levelly at his doppelganger. "…If there's a way in, then there must be a way out. How did you get here?"

Data-Sora frowned. "Good question. I just sort of…um…_appeared_, I guess."

"Maybe King Mickey and the others sent you in here because I was gone and this place is data-related…"

Something loomed behind Data-Sora.

"Hey!" Sora yelped. _"Look out!"_

Data-Sora flattened himself against the ground, just as Sora threw his Keyblade forward. It flew past Data-Sora's would-be attacker—an almost insect-like, bluish-purple creature that appeared to be part-machine, part-life form. Six feet in height and perhaps ten in length, it had four legs, two long arms with claws, and a small head with a bright blue light and a pair of incredibly sharp pincers.

Sora was appalled. "What in the world is _that_?!"

"That's not it…" Data-Sora was sweating digital perspiration. "The question is, how in the world could something _that_ big sneak up on us like that?!"

The creature stood on its hind legs, faced the black cybernetic sky, and let out a metallic screech that made Sora and Data-Sora feel like their heads would split open any moment. Then it charged at the duo.

Sora and Data-Sora nodded to each other. _"Triple Blizzaga!"_

Three chunks of ice shot out of their Keyblades and struck the creature head-on. It let out a final scream and exploded, littering the area with bits of bluish material.

Data-Sora waved his hand over one of the pieces, analyzing it. "…An Aparoid?" He looked surprised.

"A what?" Sora asked.

"An Aparoid." Data-Sora continued to scan the remnants. "Aparoids are a race of insect-like beings that are part-machine, part-life form. But it says here that Team Star Fox obliterated the entire race some years ago!"

"Maybe they missed some."

"No, no… All Aparoids are connected together by a hive mind ruled by the Aparoid Queen. By destroying the Queen, every single Aparoid in existence could kiss their mechanical butts _good-bye_. But we just destroyed one… they're supposed to be extinct!"

"…Tabuu's work, then?"

"Yeah. Maybe. Anyway, it says here that Aparoids have the ability to control other technology and life forms in a viral manner, a process known as Aparoidedation; thus, they're extremely lethal to anything that gets in their way. You can call them the viruses of the universe. There's a wide variety of Aparoid species…" Data-Sora looked up. "We just fought an Aparoid Crawler, the most basic Aparoid unit. They're the weakest of the bunch. They usually attack in groups, though…"

As though on cue, a mass of Aparoid Crawlers came scuttling over a hill and straight at the two Keyblade wielders. Upon closer inspection, Sora realized there were probably fifty or so of the creatures—far too many to fight off without getting tired or injured. He and Data-Sora were hopelessly outnumbered.

"…What was that you said about the Aparoids being extinct?"

"…I stand corrected."

-ooo-

Red, Olimar, the Pikmin, and Charizard had reached the peak of Mt. Silver a short while ago. Since the altitude was much higher, the temperature was well below everyone's comfort zone. Charizard tried not to look annoyed as everyone huddled around him for warmth.

One glance at their surroundings was enough to tell them that they had entered dangerous territory. The rough terrain was strewn with dead leaves, broken shards of rock, and, to Olimar's horror, the lifeless bodies of several small rodents and birds. Red tried not to gag as he and his friends trudged past the poor animals.

_Yveltal uses the lives of others to restore his own. Ugh… Why? It's so terrible. You aren't supposed to take someone else's life for yourself! It's so__…_wrong_._

The silence was deafening. The air was unnaturally still, and yet Olimar swore he could hear the harsh cry of birds somewhere in the sky. His thoughts were confirmed when one of the Purple Pikmin tugged at his hand and pointed at some vultures circling the air above the Smashers.

_Scary__…_

_"TAARRRAAAALLLLL!"_

A large, red- and black-feathered figure swooped down from above.

_"QUACK!"_ squealed the Red Pikmin.

_"DUCK!"_ Charizard correctly translated.

Everybody lowered their heads and barely avoided Yveltal's outstretched talons. The Legend of Destruction flew back into the air, did a hairpin turn, and dived towards Red. Charizard came to his Trainer's rescue and threw him aside, then opened his maw and let out a searing Flamethrower. Yveltal came to a halt in midair and…

"He disappeared!"

Red, Olimar, the Pikmin, and Charizard stood back-to-back to each other, their eyes darting in all directions, searching for Yveltal.

_"QUACK!"_ screamed the Red Pikmin again.

No translation was needed this time. They all hit the ground again and were just in time to dodge Yveltal, who shrieked with frustration.

_"Phantom Force,"_ the Pokédex in Red's pocket explained. _"It is a Ghost-type move that allows the user to disappear, then lash out at the target without any warning. Status-protecting moves such as Safeguard and Protect have no effect. It can be thought of as a weaker version of Giratina's signature move, Shadow Force."_

"A weaker version, huh?" Red murmured. "That's _slightly_ reassuring…"

Yveltal landed on the ground and glowered at the Smashers. "Not you again! I thought my message would discourage you?"

"What message?" Olimar asked cautiously.

The Destruction Pokémon's cyan eyes flashed wildly. "My counterpart. He was the message. How did you like it?"

"_He_ was your message?" Red shouted. "That's _sick_!"

"Do you know what is _truly_ sick?" Yveltal retorted. _"The way everyone treats me!"_

Charizard pushed everyone behind him to protect them. "The way everyone treats you, huh? May you elaborate?"

The Legendary Pokémon tilted his head to the left. "I am the Legend of Destruction. My duty is to destroy. My counterpart, that bastard Xerneas, is in charge of creating life. Life or destruction… Which one would you rather have?"

"…Life?" said Charizard, which he probably shouldn't have.

"I THOUGHT SO!" Yveltal roared furiously. "You're just like everyone else! 'Who wants destruction? Destruction's like death! Of course we want life. You're crazy if your favorite Pokémon is Yveltal! Xerneas is _so_ much better. Hey, you should get _Pokémon X_!' It makes me so INFURIATED!"

"I can tell," Olimar said as loudly as he dared, which meant he was whispering.

"Xerneas gets all the credit…" Yveltal sounded slightly calmer now. "No one remembers about me. No one knows the consequences of overgrowth. That's why I exist. I am here to equalize Xerneas' power. When destruction is needed, I'm ready." His eyes looked crazy again. "But am _I_ given any credit? NO! They all choose to ignore me and pretend I don't exist! They pretend that there is destruction because it's natural! HA! _Natural_, my ass! Destruction is _natural_?! REALLY?! I don't think so!" He flapped his wings and rose into the air. "If they choose to ignore me…then so be it. I will gladly show them how wrong they are… I might as well destroy _everything_ to show them!" He looked into the Smasher's eyes. "Can you survive the wrath of Destruction?"

"You have my permission to show them…_over my dead body_!" Charizard leaped into the air with Red, Olimar, and the six Pikmin on his back.

"Charizard, aim at his left wing and use Flamethrower!" Red ordered.

The Flame Pokémon did as he was told and swerved around the Legend, slowing down when he was on his left side. A Flamethrower shot out of his mouth and struck Yveltal's wing, but the Legend appeared to be unaffected.

"Ohhh-kay… So much for that plan. Yveltal's part Flying, right? Try using Rock Smash!"

Charizard picked up a small boulder and went back into the sky to rejoin Yveltal. Holding the rock in his hands, he head-butted it, sending shards of stone all around himself and at Yveltal. The Legend managed to avoid all the projectiles, and he flew under Charizard.

Olimar decided to help out. "Pikmin Chain!" he commanded.

The six Pikmin immediately jumped to attention and formed a chain. Olimar grabbed the end of the chain, jumped onto Charizard's hand, and lashed out with his weapon. The Yellow Pikmin at the other end of the chain hit Yveltal's back, electrifying him.

"Break up!"

The Pikmin separated and landed on Yveltal's back. The two Purple Pikmin, being the heaviest of the team, attempted to force Yveltal to fly closer to the ground by jumping on his shoulders. In the meantime, the Red and Yellow Pikmin clung on to each of his horns and burned and zapped his head. The White Pikmin crawled over to Yveltal's right leg and dealt its poison-based attacks from there, and the Blue Pikmin simply slammed itself against the Legend's other leg.

"You are all so ANNOYING!"

Yveltal did a barrel roll, knocking off his Pikmin passengers. All six Pikmin plummeted into a rock down below and turned into ghosts.

_"Nooooo!"_ Olimar yelled. "You killed my Pikmin!"

Red tossed a Poké Ball and shouted, "Go, Squirtle! Use Water Gun!"

"Yes, sir!" The Tiny Turtle Pokémon spewed out a powerful stream of water that splashed into Yveltal's face.

"What is this, spit?" Yveltal opened his mouth, sending out a red beam of destructive energy that landed right on Charizard's belly. Roaring in agony, he and his passengers fell from the air and crash-landed on a rocky ledge, and then he promptly fainted.

"Ugh… You did great, Charizard." Red called his unconscious Pokémon back into his Poké Ball. "Everyone okay?"

"My Pikmin were killed just moments ago!" yelled Olimar. "Do I look okay?!"

"Never mind." Red turned back to Squirtle. "Try a BubbleBeam!"

"On it! _BubbleBeam!_" Fast-moving bubbles shot out of Squirtle's mouth and pelted Yveltal's chest. The bubbles did nothing but get the Legend's feathers wet.

"Once again—what is this, spit?!" Yveltal used Oblivion Wing again, incinerating part of the cliff and instantly defeating Squirtle.

"Not you, too! Ugh!" In a flash of red light, Squirtle was recalled. "You did well, buddy. I have one more! Ivysaur, _go_!"

The Grass- and Poison-type Seed Pokémon jumped out of his Poké Ball. "All right, time to battle! Whaddya want me to do, Red?"

"Don't be so enthusiastic," Red told him. "You're up against a Legendary Pokémon. He defeated Charizard and Squirtle with just one move!"

Ivysaur looked shocked. "He defeated _Charizard_ with just one move, you say…? Okay. I'll be careful. You can count on me, Red!"

The Pokémon Trainer smiled gratefully. "That's good. Okay, let's do this! Olimar, you ready?"

Olimar was tugging at a yellow-colored stem. "I will be…once I get myself some new Pikmin!"

"Good." Red pointed at Yveltal. "Ivysaur, use Razor Leaf!"

"All righty!" Two razor-sharp leaves flew out from the plant on Ivysaur's back, spinning like boomerangs as they twisted and turned towards Yveltal. The Legend let out a shriek of irritation when the leaves clipped his wings.

"Now go directly underneath him and use Bullet Seed"

Ivysaur ran as quickly as he could and positioned himself in Yveltal's shadow. The bulb on his back opened up, and he sent out a barrage of seeds that hit the Legend again and again. Yveltal escaped the onslaught of seeds and unleashed a third Oblivion Wing.

"Gah—" yelped Ivysaur, squeezing his eyes shut…

It never came.

Red gasped. _"Olimar!"_

The little astronaut had jumped into the red beam's path and taken the blow for himself, shielding Ivysaur. Olimar soared through the air, slammed into the side of Mt. Silver, and blacked out.

"Oh, Arceus!" Red rushed to the Smasher's side. "Olimar! Can you hear me?! _Olimar!_"

There was a scream. Red whipped around and saw Ivysaur lying on the ground, unconscious.

In the sky, Yveltal laughed coldly. "He deserved it… You _all_ deserved it… I'll just pick you off…one by one…until you're nothing more. Are you ready?!"

Red suddenly became aware of a spherical object in his vest. He took it out and saw that it was a ball, half purple and half white, with two magenta spots and a white _M_ on the purple half. In an instant, the conversation flooded back into the Trainer's mind:

_"What the—! Ethan, that's a—!"_

_The Johto Trainer nodded smugly. "The Poké Ball that can catch 'em all. Pun totally intended."_

_"You can catch a Legendary Pokémon with that thing and capture it on the first try!" Red exploded. "I captured Mewtwo with mine, but I released it afterwards. Seeing that one in your hand…" He whipped off his hat and threw it at the wall. "_Aargh!_ Now I regret releasing my most __powerful Pokémon."_

_Ethan stuck out his tongue. "And this one here is my _second_ one."_

_"SECOND?! How?! Even the best Trainers in the world are given only one in their whole entire lifetime!"_

Red stared at the thing in his hand.

He smiled.

_Okay… I'm putting all my faith into you. I know you can stop Yveltal. You're the only thing that can._

He drew his arm back…and flung the ball straight at Yveltal.

"Sorry, Yveltal—your show's been postponed!"

The Master Ball bounced off of Yveltal's tail and, in a flash of bright white light, absorbed the Legend of Destruction. The ball landed on the ground before Red.

It twitched once.

It twitched twice.

_Oh, please…_

It twitched thrice.

Capture complete.

Still sweating heavily, Red gingerly picked up the motionless Master Ball, staring at it.

"Now, Yveltal…you won't go out and needlessly destroy more lives. My friends and I will teach you how wrong you were. You _aren't_ left out. You _are_ acknowledged. We'll show you."

He recalled Ivysaur, picked up Olimar, and trudged down the mountain, still smiling at the Master Ball.

"Let's go home, friends."

-ooo-

_"Achoo!"_

_"Master, seriously—let's go fix that wall."_

_"Crazy Hand…that is the smartest piece of advice you have ever given."_

-ooo-

"So, Fred! How's that Master Ball?"

"I already used it, actually. It saved my life. Thanks, Ethan."

Ethan let out a low whistle. "Huh! You're welcome. What'd you catch?"

"This guy. He's called Yveltal." Red uploaded a photo of the said Legend onto the PC.

Ethan raised a brow.

"…I'm sorry, but that thing seriously looks like an OP Dark-type Lugia."

"Yveltal wouldn't appreciate it if you called him that."

"Really? How?"

"Well, for starters, he's labeled as the Destruction Pokémon…"

The look of horror on Ethan's face was enough to send Red into uncontrollable laughter.

-ooo-

James McCloud knew that AntiSora rarely showed signs of nervousness, but the boy was exhibiting them right now.

"…Um."

Tabuu waved him off. _"There is no need to tell me. I knew about it the instant it occurred."_

"So you already know about—" James began.

_"YES!"_ The ruler of Subspace sounded impatient._ "I know! Must you force me to repeat myself?!"_

James and AntiSora wisely took a giant step back to lessen their chances of getting torn apart by one of Tabuu's attacks. "Of course not," James said as meekly as he could. "I apologize."

AntiSora poked him and whispered, "What happened to '_Master_ Tabuu'?"

James shoved back at him. "Shhh!"

_"…All right.__"_ Tabuu folded his arms, his blood-red eyes narrowed. _"I thought that the __Pokémon would be successful. The Legend of Destruction__… Well, why not? But__…I never would have expected the __Pokémon Trainer to have _that_ Poké Ball__…"_

James nodded thoughtfully. "A Master Ball… It never misses, and it's got a 100-percent catch rate, even for Legendary Pokémon. With a Master Ball, the chances of catching Arceus are as high as the chances of encountering a Zubat in a cave." _**(17)**_

AntiSora snapped his fingers and looked eagerly at Tabuu. "Aha! Should we get Arceus next?"

_"…I think not."_

AntiSora was surprised. "What? Why? He's the god of Pokémon! Why are you leaving him?!"

_"I do not want to get into the trouble of attempting to control such a powerful being's mind. Yes, even I must acknowledge him as a deity. Perhaps next time, when I have regained my full strength, we can…get him."_

_You're actually admitting that Arceus is too powerful?_ James thought. _That's very unlike you, Tabuu. But…it's a good choice. Always the tactician, eh?_

"Hmph." AntiSora rolled his yellow eyes. "Fine. Let's stick with villains, then. It makes the job easier."

"Some villains are aware of the Subspace Army's actions," James said. "We have to choose carefully. How about those with grudges held against some Smashers? King K. Rool?"

AntiSora burst into maniacal laughter. "WHAT? Ha! Haha! What a joke! That fat crocodile will get pounded into pieces by Donkey Kong alone within the first two minutes of seeing him!"

James growled under his breath and adjusted his sunglasses. _So much for _that_ choice…_ "What do you think of Dark Pit?"

_"Most definitely not,"_ Tabuu cut in. _"He is more of an antihero than a villain."_

_Ah, jeez. I was kind of already anticipating that, though._ "Then how about—"

"I got one."

Both James and Tabuu turned towards AntiSora. He looked rather smug.

"This one has been dead for quite some time already, but that's of no concern. We can easily bring him back. He's closely related to one of the Smashers, and yet the first thing on his checklist is to kill that Smasher. He's ruthless and manipulative—a perfect combination."

James asked him warily, "…Who the hell are you thinking of?"

"Here's another hint," said AntiSora. "He took part in the Shadow Moses Incident."

James still looked clueless. "…So?"

The smile on AntiSora's face widened as he waggled his finger tauntingly before the fox's snout.

"Oh, please, James McCloud… Don't tell me you've never heard of _Liquid Snake_…!"

* * *

><p><strong><span>PREVIEW — Chapter 36<span>**

NO PREVIEW because Chapter 36 will be the Christmas special, which I haven't started yet!

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Data-Sora

**Also known as:** Why does he need any nicknames?

**Age:** 15

**Species:** Digital replica of Sora

**World of origin:** Data Destiny Islands

**Video game(s):** _Kingdom Hearts Re:coded_

**Quote:** "I know it's risky, but if a friend needs me to be there, I'll be there to help!"

**Occupation:** Data-Sora, being a digital replica of the real-world Sora, is pretty much exactly the same as the latter. He possesses the same traits as his real-world counterpart and wields the same type of Keyblade. One thing that is special about him is that, despite being made a data, he possesses a real heart. This allows him to use his Keyblade and defeat the enemies in the computer simulation of Jiminy Cricket's Journal that he lives in.

**Fun fact:** He is fully aware of his being a mere digital copy of Sora, but he doesn't seem to mind. What a good kid.

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

**_(1)_** I consider Phione to be a Legendary Pokémon.

**_(2)_** Yes, Red has his personal PC. Time to get jealous.

**(3)** It's a reference to the real world! I bet some of you have done some cheats to get multiple Master Balls…!

**_(4)_** _Pokémon Red Version_ was first released on September 30, so why not make that Red's birthday?

**_(5)_** It's true! _Pokémon X_ and _Y_ are the first games that let you sit down!

**(6)** I honestly think Olimar is underappreciated. Everyone likes to go with Pikachu or Link or Ike… Why not pay a little more attention to Olimar? His games all have great ratings, y'know.

**(7)** I always mentioned Apple-related electronics in the past chapters. Now let's show some appreciation for the Androids.

**_(8)_** …This chapter seems pretty rushed, right?

**_(9)_** It's a reference to _The Legend of Zelda_. Clearing grass patches may uncover Rupees and other items. Gee, I wish my lawn was like that!

**(10)** Isn't that right, guys? I know _I_ was called a tattletale when I was little…

**_(11)_** Tatl is one of the fairies in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Along with her brother Tael, they accompany the Skull Kid and later accompany Link as he saves the world from the Skull Kid's—or rather, _Majora's_—evil plot. One thing I find pretty interesting is that when you combine Tatl and Tael's names, you get something that sounds like _tattletale_!

**_(12)_** From now on, there shall be tons of fourth wall-breaking! Don't ask why!

_**(13)**_ I find it ironic that I used Xerneas' Pokédex entry from _Pokémon Y_, and Yveltal's entry from _Pokémon X_…

**_(14)_** The words I used here are actually part of Klonoa's Phantomilian gibberish from _Klonoa: Door to Phantomile_. Each character has his or her unique language, which is pretty cool.

**_(15)_** In case you didn't know, Master Hand sneezes whenever someone breaks the fourth wall.

_**(16)**_ The pun was _totally_ intended!

**_(17)_** Basically, the chances of capturing Arceus on your first try with a Master Ball is 100%—because you have a 100% chance of encountering a Zubat in a cave!

* * *

><p><strong><em>That was definitely way too long.<em>**

**Sonic:** But there was a long intro, so it makes sense.

**_Yeah. Let's make this quick! What will Red do with Yveltal?_**

**Red:** He needs to be shown the true view of things. I'm getting started right away!

**_Good, good! Will you nickname him?_**

**Red:** No! Nicknames are stupid!

**Toon Link:** _*facepalm*_

**_Exactly! I agree with you there, Red. How'd you guys like the Pokémon theme?_**

**Darkrai:** _*cheerfuly*_ It's _great_!

**Bowser:** _*snorting*_ It's _stupid_!

**Mewtwo:** _*glowers at Bowser*_

**Bowser:** _*freaking out*_ I'M SORRY!

**_Okay. Wahhh! What are Aparoids doing here?!_**

**Sora:** That's what _I_ wanna know!

**Data-Sora:** And me! Don't forget about me!

**_Who's Liquid Snake?_**

**Snake:** _*loudly*_ Who's WHO?

**Samus:** _*drags Snake away*_ Not yet, David! Not yet!

**_Where's Master Hand?_**

**Crazy Hand:** Still having a sneezing fit. _*triumphantly*_ Ha! He can't drag me away this time!

**Master Hand:** Achoo! _*grumpily*_ Damn it…

**_Credits to Bulbapedia, the Star Fox Wiki, and the Kingdom Hearts Wiki for all the info._**

**_See you next time in Chapter 36! Remember to REVIEWWWWW (please)!_**


	36. SPECIAL — Kirby's Christmas Tale

**_My sister just did something rare!  
>She told me to take on this dare:<br>Use limericks for this chapter  
>And that's that—what a bummer!<br>Well, let's see how things shall fare._**

**Pikachu:** And did you just make each of us  
>Talk in these rhymes and make a fuss?<br>My dialogue's so weird!  
>It's worse than I'd feared.<br>Wow, limericks cause such a big ruckus!

**_I'm sorry, but just deal with it.  
>My sister nearly threw a fit.<br>I'm a very nice person  
>So before things could worsen,<br>I knew I just had to submit._**

**Zelda:** _*shrugging*_ I honestly don't mind this much.  
>I'm used to strange poems and such.<br>Just don't make it odd  
>Or terribly flawed<br>Or your readers won't keep in touch—

**Robin:** _*interrupting*_ A canner, exceedingly canny,  
>One morning remarked to his granny,<br>"A canner can can  
>Anything that he can<br>But a canner can't can a can, can he?"

**Mega Man:** That was a great rhyme, but wait—  
>I'm lost. (Or am I just late?)<br>Don't try to misguide!  
>Now let's put that aside.<br>Hey, how were _my_ lines, mate?!

**Marth:** I hate these…uh…_limericks_ with a passion.  
>The style is so out of fashion!<br>Yes, they are strange.  
>My thoughts will not change.<br>Gahhh! I need a word! _…Ration!_

**Ike:** _*chuckling*_ I guess you were never a poet.  
>With each rhyme you manage, you sweat!<br>I'm don't like this, either,  
>But <em>you<em> sure need a breather.  
>So step aside, Martha—<em>I'm<em> all set!

**_Ike, be respectful to our friend  
>And bring the teasing to an end.<br>Here's the Christmas special!  
>It will not be dull.<br>I promise, no chaos will descend!_**

**R.O.B.:** _*confused*_ Today's not the 25th of December…  
>Christmas isn't till then, remember?<br>Hmm… I guess you couldn't help it,  
>So excited that you couldn't sit…<br>Ah, well. Let's just disregard the number.

**Snake:** Remember that bastard, Star Aurastorm?  
>The one whose aura had no form?<br>He hasn't appeared yet.  
>He's been banned, I bet.<br>That's pretty good—no trouble, no harm.

**Star:** _*randomly appears*_ _Form_ and _harm_ don't rhyme, old man!  
>And you say I've been banned? …What ban?!<br>I'm here, aren't I?  
>Not just passing by.<br>In fact, trouble's about to hit the fan!

**_Oh, jeez! You got through. Whoopee._  
><em>Well, Star, I'm <em>soooo_ sorry._  
><em>You're not welcome here<em>  
><em>Or anywhere near.<em>  
><em>I guess I'll just use…<em>Control Z_!_**

**Star:** _*angrily*_ Crap! Not _that_ thing again!  
>Your computer stuff is so <em>insane<em>!  
>I swear I'll be back.<br>I'll _never_ get the sack!  
>My ambitions I soon shall attain! <em>*gets deleted from the chapter*<em>

***awkwardly*_ …_Now_ let's get started, shall we?  
>Listen up—this chapter stars Kirby!<br>He'll tell us a tale  
>That has and will never fail—<br>Oh, shoot! We're late. _Quickly!**

* * *

><p><strong>SPECIAL — Chapter 36: Kirby's Christmas Tale<strong>

* * *

><p>…<p>

…...

…...…

…...…...

…...…...…

…...…...…...

…...…...…...…

…...…...…...…...

…...…...…...…...…

…...…...…...…...…...

…...…...…...…...…...…

…...…...…...…...…...…...

…...…...…...…...…...…...…

"…Poyo."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Kirby! You just broke the rule!<br>You needed a _limerick_, you fool!  
>But you know what? Forget it.<br>We're done with this bit.  
>Until Chapter 37—<em>_stay cool.__  
><em>**

**_…Oh, wait! I found something new:  
><em>_Rosalina's in _Super Smash Bros. U_!_**  
><strong><em>A newcomer at last!<em>  
><em>Now that's a real blast.<em>  
><em>Anyway, remember to <em>REVIEW_!_**


	37. Mind Games

_**My first thought after I wrote this chapter: Man, this is getting pretty intense.  
><strong>_

_**All right, let's try something new. This chapter focuses only on the "important" people who are part of the Subspace Army. None of the Smashers will make an appearance here (unless you count the mind-controlled ones as "Smashers"). There's a flashback that you might recognize from a previous chapter. (It's a flashback of a flashback! Hmm!)**_

_**Also, there's a lot of dialogue taken from **_**Metal Gear Solid_. You might learn a thing or two from them._**

**_Another thing—final exams are coming up, so I won't be posting for a while. I just wanted to let you guys know._**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here… **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 37: Mind Games<strong>

* * *

><p>"…Why the heck are you writing a chapter about the bad guys?"<p>

Well, why not? And the Subspace guys aren't necessarily _bad_ guys…

"Wait, say what?"

_CRASH!_

Uh… Are we seriously going to break the fourth wall in every single chapter…?

"Yes, and in every way possible."

…I deeply regret saying what I said in Chapter 35…

-ooo-

AntiSora usually was not one to freak out, but for some odd reason he was absolutely freaked out today.

_"JAAAAAAAMES!"_

The sunglasses-wearing fox slammed down the newspaper he was reading and nearly knocked his cup of coffee over the edge of the small table. _"WHAAAAAAAT?!"_

AntiSora rushed over and swept the newspaper and the coffee cup off the table. Then he grabbed James' shoulders and shook him back and forth. "This is _bad_! This is going to ruin _everything_!"

"You know what's bad?" James replied, glaring at the Keyblade wielder through his sunglasses. "My coffee's on the ground! And it was fresh from Starbucks!"

For a moment, AntiSora paused. "…There's a Starbucks around the Isle of the Ancients?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why didn't you ever…" AntiSora began to say, then changed his mind. "Ah, never mind." He roughly shook James again. "James! This is _very_ bad! Look at the author's message!"

James arched a brow. "…Author's message?"

"Yes, the _author's message_!" AntiSora answered impatiently, pointing upwards. "Right up there! In the bold and italicized words! _Look at it!_"

James tilted his head back and peered up. "_This chapter focuses only on the 'important' people who are part of the Subspace Army_… So?"

"EXACTLY!" shouted AntiSora. "Storm Aurastar's going to reveal all our plans! We're toast!"

"Hey, you know what's toast?" James said, glaring at the boy again. "We broke the fourth wall for an _entire page_!"

…Hey, guys… At this rate, the fourth wall will be irreparable…

AntiSora and James looked at each other.

"…Let's stop right here."

"I couldn't agree more."

-ooo-

The room was considerably large; measuring about fifty feet long, twenty feet wide, and twenty feet high, with large windows of laminated, bulletproof glass lining the walls. At both ends of the room was a sturdy steel door. Small blue lights situated directly about every other window gave the room an eerie glow. An eight-by-eight platform with the same kind of blue lights sat in the center of the room, each side lined by a glowing strip of blue. Standing in the middle of the platform, steel-spiked paws at his sides, was a Lucario. _**(1)**_

A soft voice echoed across the room. _"Welcome to the Training Center. Subject: Ferron. Training type: physical. Training level: 6. Number of opponents: six. Identity of opponents: random Super Smash Brothers."_

Because the training he was about to do was focused on his physical capabilities, Ferron was wearing a pair of gloves and ankle braces that prevented him from using his aura powers. But there was a catch: If he were to use a move such as Aura Sphere, the restraints would absorb the aura and discharge it onto Ferron himself. With this in mind, he was careful not to attempt to use any of his special moves.

_"Training session begins in three…two…"_

The air shimmered, and three figures materialized. The first was a short, somewhat plump plumber with a brown mustache who wore blue overalls, a red shirt, and a red hat with an _M_. The second was a Hylian wearing a green tunic, brown boots and gloves, and a green hat, and armed with a purple-hilted sword with a stainless silver blade. The third was a pink, spherical creature with stubby arms and large red feet. All three newcomers had black eyes void of any expression.

_"…one."_

The red-clad plumber ran up to Ferron and threw out his fist. The Lucario sidestepped, grabbed his opponent's arm, and threw him over his shoulder, causing him to collide with the Hylian. The pink puffball floated above Ferron and transformed into a pink, squinty-eyed stone that the Pokémon managed to evade by backflipping. The stone transformed back into the pink puffball and jabbed at Ferron with his stubby arms; the Lucario jumped over his enemy, picked him up, and launched him away from the platform. The puffball slammed into one of the windows, which shuddered upon the impact but did not break.

In the meantime, the plumber and the Hylian had recovered from the crash, and the latter slashed at Ferron, who arched his back and narrowly avoided the sharp blade. He took hold of the Hylian's sword and wrenched it out of his grasp, then plunged the sword deep into his chest. The Hylian, having taken too much damage, dissolved into a shower of purple and black shadow bugs with his sword. Ferron then turned towards the plumber and gave him a powerful kick to the chest. The plumber sailed through the air, slammed into a wall, and instantly became a dispersing mass of shadow bugs. The pink puffball was flying back to the platform, but before he could attack, Ferron had stabbed him with the spike on the back of his right paw, and hundreds of shadow bugs immediately replaced his opponent, bouncing through the air before disappearing.

During the entire fight—to be more accurate, slaughter—Ferron had not moved from his position on the blue-edged platform. He glanced at his paws, exhaled slowly, and called out in a bold voice, "Who's next?"

The air around him and the platform blurred once again, and two figures appeared. They were human swordsmen with blue hair, flowing capes, and blue clothing; one of them wore a tattered bandana and had a two-handed, gold-bladed sword whereas the other had a much smaller, silver-bladed sword. Both of them had empty eyes of the deepest black.

_…A bandana…?_ Ferron found himself thinking.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the two swordsmen suddenly charged, their weapons pointed straight at him. He threw himself onto the platform and allowed the swords to run through the air above him. Then he flipped over onto his back and shot his feet upwards, catching the bandana-wearing swordsman in the stomach and sending him into the ceiling. The second swordsman stabbed his sword into the ground, just missing the tip of Ferron's ear. The Lucario shot back onto his feet and flip-kicked his opponent, who lost his balance and stumbled onto the ground. Ferron dived at him and pummeled him so badly that within seconds, he had become nothing but a heap of shadow bugs.

At that moment, the bandana-wearing swordsman returned to the ground with a ground-shaking _thud_, his hands still clutching tightly to his gold-bladed sword. The two ends of his ragged gray bandana fluttered through the air behind his head.

_A bandana…_

Ferron didn't give him a chance to attack and pounced on him, stepping on his shoulders and seized the frayed ends of his bandana. For a few awkward seconds, the Lucario played piggyback with the swordsman before thrusting his left paw into the area between his enemy's shoulder blades. Winded by the powerful blow, the swordsman dropped his sword, and both he and his weapon disintegrated into shadow bugs that quickly vanished in midair.

The Lucario took a couple of deep breaths to relax himself, noticing that he still hadn't left the platform. That satisfied him.

_When doing close-quarters combat, you should stay where you are and allow your enemies to close the distance between you and them,_ he thought. _That way, you can prepare yourself and get a counterattack ready. The more prepared you are, the better your chances of canceling out the opponent's move. Before they could attack, you strike them first and take them out as quickly as possible. And before they could attack, you must know how to take them out. It's all about speed and quick thinking. That's why you should stay in place rather than charge blindly at the enemy._ He paused. _…Where did I learn all that? I was never a big fan of CQC…and yet..._ He shook his head. _Ah, whatever. It's useful—that's good enough for me._ Ferron clenched his paws into fists several times and loosened the tension in his arms before speaking.

"And last but not least, who do we have?"

The sixth and final opponent left him frozen on the spot.

-ooo-

James allowed him to take a break from the Project, so Fox-X decided to do some target practice.

He was in a room with several thin platforms—several of which moved up and down or left and right, or had deadly spikes that no one would like to sit on—and twenty targets. About half of the red-ringed targets traveled irregular paths with no distinguishable patterns, while others remained stationary. Fox-X hoped that the speed of his Blaster would catch the traveling targets before they could fly off to another part of the room.

_"Three…two…one."_

He took off in a flash, barreling straight through the closest stationary target he saw and shattering it. A second target flew into his face, and he destroyed it with a fast punch. He jumped over a pit with spikes on the floor and plowed through another immobile target as he landed on the other side. Fox-X saw a target right above his head; a quick upwards kick smashed it apart.

"Four targets down… Sixteen to go."

Thirty feet away, a target was making its way downwards. Fox whipped out his Blaster and pulled the trigger twice; the first shot missed by a few centimeters and bounced off a wall while the second struck the target and broke it. Fox-X ducked to avoid the first shot, which eventually fizzled out and disappeared.

"Reflective walls, huh… That can be useful."

He used Fire Fox to destroy a target hovering near a platform above his head, then used Fox Illusion and shot through a target to his left. There was another target below him, but he saw that he'd have to go all the way around the platform he was on just to get to it. He drew his Blaster again, aimed it at the left wall, and, with unerring accuracy, fired a shot which ricocheted off the wall and hit the target, breaking it apart.

"Eight targets down, twelve to go."

_Hmm… He's smart,_ Fox McCloud said to himself within Fox-X's head. _He learns really quickly. I'm pretty sure Bowser couldn't have thought of using the reflective walls to his advantage… Then again, he doesn't have any projectile-based moves to start with. Pffft._

Fox-X went to another platform, jumped up, and did a midair axe kick to destroy a moving target. He followed that up with Fox Illusion and zoomed through another target, then grabbed for a ledge—which he missed.

"Oh, _crap_!" he cursed as he fell into a pit with spikes at the bottom.

_God dammit, you moron!_ Fox groaned inwardly. _You're gonna get me killed! Skewered like a shiskabob!_

Fox-X dug his nails and the toes of his boots into the smooth wall, trying to slow his fall. It did nothing but make him think that his nails would get torn off.

_Are you saying you don't know how to wall-jump,_ shouted Fox, _even though you are _me_, who knows how to wall-jump?!_

He continued to fall.

_CRAAAAAP!_

There was a bright flash. All of a sudden, Fox's vision cleared.

_…What the…?!_

His legs bent, and right before he could get speared by the spikes at the bottom of the pit, they pushed him off the wall and propelled him to the other side.

_Fox-X isn't doing this! …Wait! Does that mean…_

He continued to jump off the walls and climb higher and higher.

_…I regained control of my body?_

Within seconds, he had reached the top and clung on to the ledge. With a grunt, he pulled himself up and out of harm's way. Then he put his right hand to the metallic device on his head and pulled it off.

"Something's happened…"

With a gasp, he slapped his hands over his mouth. First he had saved himself from a spike pit, then he had removed the mind-controlling device on his own accord, and now he was physically rather than mentally talking.

Something had happened, all right.

-ooo-

"Note to self: Never, ever, _ever_ go to Shadow Moses Island without a winter coat…"

AntiSora stood in the field of white snow, shivering violently with his arms crossed in a futile attempt to conserve some body heat. His black Keyblade lay against his right leg, the Hidden Mickey pendulum swinging from side to side in the gentle but chilling winds. There was no sign of life on the snowy plain except for a couple of reindeer-like animals not too far away. One of them was much smaller than the other, indicating that it was the child of the latter. AntiSora watched them slowly plod across the frozen Alaskan tundra, snorting occasionally, their breaths turning into grayish mist.

_She pointed at the lumbering animals. "What are those?"_

_He followed her gaze and instantly recognized the creatures. "Caribou. To the Aleutians, the caribou is a symbol of life. It'll be spring here soon…"_

_"For us, too…" she murmured._

_"Yeah. Spring brings new life to everything. It's a time for hope. I've lived here a long time…but Alaska has never looked more beautiful. The sky…the sea…the caribou…" He spoke quietly. "…and most of all…_you_…"_

"Ha… Symbol of life?"

AntiSora picked up his Keyblade, shuddering when his hand made contact with its ice-covered handle. He muttered something under his breath and swung the Keyblade in a wide, sideways arc, sending out several flaming spheres at the caribou. When they saw the fireballs, they panicked and immediately fled; as they did, they kicked up clouds of snow that quickly turned the fire to steam.

The Keyblade wielder shouldered his weapon. "I don't think so."

This tiny, snow-covered island was, in early 2005, the test site of Metal Gear REX and the location of a top-secret test launch of a new type of stealth nuclear warhead. The facility housing REX was then quickly overtaken by "terrorists" who hijacked the Metal Gear, held some people hostage, and threatened to launch one of the Metal Gear's nukes unless the United States government gave in to their demands. Solid Snake was sent in to deal with the terrorist threat and resolve the situation. Things quickly fell apart, however, as he unearthed some unsettling secrets about the true nature of the base and his own origins. After this event, which became known as the Shadow Moses Incident, the base and REX were abandoned and left in ruins, only to be revisited by Snake in 2014 during another event known as Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection.

The snow made crunching sounds under AntiSora's feet as he trudged towards the island's abandoned nuclear weapons facility. It was in this building where the experiments for REX were conducted and the resulting data collected. With each step, he sank into the soft layer of snow that blanketed the entire island, leaving behind large footprints. As he came closer to the looming building, he saw the tracks of the two skis of a snowmobile. One quick glance was enough to tell him that they were fresh.

"So Master Tabuu must have transported me to Shadow Moses about ten or fifteen minutes after they left," he mused. "Riding off to wherever the Colonel sent the helicopter to pick them up after that one nut fest of a mission…"

He wished he could put aside five minutes of his time to pursue the mercenary, the female soldier, and the otaku. But even he had to respect the laws of time travel—the most important of which stated not to change anything that had already happened unless it was clearly necessary.

_Necessary, huh? Well, Snake is absolutely necessary for the events to come, so I definitely can't kill him… Meryl and Otacon are important to the future of the _Metal Gear_ universe as well, so they'll have to stay off the kill list, too._ AntiSora sighed and felt disappointed. _Fine, then._

He noticed clouds of black smoke rising into the air. He traced them to the wreckage of two badly scorched jeeps, one of which was perched at a precarious position on the very edge of a cliff, and approached them.

That was when he noticed something lying between the jeeps on the grease-covered snow. AntiSora's heart began to race.

_Could it be…?_

He ran towards the figure and began to make out the outline of a man's body. When he finally got to it, he saw what it was.

It was a man, all right, and a dead one at that. He lay on the blackened snow, his body covered in burns and bloody gashes, his face looking towards the sky, his dull eyes staring endlessly into the heavens. Strands of his long blond hair blew in the direction of the wind. Around his neck was a chain with a couple of frosted dog tags. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature about him was the large tattoo on his left arm bicep; it depicted a black sword with a black snake loosely coiled around it with the words _Temptation_ and _Revelation_ at the top. A rifle lay on the snow nearby, partially frozen.

"His death must've been a pretty _cold_ one," AntiSora said with a chuckle when he saw that the man's torso was completely naked. "Well, that aside…I found him. This is good." He stood next to the body and pointed at it with his Keyblade, which emitted a transparent purple beam that widened and surrounded the body. It levitated into the air—and then a copy of the body appeared.

Because the corpse would become an important object in the years and events to come, AntiSora was forced to make a copy of it. He really wished he didn't have to, since he didn't know what could go wrong when making a replica, but he had no choice but to do it.

"…Ah, shoot," muttered AntiSora when he forgot which body was the original. "Well, _phooey_…" He closed his eyes. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a Smasher by the toe. If he hollers, let him know—he's on display for the carrion crow." His Keyblade was aimed at the one on the left. "All right, then." He returned the body on the right to its original position on the snow. Then he went over to the rifle and picked it up.

"A missing gun won't do anything, right? It's just a gun… No one needs it. Except _you_," he said to the corpse, "of course."

AntiSora looked at a watch-like device on his left wrist and pressed the button on it to return to the present day.

"Sorry, but it's a bit too soon for you to go down to hell, Liquid."

-ooo-

_No, no, no, no, _no_…_

Of all the fifty-plus Smashers the AI of the training center could have chosen, why did it have to pick _him_?

_Please, no… Oh, God, _no_…_

He continued to have nightmares about him every time he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to drift, even though he didn't even know him.

_Why? Why? Why him? Why _you_?_

The man made no response. Ferron smacked himself in the head when he suddenly remembered that his opponent was a mere reproduction of the real thing. He possessed no human traits.

_Then why am I fussing over this?_

His opponent suddenly lunged forward, right hand drawn back for a punch. Ferron jumped back, almost stepping off the platform, when the man's fist nearly slammed into his chest. He dashed to a corner of the platform and crouched down, waiting for the man to charge and make that fatal mistake the previous five opponents made.

He didn't.

Ferron snarled in frustration and leaped at the man, his arms outstretched. He made a grab at his opponent's neck but missed entirely when the man dodged by lowering himself to the ground. The Lucario flew right over his head, and the moment he landed on the platform, the man sprang to his feet and trapped the Pokémon in a tight chokehold. Ferron feigned surrender, making the opponent loosen his arms, and he quickly shoved his elbow into his stomach and squirmed free.

"Not bad…not bad," he admitted to the man with grudging respect. "You're pretty good! Much better than the other guys."

His opponent replied by kicking him in the shins. With a grunt of pain, Ferron retaliated by punching the man in the shoulder. He let out a yell when the man suddenly took hold of his wrist and twisted his left arm, almost dislocating his shoulder. Ferron quickly did a cartwheel to untwist his arm, then proceeded to slam his foot onto his opponent's left thigh.

Punch, punch, kick.

Ferron was thrown off the platform for the first time since his training session began, and he collided into one of the Training Center's sturdy windows. The hard impact made him yelp and collapse into the cold ground, where he lay shivering and trembling with pain. He slowly lifted his head to see the man waiting for him on the blue-edged platform.

"You damn bastard," he growled as he rose to his feet. "I'll _kill_ you!"

Ferron struck like a bull.

The man struck like a snake. _**(2)**_

-ooo-

Fox McCloud continued to stare at the strange, metallic device in his right hand. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand and had a tiny light at the top. Every few seconds, the light flashed red and seemed to emit a very faint wave that made the Smasher's fur stand on end.

_I bet it's some kind of power that induces mind-control when the device is close to your brain,_ Fox thought nervously.

He closed his fingers over the mind-controlling device and mulled over all the things that had happened. How long had he been trapped in Fox-X's head? Days? Weeks? Perhaps even months? He had no idea. It was like his sense of time had shut down ever since James put the device on his head.

Speaking of James… Fox suddenly realized that it had been a while since his last face-to-face discussion with his father's imposter. He only spoke to Fox-X about things regarding Project MGZ…

_That's right… Project MGZ._ The Smasher folded his arms, deep in thought. _Does James know that I broke free of the mind control? Does anyone here know that Fox-X is now nonexistent? And because of that, what will happen to the Project? Will it be aborted? Or will no one realize anything?_ He sighed. _All these questions… I want some answers, but I probably won't ever find them._

Fox turned around and looked at the mind-controlling device in his head once more. Then he brought his arm back and flung it as far away from himself as he could. The metallic device shot across the room, bounced off a wall, and plunged into the depths of the spiked pit that Fox himself had almost fallen into just moments ago. The Smasher felt satisfied when he heard the device land at the bottom of the pit with a distinct _clink_. He hoped no one would find it…or get impaled by the spikes if they found it and attempted to retrieve it.

_I need to get the hell out of here._

He dashed to the door on the other side of the room and cautiously poked his head outside. His eyes, which had returned to the emerald-green hue they were before James put on the mind-controlling device, darted left and right. Seeing no one on either side of the hallway, he nodded to himself and turned left.

He stopped.

_What about James? I'll be leaving him behind if I escape…_

He stood there for a moment, contemplating his choices. Then he slapped himself.

_I'm suffering from the stupidest case of Stockholm syndrome ever._

Fox ran down the hall as quickly but noiselessly as he could, staying within the shadows. For the first time, he was grateful that he was in a Subspace-related area—a place where there was much more darkness than light, both literally and figuratively. He flattened himself against a wall and slunk into another, narrower corridor with even less light.

_Funny,_ he thought to himself as he crept through the hall. _There are no torches or anything, and yet there's light—even if it's just a little._ He glanced at the ground and the walls, which appeared to be made of some sort of blackish-purple, cloudy, glass-like material with streams of cyan streaking across them. _Maybe this glassy stuff is providing the light…_

He sneaked along the wall and tried to imagine that he was part of it. Each time a random Primid appeared, he crouched near the ground and waited until it had passed. He couldn't fight them because it would make a loud racket, and there were no places to hide the evidence of a scuffle—not to mention that every single Primid in existence had its own special number, meaning that a missing Primid would instantly catch the Subspace Army's attention.

The Smasher kept out his Blaster in case he needed it. There was no telling if he would unexpectedly come upon a squad of Primids or something. He hoped that wouldn't happen.

_I feel like some kind of legendary mercenary,_ Fox thought with a wry smile, remembering the bandana-wearing soldier back home.

Just then, he heard quiet footsteps just ahead. He slowed down his pace and, clutching onto the Blaster as if it were a lifeline, cautiously went towards the sound. The narrow corridor suddenly made a sharp right turn. Fox knelt down and peeked out from the corner to see a lone Scope Primid patrolling the hall, holding its Super Scope with a finger placed on the trigger, ready to fire at the slightest sound. It kept pacing around and throwing suspicious looks at a steel door it was guarding.

_Ah, jeez,_ Fox thought. _There's no way around. The corridor's too narrow to sneak past that Primid._ He squinted at the closed door. _I wonder what's in there—or who's in there. I really want to check it out…_ He glowered at the Scope Primid. _…but _that_ guy's in the way…ready to shoot any intruder on sight. Intruders like me…_

He heard a muffled _thump_. Apparently, the Primid heard it, too, because it immediately stopped walking back and forth and trained its Super Scope on the door. Fox tensed, his index finger quivering over the trigger of his Blaster. With his left hand, he reached towards the side of his face—only to remember that someone had removed his trusty headset before James stuck the mind-controlling device on him. He suddenly felt more vulnerable; he always used the headset to communicate with the rest of the Star Fox team and use the eyepiece to scan various things.

He silently swore to himself.

_Damn it… I _like_ that headset._

The Primid's bazooka remained pointed at the door. When silence followed the thump for about two minutes or so, it relaxed and resumed its pacing.

_What that thump was all about?_ wondered Fox curiously. _Something can't just randomly fall to the ground like that. But some_one_ can…_

_The question is…who is this "someone"?_

There was peace for about ten minutes. Then the steel door fell off its hinges and landed right into the Scope Primid, instantly knocking it out. The door itself crashed onto the ground, causing a loud racket. Fox jumped with surprise, his tail fluffing up like a cat's, and nearly pulled the Blaster's trigger. A stranger emerged from the room and glanced down at the unconscious Primid that lay spread-eagled on the ground, its Super Scope lying close by. From his hiding place, Fox saw that the stranger was a tall male human with long hair and wearing a tan trench coat, dark-colored cargo pants, and leather boots. He was unable to see his face because he had his back turned toward him.

"What the hell?" the Smasher heard him mutter.

_Welcome to Subspace, buddy,_ he thought sarcastically.

The man flicked aside a strand of his hair, and then turned his head.

Fox was so stunned that he thought his heart would stop beating. That face… He had seen it before. No, that wasn't true—he saw it almost every day before James kidnapped him. It was unmistakable.

He couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

"S…_ Snake?_"

-ooo-

There was never a time when people could only see black.

When they had their eyes open, their eyes were always able to pick up the subtlest traces of light within the black.

Even when they had their eyes closed, they did not just see black. Rather, they saw a multitude of colors that spun and swirled like slow tornadoes against a black background. Ten shades of green mixed with azure, cerulean, cobalt, and teal. Strokes of crimson mingled with dashes of yellow and violet. Gold blended with silver. It was a universe of colors.

Was there ever a time when people could only see black?

He had never seen anything blacker than this before.

The silence was deafening, droning persistently in his ears. His limbs felt numb. He could only feel the cold, glass-like surface against his back…probably the surface of a table. He breathed slowly—in, out…in, out…in, out. And all he could see was black.

Two words continued to echo in his head: _Shadow Moses… Shadow Moses…_

He found those two words vaguely familiar. In his mind's eye, he could picture a tiny, remote, snow-covered island on the southern tip of Alaska—the white stuff stood out like a beacon against the black—that was the location of a nuclear weapons disposal facility that housed a monstrous machine capable of wiping out the entire planet if its pilot was crazy enough to make it do so.

He heard a new word: _REX._

REX… That was the name of the machine. He remembered something about sitting at REX's controls, guiding the machine and launching missiles and lasers at a small figure below.

Small figures were insignificant.

Not always.

He remembered about a fistfight with that small figure. He had lost that battle, but he hadn't yet lost the war. He refused to be brought down by that other person. Then everything went wrong…

_"…Snaaaake…" A spasm of pain. They all knew what it was. "…FO… FOX…?"_

_"…DIE."_

_Black. Void. Nothing more._

Another word: _FOXDIE._

An engineered retrovirus programmed to kill specific people by identifying the person's DNA and their nanomachines, then causing cardiac arrest. Specific people such as himself…

Memories.

_"So the Snake's finally out of his hole? Are you ready now…my _brother_?"_

_"Why are you calling me 'brother'? Who the hell are you?!"_

_"I'm you. I'm your _shadow_."_

_"What?!"_

_"Ask the father that you killed! I'll send you to hell to meet him!"_

More memories.

_"We've got a spy working in the Pentagon. He reported that Dr. Hunter altered FOXDIE's program just before the operation. But…no one knows how or why."_

_"I wonder… Maybe they arrested her so they could find out the answer to that."_

He hated the second voice.

_"No doubt. But I had no idea she was motivated by such petty revenge… We still don't know what changes she made to FOXDIE's program. Oh, well. It doesn't matter. I've already added the FOXDIE vaccine to my list of White House demands."_

_Another question. "…There's a vaccine?"_

_"There must be. But that woman is the only one who really knows. Anyway, it might prove to be unnecessary."_

_"Why is that?"_

_He gave the details. "You were successful in coming into contact with all of us, so we must have all been exposed to the virus. It's true that the ArmsTech president and Decoy Octopus were killed by FOXDIE…but Ocelot, myself, and you, the carrier, were apparently unaffected."_

_Pondering. "A bug in the virus' programming…?"_

_Agreement. "Hm, could be. In any case, if it doesn't kill you then I'm not worried, either. After all, our genetic codes are identical."_

_Understanding. "So it's true… You and I are…"_

_Confirmation. "Yes, twins. But we're not ordinary twins… We're twins linked by cursed genes. _Les Enfants Terribles._" A phrase in French that translated to "The Terrible Children." One of them knew all about it, while the other was unaware until now. "You're fine. You got all the old man's dominant genes. I got all the flawed, recessive genes. Everything was done so that you would be the greatest of his children. The only reason I exist is so they could create _you_."_

_"…I was the favorite, huh." Sarcasm._

_"That's right! _I'm_ just the leftovers of what they used to make _you_! Can you understand what it's like to know that you're _garbage_ since the day you were born?! But…I'm the one Father chose."_

_"So _that's_ why you're so obsessed with Big Boss. Some warped kind of love…"_

_Incredulity. "Ha! Love?! It's _hate_! He always told me I was inferior and now I'll have my revenge! You should understand me, brother. You killed our father with your own hands! You stole my chance for revenge! Now I'll finish the work that Father began. I will surpass him… I will _destroy_ him!"_

_"You're just like Naomi."_

_An arrogant sneer. "Well, I'm not like you. Unlike you, I'm _proud_ of the destiny that is encoded into my very genes!"_

_A screech of metal. An amplified voice._

_"Snake! Your blood will be the first to be spilt by this glorious new weapon. Consider it an honor…a gift from your brother. Now, I'll show you! The power of the weapon that will lead us in the 21st century!"_

His own voice.

"…Sleeping late as usual, eh, _Snake_?"

_What th—?!_

The voice sneered with derision. "Hahaha! Just kidding. I really got you there, huh?"

_Where in the…?_

"…Uh, hey." He sounded impatient. "I know you're awake. Stop faking it."

_Where am I? Who is that? What's going on?_

There was a disappointed sigh. "Hmmm … Still playing dead, huh? Fine with me. Sleep all you want… Sweet dreams for now, Liquid. I have some important things to tell you later."

_…Liquid?_

The footsteps quickly left him. Something went _CLANG_. He was alone.

"Keep watch on him," he heard the voice say. "Shoot if you must, but don't kill him. Report anything that happens to me. And, uh…try to stay alive, will you? Master Tabuu won't be pleased…"

An alien-sounding gurgle responded to the order. The footsteps went away.

Bewildered thoughts continued to run through his mind. The voice had called him Liquid… Was that his name?

_"I have a name!"_

_"_No!_ We have no past, no future. And even if we did, it wouldn't be truly ours. You and I are just _copies_ of our father, Big Boss…"_

"No past, no future." He had said those words. Were they true? Or was his logic just flawed?

_He was appalled, his face pallid._

_"…FO… FOX…?"_

_He was expressionless, his voice impassive._

_"…DIE."_

Liquid's eyes snapped open.

"Gah—"

He quickly cut off his choking cry when he remembered about the guard outside. _"Shoot if you must…"_

_Good luck with that,_ he thought firmly. _I'm not about to be used for target practice._

His eyesight began to clear. When he tried to lift his head, he found his neck extremely stiff. He then realized that his entire body felt uncomfortably inflexible. It was as if he hadn't moved his body for…quite some time.

_So… What was I doing, sleeping for a week? A month?_

Then something struck him as odd.

_Wait a moment—I'm supposed to be dead. How am I still able to think to myself? This place certainly doesn't look like heaven or hell…_

He lay there for a moment, considering the possibilities.

_…Well, if Dr. Clark was able to revive Gray Fox after a bunch of landmines blew him apart, there _should_ be some way to bring a person back to life…somehow._

Liquid wasn't too sure of himself. But he decided not to ponder over such an unanswerable question.

He slowly stretched his right arm and poked around. His fingers felt the smooth surface of the table, and then there was empty space. Carefully, he slid his legs toward the right and hung them over the edge of the table, eventually touching solid ground. He tried to pull himself into a standing position, but he found his legs weaker than he had expected and collapsed onto the floor.

_Thump._

Hopefully, the walls were insulated.

_If not…that must have caught the guard's attention._

He lay there for a while, splayed out on the cold ground and shivering. He suddenly discovered that he was shirtless.

_It…is…blithering _cold_…_

When he felt like he had fully recovered from the fall, he cautiously picked himself back up, using the table for support. The tension and exhaustion finally left his legs, allowing him to stand on his own. Then he looked at his surroundings.

He was in a tiny room, no larger than a child's bedroom. It had no windows and one steel door that appeared to be locked. The room was completely empty, save for the table in one corner—the table that he was lying on just moments prior. A tan-colored trench coat hung on the wall next to him. With a blink, he remembered that this coat was his. He tugged it off and quickly put it on, not wanting to be exposed to the low temperature any longer. As he slid his left arm into the coat's sleeve, he saw the large tattoo on his bicep—a black snake coiled around a black sword with the words _Temptation_ and _Revelation_ at the top.

_Being tempted into finding out something horrible…or divine…_

He glanced under the table and found a gun. Right away, he knew what it was—a FAMAS, a French-made assault rifle that was one of his favorite firearms. He remembered that he had used it in a desperate attempt to kill the one whose voice he hated.

_"…DIE…"_

Then Liquid noticed that the material used for the walls and floor was one that he had never seen before. It looked like cloudy glass and was purplish-black in some areas and lavender in others. Thin, cyan-colored lines streaked across the glass-like material, offering some illumination. That probably explained why there were no lights in the room.

_I have no idea where I am,_ he thought, _but one thing is certain: This is not Shadow Moses Island._

He paused and looked around again.

_Actually, it doesn't look like anywhere in the United States._

He frowned, feeling a little confused.

_…Hell, this might not even be the same _world_._

Liquid stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the locked door. He approached it and examined the handle. Then, as quietly as he could, he pulled at it.

It did not budge.

_Locked from the outside,_ he told himself. _Well, then… I don't want to cause a big commotion, but as I am currently out of options…_

He took a few steps back and jabbed at the air with his left foot, testing out the speed and power of his kick. Then he went back to the door, brought back his leg, and shot his foot forward with seemingly superhuman speed.

_BANG!_

A single kick was enough to bring down the door. Liquid caught a glimpse of a four-foot-tall creature with a black face, green body, green cylindrical hat, blank red eyes, and a futuristic-looking bazooka before the door smashed onto the side of its head and knocked it out cold. The door landed on the ground with a loud _CRASH_. The sound echoed off the walls for several seconds before finally fading away.

Even Liquid was a little surprised at the clamor he had created. He took a deep breath, the stepped out of the room and into a narrow, dimly lit hallway. He stopped when he saw the unconscious creature on the floor, its limbs spread out in crazy angles. Now there was no doubt that he was in some other strange world.

"What the hell?" he muttered under his breath.

He paused to brush a few strands of his long blonde hair out of his eyes before turning away from the creature.

Someone gasped.

"S… _Snake?_"

-ooo-

AntiSora was having a quiet discussion with Tabuu.

"He was pretending to be asleep when I left him…"

Tabuu brushed aside the boy's concern. _"Leave him be. He just came back from the dead. It takes some time to get used to this fact."_

"Well, I guess that's true," admitted AntiSora, feeling sheepish. "After all, he doesn't come from a world where resurrection is possible…"

He noticed that his master seemed to be a little drained of his energy. Normally, Tabuu would hover tirelessly in the air, arms folded and legs slightly crossed. Now, though, he was slumped and breathing with more effort than usual.

"…Uh… Master Tabuu, are you all right?"

_"Restoring one's life has never been an easy task,"_ the Subspatial deity grumbled in reply. _"Next time, AntiSora, bring me a being who is still _alive_."_

"But, Master, you can't disagree that Liquid Snake was a good choice!" AntiSora retorted, defending himself. "He knows how to pilot Metal Gear REX, so he should know how a Metal Gear works in the first place! He should be a big help to Fox-X and Project MGZ. I know Fox-X is already close to completing the blueprints and things, but maybe Liquid can clean them up a little…or a lot…"

Tabuu nodded slowly. _"I like your logic there. Liquid Snake will be of significant assistance…"_ His expression became stern. _"However, I would very much appreciate it if you brought back a _living_ ally in the future. Understand?"_

AntiSora bowed deeply, smiling. "I understand, Master. Should I check on Liquid's status right now?"

_"No,"_ answered Tabuu._ "Let him be. He still has to become accustomed to the fact that he is in a completely new world…and is about to become a tool of the Subspace Army."_

"…A _tool_, you say…" AntiSora smirked. "I'm not sure why, but I like the sound of that… Haha…!" He turned away from Tabuu and walked toward the exit of the dark room. "Well, in any case, I guess I should go hunting for some more potential Subspace Army recruits…or Smashers who are on my kill list…"

-ooo-

The fox and the human gawked at each other. Fox McCloud had completely forgotten about the Blaster in his hands as he gaped at the human who looked so similar to a certain mercenary back home. Liquid Snake continued to stare at the anthropomorphic, clothed fox with a gun before him, wondering how the hell such a creature could exist. Both of them were too surprised to make a move.

Fox was the first to break the silence. He swallowed nervously and spoke.

"…Ummm… My bad…?"

_An anthropomorphic, clothed fox with a gun that _talks_?!_ Liquid thought. _Just where have I been taken to?!_

"You're not Snake…" Fox said, but he still sounded uncertain. "You look almost exactly the same as him, though… But your skin and hair color are completely different, so you can't be him. But the eye color… It's the same. Maybe a sibling…?"

_And now what's he rambling about?_ thought Liquid, still not moving a muscle.

"…never mentioned a brother to any of us, though," Fox went on, more to himself than to the human. "Actually, he never talked about a family… He might've told Lucario about it once or twice since they're really close together. Then again, his past is so traumatizing that he wouldn't want to bring up any subjects about his past to anyone in the mansion, including Lucario…and Samus…"

"…What was that?" asked Liquid, finally deciding to speak.

"…and now I'm talking to myself," Fox muttered. "Subspace must be driving me insane or something. God dammit." He got up from his kneeling position and relaxed a bit, but he kept his Blaster out. "Sorry about that. I mistook you for someone else." He held out his left hand, which didn't have the Blaster. "The name's Fox. What's yours?"

_A fox named Fox… It's true that he isn't a normal fox, but still—what a creative name._ "…Liquid Snake."

He did not take the fox's hand.

Fox arched a brow when he heard the second part of the name. "Liquid…Snake? Huh…" He slowly withdrew his hand when he realized that Liquid was not about to shake it. "Huh… Solid and Liquid… Okay… There's definitely a relation…"

Liquid blinked twice. "Excuse me?"

"Great, I'm talking to myself again." Fox heaved a long sigh and cleared his throat. "Never mind. I should get going."

"Oh? Where to?"

Fox's ears drooped. "Well, uh…to tell you the truth, I'm trying to get out of here."

Liquid gestured to their surroundings. "Where exactly is 'here'? This place is completely unfamiliar to me."

"It's called the Isle of the Ancients." In a darker voice, Fox said, "There are many things about this place that are best to remain unknown. But you'll probably learn about them, anyway. Are you new here?"

"Of course," Liquid answered. "I come from a place where walls and floors do not look like glowing purple glass, green creatures with bazookas do not exist"—he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder—"and foxes are not anthropomorphic and do not talk, wear clothes, or know how to use guns."

Fox nodded thoughtfully. _Yep, they're definitely from the same world. There's no doubt about it._ "All right. I understand you completely. If that's the case, there's a lot of crazy things here that are going to be really hard for you register at first." He pointed at the knocked-out creature behind Liquid. "That thing over there is a Primid. This one's a variation of the basic type. It's called a Scope Primid for the Super Scope it uses against enemies. There are several other types of Primids—the regular kind, Sword, Boom, Fire, Metal, and Big. But they're all at the same level of the hierarchy of the Subspace Army—they're the foot soldiers, also known as the lowliest members."

"Subspace Army?"

"It's an army, obviously, but it's nothing like the armies in your world. This army is hell-bent on taking over the Smash World and all the other worlds out there. The Smash World," Fox said before Liquid could ask another question, "is where we are right now. This place—the Isle of the Ancients—is in the Smash World's most remote corner." He glowered and added, "It's totally empty here, except for the members of the Army. It goes without saying that the Subspace Army would love to camp out here…

"My friends and I defeated the Army several years ago, but now it's regaining its strength. They actually took me and brainwashed me into drawing up plans for this machine of mass destr—" He stopped.

Then the blood drained from his face.

"Oh, no," he whispered.

"What's wrong?" demanded Liquid.

"The blueprints…" murmured the fox. "They're still in Department Z. And I'm supposed to be there. Oh, son of a freaking Towtow—" He gave himself a slap on the forehead. "_Crap!_ I am so screwed!" He raced past Liquid, jumped over the door and Scope Primid on the ground, and zoomed down the corridor. "I shouldn't be out on a stroll like this…!"

Liquid called after him.

"So now you're just leaving me behind?"

Fox screeched to a halt. "If you have nowhere else to go," he shouted over his shoulder, "then come with me!" With that, he took off again.

Liquid hesitated for a moment, then quickly went back into the room whose door he had kicked out. He snatched up the FAMAS under the table, quickly checked it to make sure every part was fine, and went after Fox.

_Okay,_ thought Fox. _I'm starting to hate feeling like some kind of legendary mercenary. I'll _never_ be able to do his kind of work… Seriously, though, how does he deal with it? He has to sneak around during the whole mission and avoid detection from the enemies, instead of having to defeat all the enemies, which is the case of most Smashers like myself._

He felt relieved when he remembered that James had taken him—rather, Fox-X—on a quick tour around this part of the Isle of the Ancients. Otherwise, he would have lost his way the moment he went to some place other than Department Z…

Liquid found it a little difficult to keep up with the fox. Whereas he was a total stranger to this place, Fox had already been here for a while. During the run, Liquid was able to follow the fox only because of the bobbing white tip of his tail.

_First there was FOXHOUND and Gray Fox, and now _this_… I'm sick of foxes. **(3)**_ Liquid did his best to follow the fox that lead him through a confusing maze of shadowy hallways.

"Don't make any wrong turns!" he heard his companion say. "Otherwise, you'll get lost in here with no one to help you out!"

"All right, you mutt… Shut up," murmured Liquid under his breath, feeling annoyed.

Fox made an abrupt left turn and vanished. Not wanting to lose sight of him, Liquid quickened his pace to close the distance between himself and the fox. He turned left and suddenly found himself in an enormous room whose ceiling toward over his head. He noticed that Fox was already bustling around with a small stack of stapled papers on a wooden desk. Then he looked around and was stunned to find a horrifyingly familiar sixty-foot-tall object at the back of the room.

"Metal Gear?!"

Fox looked towards the direction of Liquid's gaze. "Yep," he confirmed.

"…But…it can't be…! Metal Gear should still be on Shadow Moses, partially destroyed by…!"

"Which one?"

"The one called REX…"

"Oh. About that." Fox set aside the papers and stared at the machines. "Those Metal Gear aren't from your world. We Smashers weren't allowed to take the originals from the world they come from, so we had to make copies."

"…Smashers?"

"Super Smash Brothers." Fox put a hand on his chest. "I'm one of them. The last time I checked, we had fifty-plus members. Our greatest enemy is the Subspace Army, which is camping out right _here_ in the Isle of the Ancients… Our goal is to defeat the Army and its leader. Most of the time, though, we aren't fighting them, so we live in this place called the Smash Mansion to train, have fun, get blown up, and do all sorts of awesome—and sometimes wacky—stuff." He paused. "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be saying this, but…I think there's a Smasher you oughta know."

"Who is it?" Liquid asked inquiringly.

Fox remained cautious. "…Do you know anyone who goes by the name of Snake?"

Liquid was silent. But within his mind, he was seething with rage. _Snake…_ How he loathed that name. He was the one who killed him, the one who stole everything good from him, the one who took the lives of his comrades…

…and the one who was his brother.

When the man did not say anything in reply, Fox began to feel a little anxious. "…Did I say something wrong?"

"…No," Liquid muttered. "The name is…unfamiliar."

_That's obviously a lie,_ Fox thought. _But I won't say anything. He looked pretty pissed when I said Snake's name._ "Well, that's too bad. All right, then. The reason all those Metal Gear are here is so that I could refer to them when designing this monster right here." He tapped the stack of stapled papers next to him. "The Army forced me to do it… There's no way I'd be willing to make something like this! But they brainwashed me…"

Liquid went to him and looked at the papers, finding many neat sketches of some sort of machine. With a jolt, he recognized parts of Metal Gear REX on the sketches.

"What the hell are you doing—designing a Metal Gear?"

"Uh-huh," Fox agreed grimly. "I wish I could burn 'em."

Liquid was appalled at what he had just heard. "_What?_ Burn them?! This is a _Metal Gear_! Why, you can control the whole world with this weapon at your disposal…"

"That's exactly what I do _not_ want!" Fox snapped. "The Army forced me to draw up plans for a machine of mass destruction! And you know what they'll do in return? They're gonna use it to wipe out the Smashers and anyone who tries to resist! Then they're gonna use it to terrorize the Smash World so they could rule the planet by fear!" He grabbed the left sleeve of Liquid's coat and tugged at it furiously. "In other words, you're looking at a dystopian future if you let the Subspace Army continue with this thing…!" He took a shuddering breath and quieted down. "Project MGZ… It _must_ be stopped. But it's already too far in. I'm probably can't do anything about it now. Tabuu will create MGZ and use it on the Smashers…"

With an unfathomable expression, Liquid slowly pulled Fox's hand off his coat.

_"And it's all my fault!"_ the fox exploded. "If I hadn't trusted James, none of this would have happened! I'm such a…such a…" He took a deep breath and slowly calmed down. "…I'm sorry. I gotta go. You're on your own now, Liquid." He nodded to the man. "The best of luck to you." Without looking back, he ran out of the room.

Liquid was hardly listening. He was mulling over Fox's brief explanation of the thing called Project MGZ. A dystopian future… Even he did not like that idea. But the whole thing about Project MGZ intrigued him. Perhaps he could use it… Why was he here at the Isle of the Ancients in the first place, though? Was it solely for the Project? He considered himself an expert on Metal Gear…

And then there was Snake. Liquid longed to take his revenge on his brother. That bastard—he deserved to die! It was the only thing that could satisfy him. But how would he do it? Barging in blindly would do no good; it would only get him killed—again.

_Maybe _that's_ where Project MGZ comes in…_

"Liquid? Are you in there?"

He gave a start when he heard that voice. He instantly recognized it—it was the voice that first spoke to him when he came back from the dead.

"Liquid! Why didn't you tell me that you were awake?"

The room seemed to darken as a boy came sauntering in. Everything about him could be summed up with one word: black. He had black skin and was dressed in black from head to toe. A large, black, key-like object hung from a chain on his pants. His yellow eyes stood out against all the black like two glittering stars.

_Black,_ Liquid found himself thinking._ Both on the outside…_

The boy approached him, grinning strangely. "Good morning, Snake. How was your nap?"

_…and in the heart._

Liquid's index finger curled around the trigger of the rifle in his hand. Was this kid asking to be killed by trying to get on his nerves? "Oh… Not bad," he replied, restraining his temper. "It would've been better if I had a blanket, though, because it was little chilly. And I'd greatly appreciate it if you called me Liquid."

The boy shrugged. "Okay, okay. But technically, you're still a Snake, which means I can call you Snake…"

"I would greatly appreciate it," Liquid snarled threateningly, "if you called me _Liquid_."

The other person just chuckled, unperturbed. He seemed to be greatly enjoying this little game of his. "Hahaha… You get angry pretty easily, huh…_Liquid_? I bet you got all the recessive genes for the ability to control your…_incredibly_ short temper. Poor little Liquid, with all the recessive genes," he crooned mockingly. "How does it feel to be overshadowed by your _superior_ brother? Hmmm?"

The one thing that Liquid hated most was when people talked about his genes. It was as though Big Boss hadn't brought up the subject enough times… It drove him mad. His brother had received all of their father's dominant genes, making him the superior one and Liquid the inferior…

_Inferior._ Liquid despised the word. It made him feel like he was the weaker one, the one who would die first. It made him feel like he was just a bunch of excess material that had resulted from the Les Enfants Terribles project.

It made him feel worthless.

Liquid began to lift the FAMAS. "You little son of a—!"

There was a blur of movement. The rifle was knocked out of his hand, and it flew across the room, spinning. It landed somewhere in the shadows with a loud _clack_.

_…Did he just…disarm me…?!_

The boy shouldered the key-like object in his right hand. "Before we start trying to kill each other—which, in your case, will be a totally hopeless battle—allow me to introduce myself." He bowed toward Liquid. "Greetings. My name is AntiSora." He straightened up and tilted his head, as if he were thinking something over. "You know, you should be thanking me."

Liquid narrowed his eyes as he took a step back. The feeling of being unarmed had greatly unnerved him. "…Explain."

"I went to Shadow Moses and brought back your body for Master Tabuu to revive you. Otherwise, you'd still be as dead as a doornail, lying on the snow for the ravens…" AntiSora laughed again, his yellow eyes shining crazily. "Welcome back to life. The Subspace Army needs you and your skills in order to accomplish its goals. I'm surprised you found your way here… Just to let you know, you'll be sticking around here most of the time in the future, mostly because of _those_ things…." He pointed at the machines at the back of the room. "…and that." He nodded toward the papers on the table. "We need you for Project MGZ."

"MGZ… What does that stand for?"

"Metal Gear…Z. I can't tell you what _that_ stands for…yet." AntiSora put his hands on his hips and leered at the man. "I know you know how a Metal Gear, so helping Fox-X with the Project shouldn't be too hard. You can ask him for all the other info."

"Fox…_X_?" repeated Liquid, sneaking a furtive glance at the door. The one who called himself Fox McCloud had left just moments ago…

"He's the designer of MGZ. He's a great guy…to the Army, that is. And then we'll get rid of him." AntiSora laughed. "Treated so nicely by James, only to be disposed of later… The life of an ex-Smasher is a sad one, indeed."

Liquid felt disgusted.

_This boy…AntiSora… He's out of his mind. I can't trust him. This must be why Fox said he was trying to escape from this madhouse. But if I go along with AntiSora, I might pick up a thing or two about Snake and those people called the Smashers, as well as the Metal Gear that Fox mentioned._ He nodded to himself. _That's it—I'm staying here. For now._

"Oh, that's right—there's something else I want you to do."

Liquid stared in puzzlement as AntiSora extended his hand toward him. He still had a wide smile on his face.

"I'd like you to help me capture and kill Solid Snake."

-ooo-

Still in a dream…

_"Isn't it beautiful? No red clouds… No shadow bugs to buzz around us. Let's enjoy this moment."_

_"No white clouds, either."_

_"That's okay. As long as there are no red clouds, everything is fine."_

Who spoke those words?

_"Hey… What exactly is _aura_?"_

Aura…

_"It's your life force. All living things have their own aura—the birds, the animals, the insects… Even the trees and bushes have auras. My species is known as the Aura Pokémon. That's because we have very strong aura powers, and we have the unique ability to use our own auras as weapons—like so."_

Lucario…

_"Impressive. Can you see aura?"_

_"That's our other ability. We can see everything's auras as well as use our own. All living things' auras have their own distinctive colors. Each color of aura describes the being's mood and personality."_

_"How do you see aura?"_

_"Er… That's kind of hard to explain. I suppose we just concentrate on an individual and look deeply into his eyes and heart. If we do it correctly, we should be able to use Aura Sight, which is the name of our aura-seeing ability. When we're seeing with Aura Sight, we see the auras and images of everything within a one-mile radius."_

_"So you can see things that are beyond your normal vision? Very impressive."_

_"Hey, thanks."_

When was the last time he had a discussion as friendly as the one in this dream?

_"Earlier, you said my aura was…fascinating. Well, what exactly is so _fascinating_ about it?"_

_"As I said before…most auras I've seen were mixes of colors that are positive, like bright colors and colors that make you feel happy or good. But when I first saw yours through the cardboard box, it struck me as…I don't know how to describe it…_odd_, I guess. I expected to see an aura that was mostly blue with bits of lavender and perhaps yellow or orange… Your aura has blue, yes, but the blue is overshadowed by the negative colors."_

_"…_Negative_ colors?"_

"Ferron…"

_"The darker shades of the positive colors… Your aura was mostly dark red, gray, and black. I saw flashes of blue-green and turquoise, the only positive colors. Even now…I mostly see dark red and gray. That's why I asked you if you had a long, hard life."_

Who had a long, hard life?

_"So you were practically born on a battlefield, huh? No wonder your aura is so discolored… I'm so sorry."_

Who was he talking to?

_"It's too late to be sorry. I'm just glad it's all over…for now. So what's _your_ past…Lucario?"_

Why did he call him that?

"Ferron…?"

_"H-huh? _My_ past? …I don't know my past… I woke up not knowing where I was. All I knew was that I was a Lucario. Nothing else. …I don't even know my own age, my own name…or if I even had a _family_ before I was involved in this mess…"_

A name?

"_Ferron!_ Snap out of it!"

The Lucario suddenly awoke and sat bolt upright, nearly bumping his head into a sunglasses-wearing fox's nose.

"Whoa, there!" exclaimed James, hopping backwards. "Careful."

Gasping for breath, Ferron stared into space. What had he just seen? Those memories were not his…

"Oi, Ferron… Are you okay?"

"…I'm…fine," he mumbled. "Just…a little shaken up…"

James extended his hand, which Ferron gratefully took. The fox helped him up, and then took off his sunglasses and hung them on one of the loops of his orange scarf. "A little shaken up?" He shook his head. "I think it's more than just that…"

Ferron looked at him. "What do you mean?"

James tilted his head to the side. "You were in the Training Center." The light in his red eyes became livid. "What's wrong with you?" he abruptly snapped, making Ferron's heart skip a beat. "Fighting CPUs that were at Level _10_, the highest level… You idiot, what were you thinking?! Hardly anyone here tries to take down a CPU at Level 10! They're ruthless! They're the strongest! They're _killing machines_!"

"…A-are they seriously that dangerous?" asked Ferron timidly.

"YES!" James bellowed into his face. "The Subspace Army could have lost a very valuable member because of your recklessness!"

The Lucario was taken aback by the fox's unexpected outburst. "W-wait, what? That's not true! I set them at Level 4!"

James began to calm down, and he raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "…Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive," Ferron replied confidently.

The fox still looked a little doubtful. "Well…that's really funny. I saw a Level 10 CPU beating you to a pulp."

"Huh. I see." Ferron saw that his right arm was in a sling. "What in the—?"

"Ah, yes. The CPU sort of…broke your arm while you were fighting it," explained James, scratching the back of his ear. "That's the worst injury. You also got some pretty big bruises and things, but those got patched up right away."

Ferron let out a low whistle. "That bad, huh? Wow… But I'm still pretty sure that I had set the level at 6."

"Maybe there's a bug in the Training Center's AI," James mused thoughtfully. "It seems unlikely, though. There was never a bug in the AI before, and I'm sure Tabuu would consider that when the Subspace Army was constructing it. I don't think even the strongest Trojan horse can penetrate its defenses."

"…Trojan horse?"

"It's the name of a certain type of computer virus. Go ahead and Google it later." James put a hand to his chin. "Gee… If I hadn't been passing by, you would have been mauled like hell—or, worse yet, _killed_…"

Ferron coughed politely. "That's why they should have made a _safer_ training center. Then I could have a second chance at defeating the Level 10 CPU that defeated me." He somehow managed to grin as he jokingly added, "Or they could have put up a sign that says something like, 'Warning! Danger of death.'"

James let out a hollow laugh. "'Danger of death'? Tch. How ironic. Is there a single place here where one is _not_ in danger of death? Welcome to the Isle of the Ancients, my friend. This is Subspace. There are no warnings here. There are no second chances here. There are no riskless places here. There is a risk around every corner. It's either kill or be killed. Tabuu does not care if you are killed… Hardly anyone here does. They have lost all their compassion towards their allies. You should be thankful that there are still some people here who are concerned with everybody's well-being, although there are very few of them." He paused, then added, "That does not include AntiSora."

Ferron's red eyes narrowed. "How does that _not_ include him? He cares for me. He feels sympathetic towards me when something bad happens."

"You are dense," said James bluntly. Before Ferron could argue back, he went on, "He does _not_ feel any sympathy for anyone at all, including his so-called friends…let alone his enemies. Deep down, he only cares for his own safety. You say he cares? That is where you are _very_ wrong. You shall soon see the sadist's true face behind that mask of sympathy."

"AntiSora is _not_ a—" Ferron began furiously.

"This is Subspace," interrupted James in a soft voice. "Nothing here is certain. What we see might not be there. What we hear might not exist. The lives we live might be illusions. The friends you make might be your foes. They are playing mind games with you. You are one of the pawns on a chessboard. The king will use you to his advantage until you are no good to him, and then he will get rid of you. We are all here for no other good reason than to play a dangerous game of chess.

"The truth is, Lucario…your mind is playing tricks on you. Some things are not as they appear."

Ferron's voice had dropped to a whisper. "…My name isn't…"

The fox remained silent. He patted a bewildered Ferron on the shoulder before putting his sunglasses back on and quietly leaving the Pokémon.

"W-wait!" stammered Ferron, panicking. "James! What exactly are you trying to tell me?!"

James McCloud did not stop walking nor turn around. However, he did offer a line of advice that only further baffled Ferron.

_"Remember who the real enemy is."_

-ooo-

_"Ah… So his mind-controlling device has finally worn off, hm?"_

The two blood-red eyes continued to watch the fox.

_"I wonder just how bad your case of Stockholm syndrome has become, little Smasher_…_"_

There was a small movement to his left. He turned his head in time to see another fox disappearing into a corridor.

Tabuu smiled with dark amusement, eagerly anticipating all the mayhem soon to follow.

_"As for you, James McCloud_… Let us see what the king has in mind for the pawn."__

* * *

><p><strong><span>PREVIEW — Chapter 38<span>**

_"Guys!"_ Wolf yapped. "Are you deaf? Get your asses here _right now_!"

The other three Smashers immediately crowded around the wolf. "Why? What happened?"

Wolf crossed his arms. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this game is called _Slender: The _Eight_ Pages_, right?"

"Yeah," Falco confirmed with a nod. "It's called _The Eight Pages_ because there are eight pages to find. Why?"

The Star Wolf leader turned back to the laptop screen, which appeared to have unfroze. "…Then pray tell me why there is another page pinned to the tree right in front of me."

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Fox McCloud

**Also known as:** Foxy or Foxy-boy (by Falco Lombardi and Wolf O'Donnell)

**Age:** 28

**Species:** Cornerian red fox

**World of origin:** Corneria

**Video game(s):** _Star Fox_ series

**Quote:** "Don't relax. We're not done yet!"

**Occupation:** Fox McCloud is a young Cornerian whose father, the renowned James McCloud, was apparently killed by the mad scientist Andross when he was just a teenager. He swore that he would avenge his father's death by killing Andross, a goal he managed to accomplish after a period of several years. He displayed exceptional aerial skills even at a young age, allowing him quick access to the Cornerian Flight Academy, where he sharpened his Arwing-piloting skills. Currently, he is the leader of the Star Fox Team.

**Fun fact:** He sometimes complains about not being paid enough for his missions.

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

**_(1)_** This is a reference to _The Hunger Games: Catching Fire_. That movie is amazing.

_**(2)**_ This is a reference to _Legend_, a book by Marie Lu. You should read the series; it's awesome.

**_(3)_** You might recognize this as a line from Solid Snake's Codec conversation concerning Fox McCloud in _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_.

* * *

><p><strong><em>All right, I admit it—this chapter was slightly rushed at some parts.<em>**

**_Liquid Snake and James McCloud… They're such enigmatic characters, especially the latter one. Not only in this fanfic, but in their respective games as well.  
><em>**

**_Credits to GameFAQs for the script of _Metal Gear Solid_, and credits to my own fanfic for that flashback._**

**_Pleeeeeease _REVIEW_! It's _free_ and _ea-syyyy_! Just click the text box (or the Review button, if you're on the mobile site)! And if you leave a review for Storm Aurastar, you'll receive a _newwwww chapterrrrr_—AFTER MY FINAL EXAMS!_**

**_…Oh, and good luck to those who are also frantically studying for their exams!_**


	38. Error Code EXE

**_Jeez… My finals ended _last month_ (and rather badly, too…), and I never updated this fanfic until now! I'm really sorry, everyone._**

**_If you're a creepypasta fan, you might find this chapter enjoyable. If you plan to hate creepypastas until hell freezes over…just deal with it. This one's important to the plot._**

**_And I understand that it's almost spring, but hey—I like snow._**

**_Also, since I just watched _Frozen_…uh…_Do You Want to Build a Snowman?_ and _Let It Go_ are now stuck in my head. Just skip all the song parts of this chapter if you want._**

**_AND PLEASE LEAVE A VOTE FOR MY (very interesting) POLL! Thanks in advance!_**

**_Here's Chapter 38! Enjoy._**

**DISCLAIMER: I own neither the Smashers nor anything related to them! And _Slender_ belongs to Mark J. Hadley.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 38: Error Code EXE<strong>

* * *

><p>Klonoa plastered his face against the windowpane, ignoring the coldness of the glass. His gold eyes sparkled with glee.<p>

"Wow! Just look at all that snow!"

At some point during the night, snow had fallen over Smashville, blanketing the town in a layer of soft white fluff. Translucent icicles dangled from the edges of the Smash Mansion's roof, gleaming and seemingly glowing in the rays of the morning sun. The winter-bare elms, maples, and oaks blazed in the sun's glow, their branches spiked with icicles. There were already some kids fooling around in the snow, making snow figures and having snowball fights. Klonoa was sure that he saw a vaguely Pikachu-shaped snow figure near one of the elm trees.

"I haven't seen this much snow ever since I left Mira-Mira," he murmured to himself, "and that was a pretty long time ago. Maybe I should go out and enjoy it while it lasts. I wonder how long the wintertime is here… In Mira-Mira, it's eternal. I like snow, but seeing it every day will definitely make me incredibly bored…"

"So—you wanna go out for a bit or what?"

Gantz and Chipple stood in the doorway of the living room, grinning widely. Both of them were bundled up in winter clothing so they would not catch a cold.

"If you want to stay inside and keep warm, then we'll keep you entertained by building a snowman of you, Klonoa," Gantz said with a chuckle.

Chipple suddenly grinned. _"Do you want to build a snowman?"_

The smile on Gantz's face instantly vanished. "…Uh-oh."

_"Come on, let's go and playyyyy!"_ the kangaroo sang, prancing around.

"Chip, now isn't the best time to—"

_"I never see you anymore. Come out the door! It's like you've gone awayyyyy…"_

"You liar! You see me, like, every d—"

_"We used to be best buddies!"_

"B-but we still are!"

_"And now we're not."_

"LIES!"

_"I wish you would tell me why…"_

"But… But Chipple—"

_"Do you want to build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman!"_

Klonoa's face turned beet red. "That's right! It's not gonna be a snowman!" He rushed out of the living room and dashed up the stairs, most likely to go to his room and throw on a coat and a scarf. Then he reappeared before Gantz and Chipple just as quickly as he had disappeared, and he gave them a thumbs-up. "Okay, guys!" he proclaimed. "Last one outside will get a lovely snowman of his beautiful self!"

_"Do you want to build a snow-Smasher-that-hopefully-won't-be-meeeee?!"_ Chipple confirmed in a rush.

None of them wished for his companions to build a snow figure of him, so they raced toward the foyer as quickly as their legs could take them, their scarves and hats trailing behind them. Zelda was just walking out of a hallway when they gusted past her.

"Beware of falling icicles… Never mind," she grumbled when none of the three Phantomilian Smashers appeared to have heard her. She watched the three Smashers sprint toward the main entry doors, shoving at each other to stall them, and throw themselves outside and into the soft snow. She shook her head and sighed in exasperation. "They're so immature…!"

Link stood next to her and took her hand. "Leave them be, Zelda," he said. "Let them have fun in the snow. You know, I actually spent some time playing in the snow while rescuing you from Ganondorf back then…"

The Hyrulean princess withdrew her hand and stared at him. "…I was in danger, and you decided to have some leisure time?"

Sensing that she was probably about to blow, Link quickly raised his hands and backed away. "H-hey, I didn't have any leads at that moment! What could I do? Sit around and wonder where the heck the next clue to your location could be? Zelda, I honestly think I deserved a rest!"

Zelda turned away from him, her arms folded. "So…the snow is more important… Hmph."

Link blinked several times before facepalming. "Aargh… You just don't get it…"

By now, several Smashers had joined the three Phantomilians outside and were doing all sorts of things in the snow. Klonoa and Chipple were making a snow figure of Gantz while the said Smasher attempted to resist the urge to shove his guns into their faces, and Chipple continued to sing _Do You Want To Build A Snowman?_ at the top of his lungs. Toon Link and Tetra were having an intense snowball fight with Popo and Nana. Yoshi continued to struggle to unstick his tongue from a low-hanging icicle. Kirby and King Dedede were eating as much snow as they could while Meta Knight just sat on a tree branch and stared at them in a "you have got to be kidding me" way. Taki laughed and laughed at the poorly constructed snow figure of Pikachu, which the Mouse Pokémon noisily ranted and raved at.

"Zelda, we should do something, too." Link looked at the princess and smiled. "There's a lake not too far away from here. It should be completely frozen over now. I hope you have ice skates."

Zelda blushed and nodded. "That would be wonderful. And yes, I have skates. Let's go, shall we?"

Ganondorf popped out of a room. "Am I invited?"

"No," Link answered bluntly, "because your weight would crack the ice."

Before the Gerudo could manage to formulate a response, the two Hylians had run off, laughing loudly.

"…Wh-what the…?!" he spluttered. "Why, you little…!"

Outside, the snowball fight between the cartoon Hylians and the Ice Climbers raged on. Had it not been for Toon Link and Tetra's practically infinite arsenal of bombs, Popo and Nana, with their powers over ice, would have overwhelmed them in a heartbeat. The cartoon Hylians held them off by packing small but very explosive bombs into their snowballs—now dubbed "snow bombs"—before throwing them at their opponents and ducking behind their wall of ice.

"There goes another one!" warned Popo, pulling Nana behind the safety of their fort.

_Boom!_ A snow bomb exploded in midair, harmlessly spraying the Ice Climbers with small particles of white fluff. Nana jumped back up and stuck her tongue out. "Ha! Is that the best you've got?!"

"Not even close!" Toon Link shot back. He pulled out his bow and an arrow, stuck a snow bomb on the arrow, and let it fly. "_Hasta la vista_, guys!"

_Kaboom!_ A snowball went flying toward the Ice Climber's fort at an alarmingly high speed. Popo and Nana ducked behind their wall, even though they knew that it would not be enough to protect them from the oncoming projectile.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you, Nana."

"Same here, Po—"

_Slash!_

Popo peeked out and gasped. "M-Meta Knight!"

The Dream Lander tucked away his golden sword, stamping out the remnants of Toon Link's snow bomb arrow. "Let's not use any high-velocity ammunition, okay?"

Tetra gave Toon Link a playful punch on the arm, winking as she did. "He's right, you know."

The cartoon Hero of Time kicked her in the shins. "Ah, shut up."

"I'm just telling the truth," she told her matter-of-factly.

"Well, I don't like the truth," he replied.

A dollop of snow hit him on the back, and Toon Link looked up sharply to see Pit swinging down with a triumphant grin.

"Oh, sorry, Toon, did I get you?"

"You're hilarious, Pit. Really." He quickly shook off the snow before it could melt and soak his clothes.

"Pit, that's no way to treat a hero," Tetra said, her eyes flashing gleefully.

Toon Link sniffed. Hero? He sure didn't feel like a hero. Maybe he did when he first saved Zelda—rather, Tetra—from his timeline's Ganondorf and became known as the Hero of Time of his day. But after that, he became accustomed to living in a place filled with heroes from all over the universe. He ate, drank, screwed up, and slept like everyone else, and felt the same way as he always had. Frankly, he had expected better. What did he have to do to get some more respect? He had befriended fierce pirates and fought the Helmaroc King. He had traveled through the Great Sea and plunged into searing volcanoes. He had even controlled the winds!

And now he got snow dumped on his head.

Heroes did not get snow dumped on their heads.

With a disgruntled sigh, Toon Link moved over to make room for Pit, who lighted down and immediately began to make a snowball. "How's that snowball fight going?" he asked.

Toon Link pouted. "Meta Knight forbade me from using snow bomb arrows."

"How about just plain old snow bombs? _Hiya!_" Tetra flung a snow bomb at the Ice Climbers.

_Slash!_

"Oh, come _on_!" she moaned in frustration as Meta Knight calmly brushed off the small clumps of snow clinging onto Galaxia's golden blade.

"And no explosive ammunition."

"Tell that to _them_, puffball!" the pirate snapped, jabbing a finger at the giggling Ice Climbers. "They're using their special moves!"

Much to the Pikachu snow figure's builders' chagrin, Pikachu had fried the snow figure of himself into a steaming heap of slush. Taki was doing this best to comfort them.

"Hey, I'll beat him up for you!" he suggested cheerfully.

Inside the Smash Mansion, Falco Lombardi and Wolf O'Donnell watched the Smashers play in the snow.

"In all honesty, I'm not too fond of snow," said Falco. "The way it soaks my feathers… No, thanks. I prefer the air."

"But snow is just frozen water," Wolf told him. "And you never complain about rain."

The falcon waved him off. "That's somethin' else."

"…All right, then." The lupine Smasher then broke out into a smile. "Hey, guess what I got for Christmas?"

"What? A new video game?" Falco started tossing out random game titles. "_Call of Duty_? _Assassin's Creed_? Maybe some weird _Star Fox_ game that I'd never heard of?"

Wolf's brow wrinkled. "…I'm not a fan of video game simulations of events where Star Fox beat Star Wolf's butt."

"Every single time," Falco said, nodding proudly. "So what is it? _Halo_? _Metal Gear_? _Pokémon_? _Half-Life 3_?"

Wolf stared at him before grinning like an idiot. "Whoa… _Half-Life 3_ confirmed?!" _**(1)**_

Falco exploded. "_Haaaaha!_ What you did there I see! Awesome that was! Speaking like Yoda I am! Absolutely no idea why I have! …But seriously," he said after a brief pause, "what is it?"

The other Smasher waved a disc in his face. "This."

Once again, Falco exploded.

_"Slender: The Eight Pages_?! Aw, man! Even though it's outdated…that's an _epic_ gift."

"Yeah, I know, right?" The wolf paused, then frowned. "…I'd gladly rub this game into Fox's face all day, every day—if only he were here…"

"I'm sure he's still doing fine," said Falco in a low voice, reaching over to give the lupine Smasher a light pat on the shoulder. "He's a tough one. He'll bust outta there soon."

The two Cornerians stood there for a while, not saying anything. Outside, Toon Link, Tetra, and the Ice Climbers continued to pelt each other with snowballs, while Taki forced Pikachu to reconstruct the destroyed Pikachu snow figure from before.

"…Hey," said Falco. "How'd you get that game, anyway?"

"That guy called Storm dropped it off," replied Wolf, thinking about the boy he had met during the infamously crazy Halloween that involved brainwashed Smashers and a guy called Star. "He said a friend of his gave it to him, but first he watched PewDiePie's walkthrough and got freaked out by it, so he passed it on for me to mess around with."

"Damn, that's nice. You wanna get started right now?"

"We need more players. Let's check out the party poopers in the living room."

-ooo-

_"Let it gooo, let it goooo! Can't hold it back anymooore! Let it gooo, let it go-oooo! Turn away and slam the do-oooor…!"_

Samus was in the library, lying on a beanbag couch and reading a massive book called _The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest_ by someone called AuraChannelerChris _**(2)**_, when she heard the two voices singing. She groaned and set the book on her face, wincing at its amazing, three-and-a-half-million-words-and-counting weight.

_Just great,_ she thought. _They're at it again._

She couldn't say that Lyn and Colette did not have amazing singing voices, nor that she did not like _Let It Go_, but she must have heard that song at least twenty times this week alone. It was starting to drive her a little crazy.

_"I don't caaaaare what they're going to sayyyyy! Let the storrrm raaaage ooooon… The cold never bothered me anyway."_

Make that _very_ crazy.

"…Uh… Hi, Samus."

The bounty hunter pushed the book up from her eyes with the tip of her fingers, and she saw a man standing in the doorway of the library. He wore a pair of glasses and a simple outfit of a white lab coat, light green T-shirt, and blue jeans.

"Hey, Otacon," Samus replied, recognizing him as the scientist her friends had rescued from the Subspace Army. "What's up?"

He shrugged as he approached her. "Nothing much. How's life?"

"How's life?" She just shrugged. "I dunno. I should check on it, shouldn't I?"

Otacon hesitated, confused by Samus' answer. He chuckled when he realized what she meant and decided to play along. "Aha… Yeah, you should. It's gonna turn sour if you don't."

"True, true," agreed Samus. She shut the book and slid it into a random bookshelf. "So. How's it going with your Subspace research?"

The otaku's expression suddenly became serious. "Oh. That." He sat down on a beanbag chair next to Samus' and brought out a MacBook Pro, which he opened. As his fingers flew across the black keyboard, he said, "Primid 0001 and I have been spending a couple weeks trying to hack into some Subspace Army-related networks. So far, we haven't been able to even scratch the surface. We are still trying to find some more information regarding the Army's Metal Gear. As of now, all we know is that it might have parts similar to those in the blueprints your friends stole from that base. But we have no idea about its structure or capabilities or anything. I'm getting worried because if we don't get any leads soon, then we have no chances of stopping it."

"The originals were strong enough," commented Samus, grimacing as she thought about the brief but violent brawl with the Smash Mansion's own Metal Gear. "None of us could put a dent into REX or RAY. MGZ is only going to be even stronger. It's hopeless."

"If you're prepared, it won't be," Otacon reassured her. "Snake knows how to take care of those things. He's had several encounters with them in the past."

"Speaking of Snake," said Samus, "where is he?"

"He went sledding an hour ago."

The bounty hunter stared at him. "…Sledding."

"Yes, _sledding_!" Otacon cheerfully confirmed. He snapped his MacBook shut. "I don't know if you know this already, but Snake is a dog musher as well as a mercenary, Smasher, and philanthropist—and a really good one at that. He was the winner of several dog sledding competitions in the past, y'know. I wouldn't be surprised if he went on to win the Iditarod…" _**(3)**_

"A dog musher, huh?" Samus tried to picture the Smasher riding in a sled being pulled by a team of dogs, and she couldn't help but laugh a little. "Sorry, but that's kind of hard to imagine."

Otacon chuckled. "I guess you're the kind of person who has to 'see it to believe it.'" He glanced at the clock on the wall. "He should be coming back around now. Let's go out and find him."

"No need," said a gruff voice.

Snake entered the library. For some reason, there were clumps of snow stuck to his hair. Otacon grinned and raised a hand in greeting. "Hi, Snake. What's with the snow?"

The mercenary plopped down and started to finger out the snow. "There's no better way to greet a guy who just came back from a sledding trip by having an angel unload a pile of snow onto his head," he said sarcastically, and he flicked a bit of the melting mush into the left lens of Otacon's glasses. "Pit's flinging snowballs all over the place. He's acting like he's never seen snow before. Damn kid's gonna give me hypothermia soon."

"Be careful with the snow, Snake," said the scientist, smiling and removing his glasses to wipe off the snow. "No anti-freezing peptide shots here."

Snake rolled his eyes. "I don't like shots."

"If you're able to singlehandedly defeat a Metal Gear," Samus said as she gave the mercenary a light punch to the shoulder, "then hypodermic needles should be nothing."

"They _are_ nothing," he agreed. "But there's more to it."

"…Huh?"

"You see," Otacon began to explain, "there was a time when he got a shot and it turned out that the injection—" _**(4)**_

Snake gave him such an intense glare that the scientist immediately shut his mouth and tried to hide behind his MacBook. Samus raised her eyebrows but decided not to ask any questions.

"So, Snake…you're a dog musher?"

Otacon flashed a grateful look at her and silently thanked her for changing the subject. Snake let out a long sigh and relaxed against another beanbag chair.

"_Was_ one."

"No, you still are!" insisted Otacon. "You're still really good at it! Don't be so modest. Tell her about how you won all those races before!"

"It's not good to brag…" said Snake with uncertainty.

"What's it like to ride a sled pulled by…" Samus took her best guess. "…ten dogs?"

"Sixteen," Snake corrected her. "It feels amazing. For the moment, you feel like you're free of all the burdens of life. The wind is rushing past you and the beautiful scenery surrounds you from all sides… You should try it out someday. But it's hard work."

"Don't worry. I've done things much harder than dog sledding. Ah!" Samus suddenly sat up in her beanbag chair and pointed toward the doorway of the library. "Where did that dog come from?"

A medium-sized dog with pointed ears and long black and white fur came trotting into the library, its pink tongue lolling out between its clean teeth. Snake immediately shot up to his feet and ran to it.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" he scolded playfully, kneeling down to scratch the dog behind its ears. "You're dirtying the carpet. Master Hand's not gonna be too happy…"

Otacon stood up and joined him and the dog. As Samus followed him, she noticed that Snake now looked more at peace with the dog. His blue eyes were no longer the cold ones of a soldier. They looked softer…and more _human_.

"You must like dogs a lot," she observed.

"Like them? It's more than that. They're my only family." He grinned when the dog licked his hand. "Isn't that right?"

Samus reached for the dog and pet its head. "That's it," she murmured. "Good boy."

"…It's a girl."

"Oh! Sorry! Good girl!" She ran her hand through the dog's soft fur. It rolled onto its back and let her rub its stomach. "What's her name?"

Snake made a face. "You should talk to Otacon about that."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Otacon cried. "What's wrong with Makoto?!"

"It's the name of an anime character. A _fox_ at that." _**(5)**_

"So what? That's much better than using the name of a…well, uh…_thing_!"

"I'd rather use names like Storm or Skye."

"Some of those are too violent-sounding."

"Then what about Faith or—" **_(6)_**

Otacon quickly cut him off. "You know what? Stop. You suck at naming things, and that's that."

"Did you just—"

"All right, that's enough," interrupted Samus, shoving the two men away from each other. The dog called Makoto just sat there, wagging her tail and staring at the three humans. "Let's do something other than argue in the library."

"Yeah, Otacon… Go watch some anime or something," Snake added, pushing the scientist.

"To be honest, I don't really feel like it," Otacon admitted a little sheepishly. "I just need some fresh air. Snake, Samus—let's go."

"But Otacon, Pit's out there and he's—" Snake began to protest.

His otaku friend smiled slyly. "Besides, you wouldn't let me suffer Pit's snowballs alone, would you?"

"…Nnngh…"

-ooo-

Wolf and Falco appeared in the doorway for the living room. "Good afternoon, ya party poopers!" the lupine Smasher announced, arousing the nine Smashers on the sofas. "Who's up for a little game of _Slender_?"

Two of the Smashers immediately got excited.

"_Slender_, eh?" Captain Falcon asked, grinning. "As in _Slender: The Eight Pages_ or _Slender: The Arrival_?"

"The first," Falco replied with a smirk. "I think the original is better than the sequel, anyway."

The F-Zero pilot sighed with envy. "I'm getting jealous of you, Wolf."

The other Smashers were reeling back in shock and fear because they hated horror and/or survival games. The moment he heard the title of the game, Red turned pale and started backing out of the room. "Uh…a horror game? I think I'll pass…"

Before he could dash out of the room, Ike had grabbed his vest. "Oh, come on," he said, laughing. "Why do you want to miss out such an amazing experience?"

The Pokémon Trainer made a face. "Um, no. I don't like creepypastas… In fact, I don't like horror games in general! And besides, I'd promised that I would take Yveltal out for a stroll today."

Ike rolled his red and released the Trainer. "Hmmm… Excuses, excuses. Don't we all just _love_ excuses?" He turned toward his right. "How about you, Martha? …Hey, Marth?"

The Altean prince was not present.

"But he was here just now…"

"Maybe it's because he also hates horror games," Red said before quickly running away to "take Yveltal out for a stroll."

"Or maybe it's because you're calling him Martha more than you call him Marth," said Lloyd, chuckling. Cloud reached over to give him a hard pat on the back.

Falco folded his arms. "So I'm just gonna assume that Captain Falcon and Ike are interested. Anyone else?"

Mr. Game & Watch stood up. "I hate horror games," he announced. Then he sat back down.

"…Okay…" muttered Wolf. "Anyone else?"

No one else spoke up. The lupine Smasher nodded and looked at Falco. "I guess that's all, eh?" He shrugged, then turned and left the living room. Falco, Captain Falcon, and Ike promptly followed suit.

-ooo-

"Let me summarize it all. You want me to help the Subspace Army develop a Metal Gear."

"Yep."

"Then you are going to launch this Metal Gear against your enemies, the Smashers."

"Uh-huh."

"You also want me to help you eliminate Solid Snake."

"You got it."

Liquid Snake paced across the floor, arms folded, his boots echoing through the room each time he took a step. The edges of his tan trench coat flapped noiselessly behind him as thoughts rushed through his mind.

"…How long has it been since Shadow Moses?"

AntiSora thought for a moment. "More than ten."

_More than ten years since the Shadow Moses Incident… More than ten years since I succumbed to the FOXDIE within Snake's body._ Liquid continued to mull over the number. _Ten… He must think I'm dead. Thanks to this brat, though, I'm not. As for Snake…I can catch him off guard… This is good. This time, _I_ shall emerge as the victor._

Solid and Liquid Snake's father had died by Solid Snake's hand. Liquid had been infuriated at this. His brother had taken from him the chance to show Big Boss just whom he was calling "inferior." By killing Big Boss, Snake had prevented Liquid from unleashing his rage upon him. He deeply loathed him for that.

_The only way to compensate for that,_ he decided, _is to kill Snake. Father preferred him over me, anyway. It's the best that could be done, and it's much better than nothing._ He turned around to face AntiSora, who was leaning against his Keyblade as if it were a cane. "Here's my answer," he told him. "I will help you with Project MGZ—" he held up a finger "—on one condition."

AntiSora raised a bemused brow. "And what could that be?"

"You said that Snake must be killed," said Liquid, "to which I strongly agree. However, because of some…er…_family_ issues, _I_ alone must kill him. It's not right if someone else took his life. So, if you want me to take part in the Project, then you must allow me to hunt down and kill Snake _by myself_."

The yellow-eyed boy chuckled. "A solo assassination mission…"

"…Yes, something like that," Liquid said, nodding slowly.

AntiSora smiled, laughing quietly. "Kill Snake by yourself? Nah…" He flung his Keyblade into the air and balanced it on the tip of his large shoe. "Sorry, but I'll have to say no to that. You wanna know why? Well, you sent your entire band of FOXHOUND guys to kill him…and they all failed due to various reasons." Still keeping the Keyblade standing on his shoe, he counted his fingers with each name. "Decoy Octopus died of FOXDIE. Revolver Ocelot got his hand chopped off by Gray Fox. Vulcan Raven was badly injured by Snake and then eaten by his own ravens. Psycho Mantis gave way to the wounds Snake gave him. And Sniper Wolf was shot in the lung before given a mercy killing." He showed Liquid his hand, all five fingers outstretched. "All your comrades, save for Ocelot, were killed by a single man. It's true that he had some backup—but even so, he was up against some pretty overwhelming odds, and he managed to get past all of them."

"…Ugh…"

"Then you went ahead and attempted to crush Snake with Metal Gear REX… You ended up crushing Gray Fox instead, and Snake was still alive. You two had a fistfight on top of REX, which you lost…followed by an intense jeep chase…"

AntiSora kicked upwards, launching the Keyblade over his head and right into his open hand.

"…and then _you_ died of FOXDIE."

Liquid narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "…How do you know all this? The Shadow Moses Incident was covered up by the government afterwards."

AntiSora just shrugged. "The government can't hide everything, you know. And besides, I know _many_ things. I know more about you than you know yourself."

"…That's a little creepy."

"I'll take that as a compliment." The boy shouldered his Keyblade and stared into Liquid's eyes. "In short—it's a no-go."

With astonishing speed, Liquid lunged forward and lashed out at AntiSora. The latter had barely enough time to raise his key and defend himself from the blow.

"The hell are you doing?!"

Liquid grabbed AntiSora's Keyblade, yanked it out of his hand, and threw it aside. It made a noisy clamor as it clanged against the hard floor and skidded into a wall before stopping. Then Liquid took hold of the collar of AntiSora's vest and held him to his face.

"I'll say it again," he said in a low voice, watching the boy's feet dangle twelve inches above the ground. "I'm doing this _alone_. As long as it's my mission, I'll help you with MGZ."

AntiSora knew he had ventured into some dangerous territory, but nonetheless he let out a hoarse chuckle. "Heh… Very funny. You died once; you'll just die again. You need a partner."

Liquid threw the boy away from himself. "No."

"Excuse me?!" shouted AntiSora, stumbling backward. "What do you mean by that?!"

"That's exactly what I mean." The volume of Liquid's voice increased slightly as he repeated, _"No."_

"But why?!" AntiSora demanded impatiently. "You're on _another_ road to failure if you try to do this alone! Are you planning to do a reenactment of the stuff that happened in 2005? This time, you don't have FOXHOUND to back you up. Do you really want to die again?"

"I told you several times already. _I_ am the one who's going to kill him, and I _will_ kill him. No one else is interfering. That includes _you_." Liquid jabbed his finger into AntiSora's chest.

"I'm not interfering. I'm _helping_!"

"Oh, no, you're not," he snapped back. "You just want to swoop in and kill him yourself. I can see it in those murderous yellow eyes of yours, _boy_."

AntiSora seethed with anger. "You… You're guaranteed to fail."

"Fine. Keep sticking to your opinions. I'll have it my way and prove you wrong in no time."

_"Liquid Snake!"_ AntiSora said sharply. "Are you saying that you're willingly opposing the Army? That you're willingly becoming a renegade?"

"So what if I am?" retorted the man.

"Then you're going against Master Tabuu's orders!"

"…Master…" Liquid stopped. "…What did you say?"

"The leader of the Subspace Army." AntiSora's voice seemed to have suddenly gained a respective tone. "He's a very powerful being… He was the one who brought you back to life, you know. He's also the ruler of Subspace. And he's the one who ordered me to—"

"I don't give a damn about who brought me back to life or what his orders are," interrupted Liquid. "I have my ways." He strode across the floor and went toward where his FAMAS lay. "Snake killed our father. It's too late for me to kill _him_, as it's already been done by my dear brother…"

He snatched up the rifle and released the safety.

"…so the only way to make up is by killing him _myself_."

A low growl of anger escaped through AntiSora's tightly clenched teeth. "You're regret this…"

"Regret?" Liquid shrugged. "Perhaps I will…"

He turned and went to the door, leaving a furious AntiSora staring after him.

"But it will be worth it."

-ooo-

_Splat._

Paula Polestar giggled as she wiped the snow out of her eyes. "Hey! No baseball bats allowed!"

"Says the one who's using a frying pan as a baseball bat!" retorted Ness, emerging from behind a tree and waving his trusty bat. He yelped and leaped aside when a snowball hurtled past his ear.

"Aw! I nearly got you just now!" Lucas cried when his snowball missed.

Ness blew a wet raspberry at the other boy. "Ha! Gotta work on your accuracy, Lucas! _Pbbbbbt!_"

"As if _your_ accuracy was any better than mine!" Lucas countered playfully.

"Oooh, is that a challenge?" Ness smirked. "Bring it!"

Immediately, the two psychic boys began to launch a barrage of snowballs at each other. Paula was caught in the crossfire and quickly put up a psychic barrier around herself to avoid getting hit. The surrounding Smashers fled the area so they wouldn't get pelted by the flying, snowy ammunition. With a broad grin, Pit swooped in and bombarded both Ness and Lucas with his own snowballs.

_Splat._

"Hey! No fair! You can fly!"

"Well, _you_ can use PSI," Pit pointed out before tossing a snowball into Lucas' face.

_"C-C-C-COLD!"_ the poor boy shrieked, slapping at his face in an attempt to rub away all the snow. Seeing his chance to win the fight, Ness used his PSI to levitate about fifty snowballs into the air, carry them over to his opponent, and drop them off all over his head.

_Splat-splat-splat-splat-splat!_

"Aaaaand Ness wins the battle!" announced the Wii Fit Trainer, speaking into a stick like it was a microphone. "What an intense march that was—not. Nevertheless, congratulations to Ness."

Lucas exploded out of the gigantic pile of melting slush, shaking his PK Fire-enveloped fist. "That was totally not fair!" he complained. "Pit distracted me so Ness could win! It's a conspiracy! I demand a rematch!"

Ness beamed. "Oh, yeah? 'Kay, then! We'll have a rematch! I'll win this one, too!"

"No way! _I_ will! I'm better prepared this time!"

As the two boys argued back and forth, Paula reappeared from behind the thick trunk of an oak tree, holding her frying pan before her face like a shield. "Is it over?" she asked timidly.

Trainer knelt down and tucked a loose strand of the girl's golden hair behind her right ear. "Yes, it is," she answered kindly. "But they're about to have a second battle. Let's just stay out of the way until they stop throwing snowballs all over the place."

"And when will _that_ be…?"

"Hopefully, they'll be done before they could have the umpteenth rematch…"

At that moment, there was a yell from somewhere on the Smash Mansion's second floor.

_"AAAAHHHHHH!"_

Trainer frowned, her eardrums ringing in her head.

"He's on my neck… _Oh, goessesd, he's on my neck!_"

"Stay! Stay! Good Slendy! _STAY!_"

"Oi! Quiet down or everyone in some other world will hear you! It ain't my fault if some Cornerian guy comes along and complains about hearing loud voices!"

She just shook her head in exasperation. _It sounds to me that four of the Smashers are having fun with a certain horror- and survival-themed computer game._

Meanwhile, in Ike's room on the third floor of the mansion…

_"Run, Ike, run!"_ Captain Falcon screamed enthusiastically.

"I am!" Ike shouted back, his hands shaking as he guided the player away from the supernatural entity known only as the Slender Man. "Damn, he's everywhere!"

"That's exactly the point!" exclaimed Wolf, guffawing loudly.

"…Actually, I don't like this game," Ike decided. "This guy—this _thing_… He defines 'stalker'!"

"Correction: He _is_ a stalker," said Falco. "A stalker who appears in your face and tries to strangle you. Or stab you. Or hang you on a tree branch. Or something."

"Aargh!" groaned Ike, clicking around the screen and pressing his fingers on the keyboard. "Where's that damn page?!"

"Yeah, we're ten minutes into the game and we still haven't caught a glimpse of anything except trees, an oil tanker, ol' Slendy, and more trees," Captain Falcon added. "Ike, your flashlight's battery's gonna die if you don't find the pages soon."

Wolf jumped forward and pointed at the screen. "Speaking of pages, there's something white on that tree over there."

Ike gasped and prayed aloud, "Oh, please say it's a _page_…!" He guided the player toward the tree. "It's not just bark… It's not just bark… It's not just—ah!" He let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank the gods! It's the first page!" He ran toward it. "One down, seven to—"

_"Stop!"_ Wolf suddenly barked out, and he slapped Ike's hand away from the mouse. "Don't pick up that page just yet!"

Falco was bewildered. "Why? Slender Man's gonna catch him if he doesn't collect that page right now."

"On the contrary, the chances of getting caught increase with each page you pick up, which means Slender Man will chase after Ike a little more often the moment he picks up the first page," Wolf told him. "Guys, look at the stuff written on that page! It's not…right."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Captain Falcon.

"Like the things on the page aren't what they're supposed to be. I've seen enough pictures of the eight pages posted online by other players to know exactly what is written on each page." Wolf grabbed the laptop and, as cautiously as he could, made the player slowly inch toward the sheet of paper stuck on the tree trunk. Once he saw that he had gone close enough, he illuminated the area with the flashlight. "What does it say?"

Falco peered at the screen. "…I see nothing but pixels."

Wolf growled. "I'm being serious here, Lombardi."

"I was _kidding_, Wolfie. Get a sense of humor already." The avian Smasher tilted the laptop's screen. "Lemme see… '8 PAGES. 8 MESSAGES. ADD AND deCIPHER.'" He made a face. "They wrote out _decipher_ with two randomly un-capitalized letters? Watch out—we got a capitalizing-deficient computer game programmer over here."

_…So they wrote_ deCIPHER_…_ Ike thought. _They capitalized a portion of _decipher_ to point it out. That has to be it. It's some kind of clue… Take out the capitalized stuff, and you get…_cipher_…_ He paused. "_Cipher_? As in…_zero_?" he muttered under his breath. "What's going on here?"

Captain Falcon cleared his throat. "Uh—am I the only one who's a bit freaked out by that really cryptic message?"

"We're in the same boat, man," Wolf said, slapping the racer on the back. "It's cryptic, all right. Freakily cryptic." He made the player take a step closer to the page, shine the flashlight on it, and collect it. A line of words flashed across the screen—_1/8 Pages Collected_—before Ike shoved Wolf out of the way and got the laptop back.

"I'm not sure why, but something tells me that we'd better find the next seven pages as soon as possible. Otherwise, something will happen to us. Something very bad." As he sat down and started clicking around the screen again, he quietly added, "Not only in the game, but also in real life."

-ooo-

Fox McCloud slowly wriggled his way through the narrow air duct, struggling to stifle a sneeze whenever some dust went into his sensitive nose. He had to move very cautiously to avoid detection from the Primids randomly ambling around below him. Normally, he would get out of tight situations by his policy of "shoot first, ask questions later," and he wouldn't hesitate to kick anyone out of his way when bailing out of somewhere. But this time, he had second thoughts. The situation was much different this time. He was dealing with the Subspace Army and its ruthless leaders, and if he were captured again, his fate would be in their hands.

_Then I'd better stay out of their sight,_ he thought grimly. _So much for the whole "shoot first, ask questions later" strategy._

_Also…I wonder how that guy is doing._

An image of the trench coat-wearing human—Liquid Snake—appeared in his mind. Fox wondered what the history was between him and Solid Snake, the Smasher who shared his codename. He had thought that siblings would be close allies and friends, but Liquid's reaction to his brother's name suggested otherwise.

_He looked like he was about to lose it when I said "Snake,"_ Fox recalled, frowning a little. _It's a good thing he's able to control his temper pretty well…I think…_

He could not help but feel a little guilty when he remembered that he had left Liquid to fend for himself. He knew that the Isle of the Ancients was a dangerous place. But why had he abandoned him?

_It's weird, but I think it's best to leave him alone… Helping him would only lead to worse consequences… I don't know why I think it's gonna be like that, but I just have that funny feeling in my gut…_

The Smasher accidentally inhaled a speck of dust. He immediately covered his nose with his arm and held his breath to hold back the oncoming sneeze.

_Note to self: Whenever you find yourself crawling through a dusty air duct, bring a dust mask._

He managed to suppress a sneeze, and he went on through the vent without attracting any attention from the Primids down below. Eventually, he came upon a grate on the bottom of the vent, which he carefully removed and set aside. Noiselessly, he slipped through the opening and landed on the floor.

He found himself in a small, dark room that reminded him of a prison cell. Strangely enough, the walls and floor was made of steel instead of the usual glass-like material that made up most of the Isle of the Ancients. The cell would have been pitch-black had it not been for the narrow slat near the top of the sturdy door on the wall facing the Smasher. He pressed his hand against the wall and shivered at the coldness. Then he quietly withdrew his Blaster from its holster on his leg, prepared to shoot anything that moved.

Someone groaned.

"…Urgh…"

Fox whirled around and aimed the Blaster in the direction of the voice. "Who's there?" he whispered suspiciously, not daring to raise the volume of his voice in case some Primids were still lurking about outside. "Get out of the corner."

There was a shuffling sound, and then a figure slowly made its way toward the faint shaft of light that streamed through the slat on the door. Then its arms gave way, and it collapsed.

"Ugh… So numb…"

His Blaster still trained on the seemingly shapeless figure, Fox warily approached it. Upon closer inspection, he realized just to whom he had been talking.

"…Well, I'll _be_!"

He had no doubt about the figure's identity. The white fur, odd hairdo, and cyan-lined gloves and boots were a dead giveaway.

"Silver the Hedgehog," he murmured in awe. "It really _is_ you…"

The white hedgehog's ears twitched when he heard his name being spoken. "Yeah…it's me…" he answered weakly, "but who are you…?"

Fox slid the Blaster back into its holster and knelt down to support Silver. "Oh, jeez, Silver," he said lightheartedly. This was probably the first time in a long while that he was in a considerably good mood. "You couldn't've forgotten about the leader of Team Star Fox, have you?"

Silver grunted and squinted his eyes. Through the murkiness of the small room, he was just able to make out the shape of a fox's head. "No way… Fox McCloud? Is that you?"

Fox nodded eagerly, feeling glad to have finally found someone he could call an ally. "Yes, it's me. Silver, it's so good to see you. You have _no_ idea what had happened—"

"I may not know about what had happened to _you_, but I sure know what had happened to _me_," the hedgehog replied, smiling feebly. "So many things had occurred…and all we wanted to do was participate in the Olympics…"

"The _London Olympics_…?!" Fox said incredulously. "That was back in _2012_! It's already 2014."

"It's 2014 in _Storm Aurastar's_ world, not the Smash World," Silver corrected him. "In _this_ world, the year is—"

_CRASH!_

"…Y'know, Silver, I don't think it's a good time to be breaking the fourth wall right now," said Fox nervously.

"I agree. Anyway…" Silver tilted his head. "The Subspace Army captured us when we got to London. Six of us managed to escape… I understand why they didn't rescue us. And after they left…the Army suspected that we had sacrificed our freedom to ensure theirs…" He let out a long sigh. "They did all sorts of things to us, trying to squeeze out any information. No matter how much we protested, they didn't listen. The more we resisted, the more they did it… But in the end, no one gave in to the torture."

Fox began to stutter. "T-t-torture…?"

"And things much worse than that…" Silver added darkly as he averted his golden eyes from the Cornerian.

Fox took the hedgehog's hand. "Well, it's all over now. I managed to get myself freed from mind control. Now's our chance to bail." He tried to pull him onto his feet. "C'mon, what's the matter? I even made an escape route. It's right above our heads. I hope you don't mind dust bunnies—"

_"No!"_ Silver hissed sharply.

Fox jumped with surprise. "What? Why?"

The hedgehog motioned toward his neck. "I can't leave…because of _this_."

For the first time since he broke in to the cell, Fox noticed a strange device clamped around Silver's neck. It looked like some kind of metallic collar with small lights that blinked violet every now and then. The Smasher inserted his fingers under it and tugged at it. "…Damn…it won't budge…!"

"It's no use," Silver told him, instantly erasing any hope that he had. _**(7)**_ "It deactivated my ability to use psychokinesis…and even if I managed to remove it, I wouldn't live to talk about it."

"Why's that?" asked Fox.

"It's been rigged with explosives," explained the hedgehog. "They programmed it to detonate the moment it senses that I've taken it off or stepped out of this prison cell. I have no choice but to leave it on—which means I have no choice but to stay here."

"But there's got to be a way!" Fox angrily exclaimed. "I'm sure there's a way to get it off without killing you or anyone!" He scrutinized the metallic collar, trying to find any weak points.

"The problem is that there _isn't_ a way," said Silver. He grabbed Fox's wrists. "Stop it, Fox. I already told you that it's no use. Please…just save yourself. It's better to have one Smasher than none."

"…But…I can't…" Fox said quietly, slowly lowering his hands. "How can I leave you here after such a long absence? Do you really want to stay here, Silver?"

The other Smasher just snorted quietly. "Pshhh. Of course not. But it doesn't look like I have a choice, does it?"

"…But—"

"Another thing I forgot to mention." Silver pointed toward the ceiling. "We're being watched."

Fox's head jerked up.

"Damn! A surveillance camera!"

A light suddenly flared, coloring the walls of the cell red, and then an alarm began to blare.

_"Damn!"_ Fox furiously swore again. He grabbed Silver's shoulders and shook him roughly. Did you know about this from the start? You set me up, didn't you?!"

Silver pried the fox's hands off himself. "N-no! I didn't!"

"Then you could have warned me _in advance_, damn you—!"

"Sorry, but it's too late for that! You gotta get out of here!" Silver limped over to the door as fast as he could. "Some Primids are headed this way. If you wanna save your butt, then run—_now!_"

Fox stubbornly set his jaw. "Not gonna happen. I'm not leaving here without you."

"You idiot, you'll get us both—"

The door was flung aside, slamming against the wall, and four Primids stormed in. The green Beam Swords they brandished indicated that they were Sword Primids. They all closed in at once, their swords pointed straight at the two Smashers' chests. The one at the front reached the Smashers before its companions, and before Silver could react, it had lifted its sword high above its head.

"—killed?"

In a flash, Fox had seized Silver's arms and prevented him from moving. The Mobian struggled and pushed against the fox, but all attempts were futile. The green Beam Sword came down, and Silver screamed when the blade of concentrated energy cut at his neck.

But his neck was not cut.

The explosives-rigged collar, now sliced in two, left his neck and spun through the air, seemingly in slow motion. Fox hoisted the stunned Silver onto his right shoulder and used Fox Illusion, escaping from the prison cell before any of the Sword Primids could make a move.

Then there was an explosion.

_BOOM!_

Bright light filled the corridor. The sound of the detonation temporarily rendered both Fox and Silver deaf. His eyes unable to function properly because of the intense light, Fox blindingly charged onward with Silver slumped over his shoulder and his Blaster in his hands. The distinct whine of a siren surrounded him from all sides. Refusing to allow any sights or sounds to hinder his progress, the Cornerian fox pushed on. Holding the Blaster before himself, he started pulling the trigger randomly. Fast-moving beams of red energy flew out and struck anything in front of him. Silver, who was just barely conscious, tried to help out by firing weak psychic pulses behind the fox to stun any pursuing enemies, albeit only for a second. But even one second could make a large difference.

"Yo, Silver!" yelled Fox as he ran. "Where to?"

"I don't know!" Silver shouted back. "Oh, I know! Anywhere but here!"

"Acknowledged!"

By now, the light and sounds were fading away, and once again, Fox and Silver were able to use all five of their senses. Fox began to reach for the side of his face, only to curse to himself when he realized that he—for the second time—had forgotten that he did not have his headset with him.

_Oh, I'd _better_ find that bloody headset sometime soon!_

He made a 90-degree turn, skidded several feet across the slippery floor, and ran. Silver then noticed that there were no more enemies chasing them, so Fox slowed down to a brisk jog.

"Can you walk?"

"I don't think so…" replied Silver with uncertainty, "but I can levitate, if that helps." He slid off Fox's shoulder and hovered five inches over the ground, his body glowing with a soft cyan light. He stayed there for a moment before straightening his back and stretching his arms. "It feels so good to be able to use psychokinesis again," he said. "When I had that collar around my neck, I felt like I'd lost a part of myself. Speaking of which," he added, "that was some quick thinking you did there, Fox. Using the Army's mechanism to hurt its own members…" He smiled and raised his hand. "Ingenious."

"Shut up." Fox returned the high five and looked over his shoulder. "I think we lost them. But it won't be long before they sniff out a trail. We should hustle."

Silver nodded in agreement, and together they went through the corridor.

-ooo-

The playtime in the snow finally seemed to be drawing near an end. Now only Pikachu, Taki, the Ice Climbers, the cartoon Hylians, and Pit were still out in the cold, pelting each other with snowballs, making snow forts, and stacking large spheres of snow for snowmen. Everyone else had gone back inside the Smash Mansion when Marth and Colette announced that they had finished making hot chocolate. After Sonic got a cupful of the warm beverage, he went to the living room to join Bowser, Ganondorf, Wario, Lloyd, Neku, and Cloud.

"Hi," he greeted them. "What's up?"

A loud scream of terror answered him. Neku just rolled his eyes as he continued to sip his hot chocolate. Bowser motioned toward the ceiling and said, "Those four guys are playing a computer game. I think they chose the wrong one."

"THAT WAS WAY TOO CLOSE, WOLFIE!" shrieked Falco's voice. "WE'RE STILL MISSING TWO OF 'EM!"

Sonic chuckled and leaned against the doorway. "Man… Sounds pretty bad to me." He took a swallow of his hot chocolate before another cry rang out and was followed by another of Falco's loud ranting. "I wonder what they're playing."

"Marth said it was some horror game called _Slender_," Lloyd replied. "He and some other Smashers were lounging around in this room when Falco and Wolf came in, asking for some companions. Marth immediately sneaked out of the room before Ike could drag him in to the mess."

"Smart," Sonic commented approvingly before quickly gulping down the rest of his drink.

"TOO CLOSE! THAT WAS _TOO CLOSE_!"

Wario tapped his finger against the side of his cup. "Falco's gettin' pretty worked up, eh?"

"It's easy to get worked up over creepypastas such as _Slender_," Ganondorf replied.

In the meantime, on the second floor…

"Falco, I won't be surprised if we all end up deaf by the time we find the last page," Captain Falcon said irately as he guided the player through the gradually darkening forest.

"Hey, I can't help it!" the avian Smasher said. "I never played this game before!"

"Then why were you so eager to get started?" asked Wolf.

Falco just shrugged. "I just like creepypastas, that's all."

"…You're a strange fellow…"

"Ooh!" muttered Captain Falcon when the screen of the laptop flickered with static. He quickly made the player turn and run the other way. "Damn! He's close by! And the flashlight's dying…"

Ike sat at the back, deep in thought. When he and his friends had found the first five pages, he had grabbed a sheet of paper and written the messages down. Now he was staring at the paper and the five messages.

_"8 PAGES. 8 MESSAGES. ADD AND deCIPHER."_

_"Let's play a game… Can you win?"_

_"DON'T LOOK BACK."_

_"Don't stop. Keep going. Keep running. RUN or DIE or LOSE without the knowledge."_

_"HELP ME."_

They were all rather disturbing, the whole lot of them—especially the fourth one. _Lose without the knowledge…_ He wondered what that could mean. Was there something to learn from this game? Then there was the fifth message, the one that bothered him the most… Who needed help?

"I SEE THE SIXTH PAGE!"

"I know!"

"YIKES! _STATIC!_"

"Shut up!"

_"AHHHH!"_

"Get outta my face, birdbrain!"

With much difficultly, Captain Falcon managed to get close to the sixth page and allow Wolf to read the message that was written on it.

"It says…'That's what people do. Kill the things they're afraid of,'" he stated.

Ike nodded and wrote it down. "'Kill the things they're afraid of…'"

Falco scratched his head. "That scares me."

"In any case, all we can do is keep going," Captain Falcon decided as he picked up the page. The words _6/8 Pages Collected_ appeared for a moment on the laptop screen before vanishing. "We still need to find the last two pages. Who wants to have a go?"

Wolf volunteered, and the F-Zero racer moved aside so the lupine Smasher could play. "Okay, so we have two papers left."

"Pages."

"Whatever. Now that we have almost all eight of 'em, Slendy's gonna be tailing us whenever he could. If we get caught, then it's game over for the guy in the game as well as us. There's a reason for those weird messages, and I'm sure they're for us. When we find them all, we can probably piece 'em together and end up with some new info that we can use." Wolf grinned. "Maybe it's something we can use to get past the Subspace Army!"

"Don't get your hopes too high yet," Ike warned. "For all we know, the last page could just say something like, 'Ha! You fell for it!'"

"It better not be like that," said Falco darkly.

"…Hey!" Wolf suddenly exclaimed. "I found a page!"

Captain Falcon was surprised. "So fast?"

"Yeah. It's weird. It hasn't even been two minutes." The Star Wolf leader made the player walk toward the seventh page and shine his flashlight over it. "'It will go away. The stuff in your head. Little by little.' …Wait, what?"

Ike jotted the words down. "That's even scarier than the previous message…"

"I agree." Then Wolf gasped. _"What the hell is this?!"_

"What the hell is what?" asked Falco.

"I found the eighth page!"

The Star Fox pilot gawked at him before exploding, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

"But it hasn't even been half a minute!" Ike yelled.

"Quick, what does it say?" asked Captain Falcon.

"Uh… 'What is downloadable and easier corruptible?'" Wolf paused for a moment. "…Well, that's…oh, I dunno…_odd_, I guess." He collected the page, and a sentence appeared—_8/8 Pages Collected_.

"Tell me about it," Ike muttered as he finished writing down the eighth page's message. "It has absolutely no relation to the other seven. Okay… So that's all eight of them. Let's see what we can learn from all this. Wolf, are you coming?"

"Just a sec. The game froze just now." Wolf began to twiddle around with laptop. "Great… Samus is gonna be so pissed…"

"You mean…that's not your laptop?" asked Falco.

"I never said it was."

Ike slapped the piece of paper onto the floor and sat cross-legged before it. Falco and Captain Falcon stood on either side of the paper. "So here's what we have," said the swordsman, and he read the eight messages aloud.

"'8 PAGES. 8 MESSAGES. ADD AND deCIPHER.'

"'Let's play a game… Can you win?'

"'DON'T LOOK BACK.'

"'Don't stop. Keep going. Keep running. RUN or DIE or LOSE without the knowledge.'

"'HELP ME.'

"'That's what people do. Kill the things they're afraid of.'

"'It will go away. The stuff in your head. Little by little.'

"'What is downloadable and easily corruptible?'"

Captain Falcon scratched his head after Ike read the eighth message. "But what does it all mean? I can't make head or tail of it."

"Yeah, it all seems random to me," Falco agreed.

"Then why does the first message tell us to 'add and decipher'?" Ike asked. "It must mean something. There's some message in here for us to find. But I just don't know exactly _what_ message we have to find."

"Guys…?"

"Whoever made this messed-up version of _Slender_ was a real jerk," Captain Falcon said angrily. "At least the original game's messages made some _sense_!"

"Guys…?"

"Storm Aurastar himself gave it to Wolf," Falco reminded him, "so there's gotta be _something_ important in this game."

"Guys…?"

"I'm still kind of confused by that last one, though. 'What is downloadable and easily corruptible?'" Ike recited. "The only thing I could think of is a computer file. They're downloadable, right?"

"Guys…?"

"Yeah, and they're corruptible. But '_easily_ corruptible'? I'm not too sure about that," admitted Falco.

"Guys…?"

"Maybe certain types of computer files are easily corruptible," suggested Ike. "But that's just a hypothesis. I know nothing about computers. What do you two think? You're both from the more modern times."

"Guys…?"

"Even I don't know, and I come from a place with advanced technology," Falco replied. "I'm guessing that the question is referring to a specific type of file."

"Guys…?"

"If that's the case, then there's an endless number of possible answers," said Captain Falcon. "I can name at least ten from the top of my head right now."

_"Guys!"_ Wolf yapped. "Are you deaf? Get your asses here _right now_!"

The other three Smashers immediately crowded around the wolf. "Why? What happened?"

Wolf crossed his arms. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this game is called _Slender: The _Eight_ Pages_, right?"

"Yeah," Falco confirmed with a nod. "It's called _The Eight Pages_ because there are eight pages to find. Why?"

The Star Wolf leader turned back to the laptop screen, which appeared to have unfroze. "…Then pray tell me why there is another page pinned to the tree right in front of me."

Shocked at this statement, Falco, Captain Falcon, and Ike scrambled to get a good look at the screen. It was just as Wolf had said: There before the player, practically glowing in the flashlight's beam of light, was a tattered, yellowing paper stuck to the trunk of a tree.

"No way," Ike murmured. "There's a _ninth_ page?" He didn't bother to write down the ninth page's message.

"…It says…'iTs No UsE,'" read Captain Falcon, his voice barely above a whisper.

"What's with the missing apostrophe and the randomly capitalized letters?" wondered Wolf. He made the player walk closer to the page, and he collected it. Then his jaw dropped.

There was another page attached to the tree trunk at the same exact spot.

"…Something's definitely wrong," Falco decided after a brief pause.

Wolf snorted. "As if there wasn't anything wrong at the very start of the game…"

"'It's no use,'" Ike said slowly. "'It's no use.' Isn't that someone's signature catchphrase? It got popularized after the release of a rather badly-rated video game made by SEGA in 2006."

Captain Falcon's eyes widened. "Now that you mentioned it…"

"A hedgehog," said Wolf, "with white fur."

"Telekinetic abilities," added Falco.

"And that crazy haircut," Ike finished. "How could we have forgotten about him?"

Silently—numbly—the four Smashers returned their gazes to the laptop screen and stared at the tenth page. There was a single word written on it in a messy, hurried scrawl.

_SilverEXE.**  
><strong>_

-ooo-

Neither Fox not Silver hardly dared to breathe as they slipped into the room. It was somewhat bright and quite large, and the shiny walls of the room appeared to be made of a different type of metal than the kind used for Silver's prison cell. Wide windows lined each wall, and small blue lights gave the room a slight glow. Still wary of traps and surveillance cameras, the Smashers slunk along the walls and tried to be as discreet as one could be in such a room as this.

"You know what I feel like right now?" muttered Fox. "A little fish in the big blue sea, surrounded on all sides by great white sharks that hadn't eaten for months."

"Make that _two_ little fish," Silver said and gestured to himself.

"Yeah…two. Why did we have to enter this big room where it's hard to remain inconspicuous, anyway?"

"It's the only possible route."

"How the hell could you know?"

The white-furred hedgehog put his hand on the fox's shoulder. "Trust me, Fox," he said. "I've been here much longer than you. I've already memorized the layout of this part of the Isle."

"It's getting a little hard for me to trust _anyone_ ever since James showed his true colors," Fox remarked a little embarrassedly. "So what's the layout like?"

Silver put two fingers to his right temple. "Let's see… We escaped from what I call the Prison Hall. Then we made a left, another left, a right, kept going for a couple hundred feet…"

Fox looked rather amused. "…I swear you were blacked out the whole time."

"I was half-conscious. And then we made a left, went through a hallway, and turned left and ended up in this big-as-hell room." Silver looked around. "What do you think about its dimensions? Fifty by twenty by twenty?"

Fox walked toward the room's center, where the floor was slightly raised. "And it's even got steel doors and bulletproof glass. Nice."

"…Bulletproof? How could you tell?"

He shrugged. "I just can." He stopped before the platform in the middle of the room and observed it. "I wonder what this thing is for."

Silver joined him and walked around it, then smiled. "Ha, it's like a little stage with a pretty blue edge. Nice!" He hopped on to the platform and struck a pose. "It's! No! _Use!_" he chanted.

Groaning in disbelief, Fox held out his hand. "C'mon, Silver… We should leave this place before something happens to us."

"Don't be such a worrywart, Fox. I'm sure we'll be gone before the Army even knows what happened." Silver flew into the air, surrounded by cyan-colored psychic energy, and circled around the room. "For some reason, this room reminds me of that training center in the second _The Hunger Games_ movie."

"_Catching Fire_," Fox answered for him. "When did you watch it?"

"Storm Aurastar told me about it."

"…How?"

Silver looked exasperated. "Come _on_, Fox. Storm's the _author_. Of course he could tell anyone about anything."

_CRASH!_

"…Stop…breaking…the…fourth…wall," warned the Cornerian fox.

The Mobian hedgehog just rolled his eyes. "Calm down, will you?"

He landed lightly on the blue-edged platform and stumbled a little, his legs still too weak to support him. "Ugh… I think I'll be resorting to telekinesis for a while…"

"Seriously, Silver," Fox whispered threateningly. "If we don't get outta here anytime soon, we'll get caught! I don't want to cross that AntiSora kid!"

At the sound of the shadowy Keyblade user's name, Silver's bright gold eyes darkened with hatred. "Him, huh?" he said quietly. "He's a real bastard."

"I've heard that more that once," Fox agreed. "Or we might get caught by James McCloud." He paused before admitting, "I'm still not sure whose side he's on…"

"Whoever he is, I think he's the enemy," said Silver. He looked around the room suspiciously. "When did you last see him?"

"Yesterday, in fact. But you never know where he could be. He might be next door."

Silver smiled nervously. "Or he's spying on us from the ceiling."

"Or he's in a basement below us," Fox suggested.

"Or he's watching us from a TV that's currently streaming in the stuff a surveillance camera in here is recording," said Silver.

"Or," a voice said softly, "he's standing right behind you, listening to your every word and trying not to snap your necks."

Fox whirled around, and before he could do anything, James McCloud had sent him flying across the room with a strong kick to the abdomen. The Smasher slammed into one of the thick windows of the room and slid down, stunned by the blow. Silver was still standing on the blue-edged platform, and he attempted to make a dash for Fox.

But he was unable to.

He looked down to his feet and saw tendrils of bluish-white electricity curling up his legs. With a jolt, he realized that they were paralyzing him.

"Damn! I gotta get out before it's too late!"

The hedgehog spoke too soon, and within two seconds, his entire body had been completely immobilized.

"Silver!" yelled Fox. He tried to get up, but a sharp pain on his left side left him sprawled on the ground. He continued to lie there, fighting back tears of pain. "SILVER!"

James' expression was unreadable as he surveyed the scene, ignoring Fox's constant shouting.

"This isn't going to be very pretty," he remarked to no one in particular. "But I'm afraid it's the only thing that could be done."

He approached the incapacitated Silver.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on him!" Fox managed to bark out before spasming in agony.

James pretended not to hear him, and he stood in front of the white-furred hedgehog. "How sad," he murmured. "You were caught, and then you escaped—only to be caught again. But rest assured, hedgehog: This time, escape is impossible."

Silver tried to speak, but he was unable to do anything.

"Silver…" groaned Fox.

From his pocket, James drew out a small cylindrical object. He uncapped it, and something at its tip glinted in the blue light. One look at it was enough to tell anyone that it was a syringe.

"Don't hurt him…!" Fox gasped.

Swiftly, smoothly, the sunglasses-wearing fox thrust the needle of the syringe into Silver's chest.

"G-gahhhh—!" he choked out.

James took a step back and put the syringe back into his pocket. As he walked away, he murmured:

"What is downloadable and easily corruptible?"

The electricity that restrained Silver gave way, and the hedgehog collapsed onto the ground.

"An EXE file."

The hedgehog suddenly jumped to his feet. One swift look at him made Fox cry out in fear.

"Right in the heart…Error Code EXE."

The hedgehog's fur had turned gray. The white parts of his eyes were now black and the bright gold irises dull red. A stream of red liquid trickled out from his right eye.

Blood.

"Welcome to reality…SilverEXE." _**(8)**_

SilverEXE grinned insanely, his fangs bared.

_"It's no ussssse…"_ he hissed triumphantly, and he lunged at the horror-stricken Fox.

The window next to him shattered.

* * *

><p><strong><span>PREVIEW — Chapter 39<span>**

Nothing to see here… The next chapter is a bonus chapter that I haven't started yet!

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHARACTER PROFILE<span>**

**Name:** Samus Aran

**Also known as:** Sam, Sammy

**Age:** 26

**Species:** Chozo and Metroid DNA-infused human

**World of origin:** K-2L

**Video game(s):** _Metroid_ series

**Quote:** "My past is not a memory. It's a force at my back. It pushes and steers. I may not always like where it leads me, but like any story, the past needs resolution. What's past is prologue."

**Occupation:** Samus Aran is an intergalactic bounty hunter whose parents were killed by a Space Pirate called Ridley when she was just a little girl. An alien race called the Chozo took her in and raised her, training her until her physical abilities were nearly superhuman. The Chozo developed a special suit called the Power Suit, which Samus wore whenever she was on a mission. She swore that she would kill her nemesis Ridley at any cost to avenge her parents' death. With her Power Suit and her various weapons, she truly is a force to be reckoned with.

**Fun fact:** She often attracts the eyes of many perverted males, a few of whom live in the Smash Mansion with her.

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

**_(1)_** I'm fairly sure we've all heard this before.

_**(2)**_ A little tribute to AuraChannelerChris right there… ONE DAY, MY FANFIC _WILL_ EXCEED THE NUMBER OF WORDS IN YOURS, CHRIS!

_**(3)**_ Snake took up dog sledding to take his mind off the traumatizing events of _Metal Gear_ and _Metal Gear 2_. Also, he was supposed to attend the Iditarod, but the events of _Metal Gear Solid_ prevented him from doing so.

**_(4)_** …Another thing from _Metal Gear Solid_.

**_(5)_** Makoto is the name of a character from the anime _Kanon_. She's a fox, and Snake hates foxes.

_**(6)**_ Faith is the name of _my_ dog, actually…

_**(7)**_ "It's no use!" is Silver's signature line. I couldn't help but make him say it.

_**(8)**_ It's actually supposed to be "Silver(period)EXE," but FanFiction keeps thinking that I'm trying to type in a website, so I had no choice but to take out the dot.

* * *

><p><em><strong>…Um.<strong>_

**Sonic:** _*impatiently*_ What took you so long?!

**_I had school! And tests! And I made a new DeviantART account that I had to keep track of!_**

**Samus:** _*interested*_ Oh, really? What's your username?

_**Over there, I'm called Zyfaran.**_

**Wolf:** Hm… That name sounds pretty cool…

_**…Okay, let's talk! Will Pit keep throwing snowballs at everybody**_

**Pit: **_*throws snowballs at everybody*_ Nyahahaha!

**Cartoon Smashers and Ice Climbers:** _*running away from Pit*_ AHHHHH!

**_…I guess that answers it. Will Chipple keep singing songs from _Frozen_?_**

**Chipple:** _*singing loudly*_ _Reindeer are better than people! Sven, don't you think that's true?_

**_…Yep, he will. What's with that game of _Slender_?_**

**Falco:** _*hyperventilating*_ TEN PAGES! _TEN_ PAGES!

**Wolf:** _*continues to slap Falco*_ Shut up, Lombardi!

**Ike:** _*grumpily*_ …Why did I choose to put up with this?

**Captain Falcon:** _*pats Ike on the back*_ Just deal with it.

**_What's with Liquid?_**

**Liquid:** _*awkwardly*_ …Er.

**Snake:** _*shocked*_ Did someone say what I think they just said?!

**Samus:** Calm down, Dave!

**Snake:** Don't call me that!

_*awkward silence*_

**Liquid:** …Hm.

**_What happened to Silver?!_**

**Zelda:** _*confused*_ Wait, what?

**Pikachu:** I think he became an EXE file!

**Zelda:** _*even more confused*_ Wait, _what_?!

**Pikachu:** …Never mind.

**_Credits to PewDiePie's walkthrough of _Slender: The Eight Pages_! It was…interesting, I guess._**

**_See you next time in Chapter 39! Remember to REVIEW!_**


	39. BONUS — Twitch Plays Pokémon

_**WARNING: Bad pun ahead.**_

**DISCLAIMER:**** I own nothing here!**

* * *

><p><strong>BONUS − Chapter 39: Twitch Plays Pokémon<strong>

* * *

><p>The moment the Pokémon Trainer had passed them by, Jigglypuff nudged at Pikachu.<p>

"Have you seen the way Red's been behaving these days?" she murmured quietly.

The Mouse Pokémon turn to her. "The way he's been behaving?"

"Uh-huh…" Jigglypuff peeked out of the living room and nervously glanced toward Red, who had just walked into a wall. "Don't you think it's…a little erratic or something?"

Pikachu blinked his brown eyes several times before he finally realized what Jigglypuff was talking about. "Oh, yeah! _That_ thing!" he said while nodding slowly. "Yep… It's really weird. Yesterday, I saw him walking back and forth, left and right, up and down. He also kept stopping all over the place."

Jigglypuff sighed. "I'm really worried for Red. He's never acted like this before… It's like he couldn't make up his mind or something…as if he's thinking about, like, a hundred thousand things all at once."

"I'll say," remarked Pikachu in agreement, folding his arms.

"I even saw him trying to walk straight into Rayquaza's lake last week," the Balloon Pokémon added with the smallest of giggles. "Lucas was with him that day. He tried to explain to him that he was attempting to walk into a lake that was seventy-plus feet deep, but he wouldn't listen and just ignored him. Lucas finally managed to drag him back home after about fifteen minutes of watching him walk off the path."

"I've seen worse," replied the Electric-type. "He's also been talking to himself a lot. For example, he's always mumbling things like 'all hail Lord Helix' or 'praise Lord Helix.'" He frowned. "But who or what in Arceus' name is _Helix_?" He shook his head. "Also, I constantly hear him saying, 'Up, down, left, right, start, a, b.'"

Jigglypuff recognized the words and letters. "Those are the buttons on a GameBoy, aren't they?"

"Right," Pikachu confirmed. "And not only is he saying those doohickey things to himself, but he's also rambling about stuff like Bird Jesus, Battery Jesus, The Fonz, Air Jordan, and All-Terrain Venomoth. The other day, I heard him saying, 'AA-J, aaabaaajss, AAAAAAAAA, AIIIIIIRRR, AATTVVV… Praise Lord Helix. Praise Lord Helix. Double-A J, Bird Jesus… Start. Start. Left. Left. Right, up, up. All hail Lord Helix.'" The Mouse Pokémon shuddered at the memory. "It scared me so much that I immediately went to Samus' place. Apparently, she also saw and heard what Red was saying, because she didn't ask any questions." He tilted his head to the side, looking thoughtful. "I wonder what's gotten into his mind…"

"And speaking of which, I also hear him say 'democracy' and 'anarchy' a lot," Jigglypuff remembered. "I'm not really sure, but it seems like he moves a _lot_ more slowly whenever he starts repeating 'democracy.'"

"Uh-huh, and he crashes into things more often whenever 'anarchy' comes out of his mouth." Pikachu cringed when he heard a loud _CRASH_ sound from somewhere in the kitchen, followed by a shrill yell of "RED?! NOT AGAIN!" He scratched his ear and continued, "Yep, he's definitely in anarchy mode right now."

Jigglypuff shivered uncomfortably. "This is seriously creepy. Do you think he's been possessed? 'Cause I'm starting to think he is."

"…I have no idea," Pikachu answered after a long pause, "but I'd say he's acting kind of…"

He reached behind himself and pulled out a pair of jet-black sunglasses, which he set over his eyes.

"…_twitch_-y."

Jigglypuff looked at him.

Pikachu grinned at her.

"Get it?"

Jigglypuff's turquoise eyes suddenly narrowed when everything dawned upon her. She promptly booted the still-smiling Mouse Pokémon through the window, out of the living room, and far away from the Smash Mansion.

"Get _out_."

* * *

><p><strong>Crazy Hand:<strong> That was a terrible pun, indeed!

**Master Hand:** But it was not as terrible as you.

**Crazy Hand:** _*shocked*_ …Uhhh.

_**Hey, Crazy… You better have **_**Burn Heal_!_**

**Master Hand:** I agree. _*drags Crazy Hand away*_

**Crazy Hand:** WAAAH!

_**…That aside, this fanfic hit 200 reviews a couple weeks ago. That was quite unexpected; it took more than twenty chapters for there to be just 100 reviews! Thank you so much for your support, guys! I hope I'll reach the 300 mark soon!**_

_**See you next time in Chapter 40 of **_**Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace**_**! I promise there won't be any stupid puns in that chapter! Then again, I never keep my promises_**… **_And remember to REVIEW!**_


	40. SPECIAL — Fools' Day Frenzy

**_Hi, everyone! Welcome to the April Fools' Day special chapter! My apologies for not updating for a little while._**

**Captain Falcon:** It was pretty damn long for a _little_ while, in my opinion.

**_Sorry about that, but I have at least two tests every week to study for and hopefully not bomb, _****_crap loads of schoolwork to complete, _****_a Facebook page to manage, my Twitter page to tend to, my DeviantART page to keep fresh and somewhat updated, YouTube videos of video game walkthroughs to watch so I could be informed of games I can never get, fan art to draw, fanfic ideas to randomly come up with at the most random of times, grades and GPA to keep in a nice range, a new fanfic to—**_  
><em>**_**

**Sonic and Meta Knight:** _*shouting*_ EXCUSES!

**_B-but they're LEGITIMATE excuses!_**

**Pikachu:** _*thoughtfully*_ …Didn't I hear that somewhere before?

**Kirby:** Yeah, like, back in Chapter 23.

**Samus:** Hey, that was the first special chapter, right?

**Toon Link:** _*cheerfully*_ Oh, yeah! The one about that Easter egg hunt! I remember it really well.

**Zelda:** Yes, that's probably because you blew yourself up with your own bombs and ended up getting your team disqualified from the game because you vaporized your egg in the process.

**Toon Link:** _*glaring at Zelda*_ Hey, hey, _hey_!

**Zelda:** _*matter-of-factly*_ I'm just stating the facts.

**Darkrai:** _*laughing loudly*_ Ha, I loved that chapter! That epic fight with Snake was _epic_!

**Mewtwo:** _*bored*_ And redundancy is redundant.

**Darkrai:** _*punches Mewtwo*_ Shut up.

**Snake:** The odds were against me, but my team ended up winning, anyway. SiAura for the win. And where have you two been all this time? You just suddenly disappeared after Chapter 35!

**Darkrai:** Ah, that one chapter that involved a less-than-happy Yveltal? Hmm… Honestly, I don't know why I never reappeared after that. _*glances suspiciously at Storm Aurastar*_ I have this funny feeling that the _author_ over there is starting to like _Metal Gear Solid_ more than _Pokémon_…

***looking innocent***_** No, that's totally not true! **_**Pokémon_ is still my favorite series!_**

**Mewtwo:** _*flatly*_ …Says the person who mentioned something related to _Metal Gear_ in practically every single chapter ever since _Chapter 24: Metal Gear?!_.

**Darkrai:** _*waving his arms*_ See?! Even the damn _title_ has _Metal Gear_ in it!

_**OKAY, I GET IT! I'LL START MENTIONING **_**POKÉMON**_** MORE OFTEN! JEEZ, CALM DOWN, YOU GUYS!**_

**Toon Link:** Just sayin', but I think _you're_ the one who needs to calm down, Storm.

***groaning*_ And _this_ is why I don't like it when Smashers and _Pokémon invade the opening sequence of a chapter…__**

**Snake:** _*shrugging*_ Well, I guess that just couldn't be helped, huh?

_**All right, enough is enough. Now shut up, everyone.**_

**_Once again, welcome to the April Fools' Day chapter! There will be a lot of crazy stuff in here, I promise! It's guaranteed to keep you entertained for a really long time._**

**DISCLAIMER: The Super Smash Brothers belong to Nintendo and Nintendo only! The other characters belong to SEGA, Konami, Capcom, et cetera, et cetera.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>SPECIAL − Chapter 40: Fools' Day Frenzy<strong>

* * *

><p>Hey, wait. It's April 1? As in…April Fools' Day?<p>

Oh, yeah! That one crazy day that comes once a year, right?

Well, then… In that case…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

HA! YOU FELL FOR IT!

* * *

><p><strong>Kirby:<strong> _*shocked*_ HUHHHHH?!

**_This is an _April Fools' Day_ chapter, Kirby! It's an April Fools' trick about there being a chapter about April Fools' Day! Get it? _Get it?!  
><strong>

**Snake:** _*deadly serious*_ You know what? _*starts setting up an RPG*_ Get _out_.

***freaks out*_ Oh, God! I am_ so_ out of here!_ *uses Function Escape*  
><strong>

**Pikachu:** _*remembering something*_ Hey, Jigglypuff said that to me in that chapter about _Twitch Plays _Pokémon__!

**Toon Link:** That's 'cause she really hates bad puns like "_twitch_-y." Or maybe it's 'cause she doesn't like Twitch to start with.

**Darkrai:** Nah, I think it's because of the bad pun.

**Samus:** It's _definitely_ because of that _horrendously_ horrible pun. Even _I_ could make better puns than that!

**Pikachu:** _*looking faintly annoyed*_ What, so are you suggesting that my puns suck? I am so _shocked_!

**Meta Knight:** _*staring at Pikachu*_ Shocked…? And you're Electric-type… Wait a minute—

**Sonic:** That was a pun right there, wasn't it?

**Pikachu:** _*grinning*_ You bet it was, Sonic!

**Snake:** _*aims his RPG at Pikachu*_

**Pikachu:** …Whoops-a-daisy. _*hastily waves at everyone, including the reader, who is probably a little confused and/or sad and/or mad right now*_ See you later in Chapter 41 of Life at the Mansion, guys! Storm promises that it won't be a troll chapter!

**Snake:** _*seething*_ Oh, sure! He _promised_ us something back in Chapter 39, too! Huh, I _knew_ his "promises" could never be kept!

**Pikachu:** _*hurriedly*_ Yeah, uh, that aside, see ya next time in Chapter 41. SIGNING OFF! _*runs away as quickly as he could so Snake's RPG couldn't reach him*_

**Snake:** _*confused*_ …But I'm not even planning on firing it…


	41. When Master Hand Goes Out Again

**_Stupid internet problems._**

**_NEW CHARACTERS IN_**** SSBU_! GRENINJA, PALUTENA, PAC-MAN, and MII FIGHTERS! I was pretty surprised about Greninja and Palutena. As for Pac-Man, I knew he'd appear sooner or later. Because these guys have been confirmed, they'll appear in later chapters of this fanfic._**

**_Also…_**

***creeps out from behind a corner, holding up a Hylian Shield***

**_…Hi, guys! Long time no see!_**

***hides behind the shield for protection from arrows, bombs, bullets, energy balls, and other less-than-safe projectiles***

**_Hey, calm down! Okay, I admit that I've been gone for…three months, but guess what? I'm just a normal human being who has 24 hours in a day, not 36! And I have internet problems!_**

**Samus:** _*angrily*_ Even so, where the hell have you been?!

***nervously*_ …Is school a good answer?_**

**Yoshi:** _*irritated*_ More like a good _excuse_.

**Snake:** I think you were spending more time on deviantART, Facebook, and Twitter than on FanFiction…

**Link:** _*indignantly*_ Gimme back my shield!

**_Whatever! Let's all be happy, okay? No, Snake, that's not true. I'm starting to spend more time on FanFiction ever since_**** KoopalingFan_ invited me to a forum. Also, I was spending more time with studying for final exams, which took up quite a lot of time. Now I have summer classes, which really sucks. And_ no,_ Link. I need your shield a while longer in order to protect myself from potential assassins._**

**Snake:** _*thoughtfully*_ A forum, finals, and classes, huh?

**Link:** _*groans loudly*_

**Ike:** "Potential_ assassins_"? …Are you really _that_ famous or—

_*Ezio Auditore appears*_

**Ezio:** Did someone say "assassin"?

**_Hey! This is a _****Super Smash Bros._ fanfic, not an _Assassin's Creed_ fanfic! You and your games are cool, but _WHATEVER_!_ *kicks Ezio out of the chapter***

**_Anyway, I'm baaaaaaack! _*****waits for a trumpet fanfare*_ …Oh, I guess I'm not that important. So! Last time in the _CANON_ chapters of this fanfic—_**

**Toon Link:** _*takes out a cannon*_ This?

**_"Canon" with ONE _****n_. Now put that away before someone gets killed. Anyway, last time in the chapters of this fanfic that weren't labeled as _specials_ or _bonuses_…_**

**- The season in Smashville suddenly became winter! Meanwhile in the author's world, temperatures range from the 70's to 100's! _*runs off to get a fan*_**

**- Sora got a mind-controlling device stuck on him and attacked Toon Link, Tetra, Vaati, and Dark Link, who were stuck in the Brawl System's virtual Subspace! Then Data-Sora came along and allowed the Hylians to escape while he destroyed Sora's mind-controlling device! We left them at the part where they're about to fight a bunch of robotic bug thingies from the _Star Fox_ universe called Aparoids.**

**- We learned that Snake is a dog musher as well as a mercenary!**

**- Chipple (that guy from the _Klonoa_ series) became addicted to singing songs from _Frozen_!**

**- Four Smashers got a copy of _Slender: The Eight Pages_ and discovered something pretty important as they played it…**

**- James McCloud turned Silver the Hedgehog into SilverEXE, a not-so-well-known creepypasta!**

**- Tabuu and AntiSora brought Liquid Snake back to life! In Chapter 38 (the last canon chapter), AntiSora attempted to talk Liquid Snake into killing Solid Snake and helping out with Project MGZ, but Liquid refused! Now who's Liquid Snake, you say? Well, he's Solid Snake's twin brother who was hell-bent on killing him in _Metal Gear Solid_ and…yeah.**

**- As a reminder, Project MGZ is a top-secret project conducted by the Subspace Army! It involves the construction of a Metal Gear that's designed to be powerful enough to wipe out all the Smashers! …Maybe…!**

**- And Chapter 38 ended with SilverEXE about to kill Fox McCloud! What will happen next?!**

**_…Let's get started._**

**DISCLAIMER: Nintendo, SEGA, Konami, Capcom, Square Enix, and all those other companies own everything here! But not Ubisoft!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 41: When Master Hand Goes Out Again<strong>

* * *

><p>It was a regular Sunday morning—meaning that the neighborhood was all quiet and peaceful.<p>

A regular Sunday morning also meant that the author of a certain _Super Smash Bros._ fanfiction was sitting in front of a Dell laptop, fingers flying over the keyboard, typing hundreds of words onto a Microsoft Word document.

"…I hope it won't crash like last time…"

The laptop had crashed two weeks ago due to the enormous size of the Word file. As of the current chapter, it was 1,471 kilobytes—far larger than any other Word document on this poor old piece of junk.

"If I could make this computer crash because of my fanfic…I bet it couldn't even load a _fourth_ of AuraChannelerChris' fanfic. Approaching four _million_ words… Where does he get all that time? Mine's not even a fourth of _The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest_… Ugh…"

The author knew very well why _The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest_ was so long: in each chapter, AuraChannelerChris replied to most of his anonymous reviewers' comments, if not all. And even without the author's comments, one chapter could have up to more than 30,000 words. But even so, the number of words in his fanfic would probably total up to somewhere around two and a half million.

"It's gonna be an incredibly long time till mine gets anywhere close to a six-digit number."

The parents were on their own little vacation and the sister was at her friend's house for a two-week-long sleepover, so the house was all to the author—which was a very good thing, since privacy was highly valued. No one else was allowed to sneak a peek at the story unless they were given permission, and that didn't happen too often.

The author yawned and glanced at the clock. "Aw, heck. I just remembered that I didn't eat breakfast yet. I wonder what's left in the pantry…"

After jotting down a note onto a Post-It about going out to Walmart later to restock the bread, peanut butter, and milk, the writer stood up from the laptop and went straight to the pantry, then started rummaging for something to eat.

"Aw, yeah! Chocolate chip cookies! …And they're past the expiration date…" **_(1)_**

The author failed to notice that the cursor on the laptop was moving on its own.

The white pixelated arrow scrolled through the Word document and suddenly stopped. Words appeared on the screen, line after line, page after page, far too fast for normal eyes to follow. The words abruptly came to a halt, and then the cursor moved to the upper left corner of the screen to where the Office Button was. A list dropped down, and the cursor selected _Prepare_, then _Encrypt Document._ A small window appeared, asking to insert a password. A string of black dots appeared in the text box before the cursor selected _OK_.

Then the cursor clicked the red _X_ on the top right corner of the screen.

_"Do you want to save the changes to 'Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace docx'?"_

The cursor clicked _Yes_.

-ooo-

It was a regular Sunday morning—

_"I do hope you two are joking. Really, I do."_

—or not.

Mario and Sonic glanced at each other before shaking their heads at the giant floating hand. "Nope," said the hedgehog. "I wouldn't joke about this kind of stuff."

"Yeah, and-a _they_ wouldn't-a joke about it, either," the plumber added.

Master Hand just hovered in place, giving them an eyeless stare. _"…How odd,"_ he commented. _"It is rare for even _one_ shop to run out, let alone _all_ of them."_

"They all said that-a the wintertime-a temperature right-a now is a bit _too_ cold-a for leeks, so they currently don't-a have any in stock-a."

"But Master, why the heck did you send us out to buy _leeks_ of all things, anyway?"

_"Kirby's Final Smash does not just magically conjure a pot of soup, you know,"_ the hand explained. _"According to the law of conservation of mass, you simply cannot do so."_

"…_Must_-a you add-a something all science-y whenever you're talking about-a food-a?" Mario asked with a raised eyebrow.

_"Therefore,"_ the hand continued, pretending not to hear the plumber,_ "whenever he uses his Final Smash, he uses whatever the Smash Mansion has in the cellars, which in turn reduces the amount of food this mansion has. Lately, he has been doing a lot of training, and…"_

"Let-a me guess," said Mario. "He turned off all items except-a for Smash Balls, set-a their level of appearance on High, made-a the training time infinite, and-a used his Final Smash at least thirty times within a single training session-a—"

"—which sort of made our food supply dwindle away, right?" Sonic finished.

_"That is correct…the leeks in particular, for some unknown reason,"_ confirmed Master Hand. In a nearly inaudible voice, he added quietly, _"And that is why I have made the decision to change his Final Smash from Cook Kirby to Ultra Sword…" **(2)**_

Sonic coughed politely. "Sorry, what's that?"

_"Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself."_ Master Hand quickly changed the subject._ "Anyway, now that you two have just told me that all of Smashville's shops have run out of leeks—"_

He was interrupted by an indignant cry of _"Farfetch'd!"_

A small Pokémon came along. It looked like a brown and tan duck with three tufts of feathers on its head and a black V-shaped marking on its forehead. Clutched in its left wing was a sturdy-looking stick.

_"Farfetch'd!"_ it repeated, flourishing its stick through the air.

"That guy's supposed to have a leek, not a stick," said Sonic, glancing at the Pokémon called Farfetch'd. "No wonder he's not looking too happy."

The Wild Duck Pokémon agreed with a fierce nod of its head. _"Far!"_

Mario put a hand to his chin. "For some reason, I have-a this funny feeling that he's-a gonna use-a that stick-a to give someone a good-a beating."

Farfetch'd suddenly took to the air, brandishing its stick as it did so. It screeched loudly and sped off in the direction of the kitchen.

"He's gonna give Zelda and Colette a nice beating," Sonic predicted.

Two loud screams came from the kitchen, followed by the sound of a stick banging on a lot of pots and pans.

_"Then we had better replenish our food supply as quickly as possible,"_ said Master Hand urgently. _"All right. I have a very important task for you two."_

The plumber and the hedgehog faced him, awaiting their next orders.

_"As we all know, all of Smashville's shops' leek supplies have been nearly completely depleted. I would like to send you to the neighboring towns to acquire some, but with all the Subspace-related events that have been going on as of late…"_

With heavy hearts, Mario and Sonic remembered that their friends were still nowhere to be found after the Subspace Army had captured them when they arrived at London for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which seemed like ages ago.

_"…I have no other choices left."_

"Okay," said Mario. "What's-a this choice-a?"

_"You two must go to the real world and obtain various foodstuffs,"_ stated Master Hand.

The Smashers' jaws simultaneously hit the ground.

"MAMA MIA!" shrieked Mario. "THE _WHAT_-A?!"

"You gotta be _kidding_ me, Master!" Sonic shouted. "Go to _that_ place? Have you lost your mind?!"

"You know how crazy those-a people are for us-a!"

"Yeah! We'd be showing up on every news channel in existence if someone happened to see us!"

_"I understand that this mission is extremely risky,"_ said Master Hand calmly, _"but what must be done, must be done. You are to go to the real world and acquire some food. Well, in our case, _acquire_ is the equivalent of _steal_. That is because your appearances are rather…er…_iconic_, shall I say."_

"Yeah, neither of us is stupid enough to just casually walk up to the cashier and tell him that we wanna buy some veggies," Sonic said with a halfhearted chuckle.

_"Exactly."_

Mario nervously adjusted his hat. "Mama mia… I still think-a traveling to that-a world just to get-a some _food_ is a little too much-a…"

"What he said," Sonic agreed, patting the plumber's shoulder. "Master Hand, can't you send a more _human_-looking Smasher? Captain Falcon's perfect for the job. Hardly anyone outside the Smash Bros. community knows what he looks like under that helmet."

_"I am sorry, but later today I have to send him on a mission,"_ the hand told the crestfallen hedgehog. _"Also, if you promise to be careful enough, you might even enjoy yourselves in the real world."_

"…Huh?"

_"There are thousands of tourist sites in the real world,"_ explained Master Hand. _"You can visit the real world's Beijing, Vancouver, London, and Sochi if you want. You can even take a sneak peek at Rio de Janeiro, the next Summer Olympics site. Or you can go to Japan, where all our video game selves were born. By the way, Tokyo will be the site of the 2020 Summer Olympics."_

Mario and Sonic looked at each other.

"…You know, he's actually got a pretty good-a point-a," Mario admitted after a while.

"Mm-hmm," Sonic said. He jabbed a finger at Master Hand. "But it's not our fault if we get caught, Master. Ya got that?"

The hand laughed quietly. _"Understood."_

Mario nudged at Sonic. "We should-a get going right-a now," he said. "I want to get back in time-a for dinner."

_"Mario, you may use the Pixelator that Professor Elvin Gadd used with your brother Luigi **(3)**,"_ said Master Hand. _"No one in the real world knows this, but quite a few of the security cameras planted all over their countries double their function as Pixelator Cameras, courtesy of myself."_

"…And how the heck did no one see a _giant floating hand_ doing whatever you were doing?" Sonic asked flatly.

Master Hand just shrugged with his fingers as he said mysteriously, _"…I have my ways."_

The Mobian Smasher just stared at him, then shook his head. "Ah, whatever! Let's go, Mario."

The plumber nodded, and together they made for the Mario Bros.' room to where the Pixelator was.

At that moment, the Ice Climbers, Klonoa, and Genis walked by. Master Hand stopped them. _"Good morning to you four,"_ he greeted them.

"Good morning, Master Hand," they chorused politely.

"We're gonna go outside to play in the snow for a bit," Popo told the hand.

"Yeah. We'll have a lot of fun building snowmen and things with the Smashville kids!" added Nana with a grin.

_"I see,"_ said Master Hand. _"That is nothing too urgent, is it?"_

"No, of course it's not," Genis agreed.

_"Good. Because I have some important out-of-town business to attend to, I would like you to do a favor for me."_

The hand produced a small white envelope with the seal of the Super Smash Brothers—a Smash Ball—and gave it to Klonoa.

_"If you happen to come upon Little Mac along the way, would you please be so kind as to pass this message along to him…"_

"Yessir!" chirped Klonoa happily, giving the hand a quick salute.

_"Also, keep an eye on Crazy Hand. God knows what he will do once he learns that I am not in the mansion…"_

Meanwhile, Neku Sakuraba was hiding behind a wall and listening in on the conversation.

_Master Hand will be going out again?_ he thought. _I have this feeling that something bad will happen…_

He gulped, thinking back to the Reversal attack so many months ago.

_…for the_ second_ time_…

-ooo-

He let out a pained groan.

"Fox!"

The footsteps' pace quickened considerably.

"What the hell happened here? I wasn't expecting such a big—_aagh!_"

The dust cleared somewhat. Fox pulled himself up into a sitting position, using the edges of the shattered window behind him as support. The sharp glass left deep cuts in his hands, but that hardly mattered anymore.

"Liquid…" he murmured. Then, in a louder voice, he called out, "Liquid?"

He heard nothing but the sound of someone choking.

"…F… Fox…"

Liquid Snake stood before the Smasher. SilverEXE was on his back, his clawed hands curled tightly around the man's throat, squeezing the air out of him. Lying at his feet was a rifle.

"Unarmed and being choked… Damn it!" Fox whipped out his Blaster. "Get your hands off him, Silver!"

What was once Silver the Hedgehog—Mobian fighter, fellow Smasher, and good friend—slowly turned his head toward the Smasher. He was still smiling that wicked smile of his.

_"Who…is…Silverrrr?"_ he asked in a slurred voice, his red eyes glowing and continuing to drip blood.

Fox did not hesitate to pull the trigger on his Blaster. SilverEXE willingly took the shots and didn't even wince.

_"Tryyyy agaaaaaain…"_ he sneered.

Liquid suddenly bent forward, attempting to throw the hedgehog off balance. SilverEXE snarled as he tried to keep a firm grasp on Liquid's neck, but the latter was not about to give in. As he struggled with the crazed hedgehog, he threw a glance at Fox, a desperate look in his blue eyes.

"Do it now, Fox," he shouted hoarsely. _"Kick his arse!"_

The Smasher leaped up and began to run, ignoring the searing pain on his side. He launched his right foot forward and, with deadly precision, gave SilverEXE a hard boot in the stomach. The hedgehog shrieked and tumbled off Liquid's back. In the meantime, Liquid collapsed onto the ground, clawing at his bruised neck and gasping for breath. Fox remained standing as his green eyes swept across the room, searching for James.

"…He's gone…"

Liquid remained skeptical. "I doubt it."

_"Fox McCloud."_

"See?" he said.

Fox spun on his heel and pressed his Blaster's trigger twice in the direction of the voice.

_"Fool. I'm not even in here. You'd better have better senses than _that_ if you wish to hurt me somehow."_

"Shut up!" The fox kept a steady hold on the Blaster's grip. "Show yourself, coward!"

There was silence. Then James spoke again.

_"Do you two really want to escape from this place?"_

The Blaster in his hands shook just ever so slightly. "…What?"

_"You heard me. Do you two really want to escape from this place?"_

On the ground, Liquid coughed and spat blood onto the floor. "Careful," he hissed. "It might be a trap."

"Knowing James, it might not be. What if we do?" Fox yelled into the empty, smoke-filled room.

_"…I see,"_ James observed. _"In that case, exit this room and turn right. If you keep running straight, you will eventually reach a room with a portal. It should lead you right back to…wherever you want to be."_

Fox narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "…Why are you helping us? Don't you want me for MGZ? And what about Liquid? If you're so willing to just let us go like that, then what did you bring him back for?!"

There was no response. Fox became desperate.

_"Answer me!"_

James let out a slow, amused chuckle.

_"You know…I don't ever recall saying that SilverEXE was done with you."_

Something rushed toward Fox.

"Bloody hell!" Liquid swore through his teeth. He snatched up his rifle and aimed at the oncoming SilverEXE. Bullets sprayed out and toward the hedgehog, who easily stopped them with his telekinetic powers. One flick of his hand sent the bullets flying back to Fox and Liquid.

Fox took hold of Liquid's coat and yanked him onto the floor. The bullets zoomed right over their heads, just barely missing them. Liquid was quick to get back onto his feet, sling Fox over his shoulder, and shoot several more times at SilverEXE. This time, a few of the bullets found their marks, causing SilverEXE to screech in pain and stop advancing. Liquid turned away from him and made a mad dash for the shattered window.

Fox raised his Blaster and shot at SilvereEXE eight more times for good measure. "That oughta stall him for a bit," he grunted. _"Go!"_

"I'm already going!" Liquid snapped. He jumped over piles of broken glass and through the window. The moment his feet hit the Isle of the Ancients' purple glass-like floor, he began to run.

"WHY THE HELL HAS THIS FANFIC GOTTEN SO _VIOLENT_ ALL OF A SUDDEN?!" Fox suddenly shouted.

"Do me a favor and muzzle up, will you?" Liquid picked up the pace and left SilverEXE in the dust.

_"Nooooooo…!"_ moaned the hedgehog._ "Let's play a gaaaaame!"_ He started after them, but a sharp reprimand from James stopped him.

_"That's enough, SilverEXE,"_ the fox said sternly.

The hedgehog growled angrily, but he did as he was told and reluctantly stayed where he was.

_"There will be enough trouble up ahead to keep those two busy for…_quite_ some time…"_

-ooo-

_He was riding on his loyal steed when he was suddenly attacked by a mob of creatures with green bodies and black faces, some of which were brandishing swords strange swords with blades of energy rather than metal. He easily dispatched them, but before he could urge Epona onward, another wave of the creatures appeared to stop him. He decided that the best course of action was to run; there were far too many enemies to deal with._

_That was when a marionette puppet-like creature with razor-sharp claws dropped down and knocked him out cold._

_He later awoke to the panicked whinnying of his horse, and to the fact that somebody had taken his treasured Master Sword._

_Sensing that the journey ahead was going to be a long and grueling one, he put his face close to his horse's muzzle._

_"Epona," he spoke quietly, "I'm afraid that we must go on separate paths from here. The adventure is far more dangerous now. I don't want something to harm you."_

_She lowered her head and snorted softly. He smiled sadly and gently patted the white star on her forehead._

_"It's for your own good. Don't worry about me… I'll be fine."_

_The last thing he saw before entering the forest was the dust trail that followed the path of Epona, her saddle now empty._

Link sighed as he lay on the green beanbag couch in the comforting darkness of the library. He always thought of that scene when he whistled the famous "Epona's Song." Normally, this song would summon his horse, no matter how far away she was from him. But now she never appeared whenever he whistled it or played it on an ocarina, which probably meant that she somehow found her way back to his world.

"Too bad she can't travel between worlds so easily," he said to himself.

"Who can't?"

The Smasher scowled as he saw his shadowy counterpart approach him out of the corner of his eye. "…Epona."

"Ahhh." Dark Link reached the tree and leaned against the bookshelf nearest to Link's beanbag. "Well, it's not _her_ fault that 'Epona's Song' can't produce a portal for her to use and reach you from just about anywhere."

"Mmm. But that would make 'Epona's Song' a pretty darn magical song, don't you think?"

"I think it's already got a bit of magic to it. A regular song can't make a horse come running to its rider from two miles away and reach him in just mere seconds."

Link glanced at Dark Link curiously. "Is there something wrong with you? You're getting all friendly all of a sudden."

Dark Link shrugged. "I figured that I'd better be on my best behavior whenever I'm surrounded by more than thirty of the best fighters throughout all the worlds…all of whom are your friends."

"Mmm. I hope it'll stay that way. You'd better not do anything funny." Link sat up and reached out for a book in the bookshelf that Dark Link was leaning on. "I'm still not really used to you being around here. It's not often that the Hero of Time and his dark side live in the same house."

Dark Link chuckled quietly. "You're pretty talkative now. What happened to that 'Silent Hero' stuff?"

"That's only in the games. Go ask Shigeru Miyamoto why he made me mute." Link grabbed a book and tugged it out, causing a cloud of dust to fly out. He waved it away and flipped the book to a random page, then began to read. "Hey, it's a book from my world! Lucky me."

"_My_ world, too," Dark Link reminded him.

"Whatever. Hey, what's this?" Link pulled out a slip of paper that was tucked between the pages. "There's something written on it."

Dark Link rolled his blood-red eyes toward the ceiling. "It better not be another of those messages about some stupid 'hero's quest' crap."

"Nah, it's nothing like that. I think it's just a regular note. Huh, it's written in Hylian. Interesting…" The Smasher squinted at the tiny writing. "It says…'Meet me in the kiving room to see something amazing.'" He looked up. "Any idea what a kiving room is?"

"I think the person meant to say '_living_ room,'" Dark Link suggested. "_K_ and _L_ look quite similar in Hylian."

"Oh, then that makes some more sense. 'Meet me in the living room to see something amazing.' The paper doesn't look that old. Did this guy stuck this paper in this book just now or—"

_"Thaaaaaaat's RIGHT!"_

Dark Link nearly jumped into Link's lap when a giant left hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere, its fingers twitching uncontrollably. _"Heeheehee!"_ it cackled. _"I guess you found my note! Teehee!"_

"What…!" Dark Link regained his composure and quickly drew his black-hilted Master Sword, which he pointed at the hand. "Who are you?"

Link jumped up and pulled him back. "Calm down. It's just Crazy Hand, a resident of the Smash Mansion who's probably more unwanted than wanted. He's also Master Hand's twin brother."

"…They're twins?"

_"Thaaaaaaat's RIGHT!"_ Crazy Hand repeated, making Dark Link jump in panic again. _"I'm the one and only _Crazy Hand_! Twin brother of the master of this house! Hey, wasn't there a song in _Les Misérables_ called 'Master of the House'? I think I know how it goes!"_ He began to sing. _"My band of soaks, my den of dissolute's, my dirty jokes, my always pissed as newts…"_

Link cut in before the song's lyrics could get any dirtier. "All right, Crazy, _shut up_!" he bellowed. To his surprise, the hand actually complied and immediately stopped singing.

Dark Link nudged him. "Like I said, what happened to that 'Silent Hero' stuff?"

"And like _I_ said, that's only in the games." Link showed the slip of paper to Crazy Hand. "So you wrote this?"

_"That I did,"_ replied Crazy Hand.

"Haha…ha…" Dark Link laughed nervously. "I didn't know you could write in Hylian."

"I didn't know you could even write," Link added sardonically, earning himself a high five from Dark Link.

_"I could do lots of things,_" Crazy Hand said seriously. _"Like something really amazing that I'm about to show some Smashers in the living room. Oh, yeah! Thaaaaaaat's RIGHT! YOU SHOULD CHECK IT OUT!"_ He did a barrel roll through a wall and zoomed off.

The two Links looked at each other.

"…Well…I guess we oughta…'check it out,'" said Link after a while and they exited the library. Dark Link was about to point out the hole in the wall when Link stopped him.

"It's okay. Master Hand will take care of it."

-ooo-

A couple minutes later, everybody in the mansion could hear the loud, telepathic roaring of an extremely infuriated right hand.

_"All right… That is it… I am _seriously_ getting tired of having to repair all these holes in the Smash Mansion's walls _EVERY_…_SINGLE_…_DAY_! From this day on, _you_ are in charge of repairing the damage you make!_ PERIOD!"

-ooo-

Dark Link glared at Link. "…And what was that you said about Master Hand taking care of it?"

"I stand corrected" was all the Smasher said.

-ooo-

The Ice Climbers, Klonoa, and Genis were about to go outside to play in the snow when they spotted a familiar Assist Trophy.

"Hey, there's Little Mac!" Nana whispered excitedly, tugging at her brother's arm and pointing at the person up ahead. Even without his signature green boxing gloves, Little Mac was recognizable from just about anywhere.

"Oh, yeah! Let's give him the letter before we head on out!" Popo poked at Klonoa, who withdrew the envelope from his blue shorts and flattened out the creases, making the rainbow-colored seal stand out as much as possible. Together, the Smashers and Assist Trophy ran after Little Mac.

"Hey, Maaaaac!" Genis called.

The boxer was about to enter the Brawl Room to do some training when he heard the voice. He turned around and grinned. "Oh, hey, guys," he said with a slight Bronx accent. "What's up?"

Ever since he became an Assist Trophy, he had instantly become quite fond of this group of Smash Mansion residents. Granted, he was seventeen years old while they were only seven to twelve, but it was their constantly sunny attitude that had him interested. They were the only ones whose first words to him did not include "short."

Klonoa rushed forward and clambered around the boxer's legs, waving an envelope in the air. "Master Hand told us to give you this right away!" he said. "I think it's something really important!"

"Yeah!" Nana piped up. "Only important letters have the seal of approval on it!"

Little Mac was confused. "…What seal of approval?"

"See for yourself!" exclaimed Genis.

The Assist Trophy took the envelope from Popo and stared at its Smash Ball seal. In the meantime, the kids ran off.

"We're gonna go play outside now, Mac. See yaaaaa!"

"Uh…yeah, sure." Little Mac examined the envelope a bit more before tearing it open. A single folded paper flew out and landed at his feet. He tossed aside the ripped-up envelope and picked up the paper, which he slowly unfolded.

One quick scan later, his jaw was on the ground.

"…I… What?!"

He reread the letter three more times to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things.

"…I've been promoted to Smasher!"

-ooo-

Sora really wished he didn't have to fight a giant swarm of half-robotic, bug-like creatures right after he woke up from a fight with his digital counterpart. Unfortunately, he just had to deal with it.

He raised his Kingdom Key, the Hidden Mickey-shaped pendant swinging like a tiny pendulum at the end of its silver chain. "Data-Sora—do these Aparoid things have any weak spots?"

"None that I nor the Internet know of," the digital Keyblade wielder replied. "Just bash them!"

Sora suddenly froze.

_"OHHHH!"_

Data-Sora blinked in confusion. Even the Aparoids stopped their advance and looked at each other, bewildered.

Excitedly, Sora turned to Data-Sora. "Look at this!" he exclaimed. "We're in the fanfic!"

"Okay, so…?"

"So that means Storm Aurastar hasn't forgotten about us!"

"Okay, so…?"

"So that means we're still considered relatively important!"

"Okay, so…?"

"So that means Storm didn't forget about us, despite leaving us out of this fanfic for two or three months!"

"You already said that…and you destroyed the fourth wall…"

"I left out the 'two or three months' part," Sora said matter-of-factly. "And who cares about the fourth wall? It was already been reduced to smithereens a while ago." He lifted his Keyblade. "Okay, _now_ let's bash them!"

The Aparoids got the message and resumed their charge. One of them ran faster than the rest of the mass, scuttling and practically tumbling down the steep hill and lifting its massive pincers. At the last possible second, Sora jumped to the left and rolled out of harm's way, causing the Aparoid to miss its target. Then he wheeled around and made a backhand swing of his Keyblade, clipping the creature's right hind leg. Data-Sora then used Strike Raid and hit the Aparoid three times in a row. With a seemingly two-voiced screech, it exploded and was no more.

"One down…approximately fifty more to go!" Sora said optimistically.

Data-Sora just said, "…Uh-huh."

Three Aparoids came in. Data-Sora walloped the first one on the head, then used Firaga to finish it. Sora went to the second bug and destroyed it with a powerful Blizzaga attack. Together, he and his digital doppelganger blew up the third Aparoid, along with ten other Aparoids that had just come upon them.

"Approximately forty more to go!"

"…Uh-huh."

The rest of the mass charged at the two Keyblade wielders, who decided to give it their all.

"Together! One, two…"

_"Sonic Blade!"_

Data-Sora loudly groaned when Sora rushed forward before he had finished the countdown. "Hey! I didn't even say _three_ yet!"

"So what?! I just wanna get this over with! _Strike Raid!_"

With a sigh and shake of his head, Data-Sora joined the Smasher. Together, they plowed through the crowd of Aparoids, attacking them with Sonic Blade and Strike Raid. To their amazement, they cleared the mass of bugs just as quickly as it had come.

"You can blow them up with just one Keyblade throw during a Strike Raid attack!" yelled Sora, tossing his Keyblade left and right.

"Good to know!" Data-Sora shouted back. He leaped over an Aparoid and shot a Fira at it, then let out a yelp when another Aparoid's pincers scraped across his left leg.

At that moment, something glimmered in the sky. For a split second, everyone—the Keyblade wielders and the Aparoids—stopped fighting to stare at the light and wonder what it could be. It flashed several more times, blinking like some sort of purple-colored signal, and then it expanded into a gaping hole that tugged at anything nearby—or light enough to suck in.

"I'm seriously getting tired of all these portals and spatial thingamabobs!" Data-Sora shouted in exasperation as he and Sora were lifted above the heads of the confused Aparoids and into the air.

Sora remained optimistic. "Hey, look on the bright side! Maybe this portal will lead us back to the real world!"

"Yeah, good for you, but what about me? Remember, I'm made of _data_!"

They were unable to continue with their conversation, for at that moment they were sucked into the portal, which closed its opening behind them and put a barrier between them and the virtual Subspace.

-ooo-

They reminded themselves to talk quietly.

"…Okay. Are you in one piece?"

"I hope-a so. What about-a you?"

"After traveling between dimensions as a bunch of pixels and then being reassembled to a blue supersonic hedgehog with red shoes in a world where blue supersonic hedgehogs with red shoes only exist in video games? Peachy."

Mario and Sonic had just arrived at their destination: the real world.

Their mission: steal some food and avoid detection.

Sonic picked himself up and dusted himself off. "Man, what a ride," he groaned as he stretched his arms. He looked around and saw that he and Mario had landed in a tree, its many leaves shielding them from view. "I'll make sure that the first thing I do when we get home is head straight for the sofa and call it a day."

"Well, if-a you want to do that-a, then we'd-a better be careful around-a this place," Mario warned him. "Remember, if someone sees us-a, the next-a thing we know, we'll have a stampede of fanboys and-a fangirls on our heels-a."

"Yeah, I know." Sonic parted some of the branches and leaves to get a better view of what was going on below. He saw that he and Mario were ten feet above the asphalt surface of a wide, empty road. Not many cars were driving around at the moment, which made him feel a little more confident. "Y'know, Mario, if you don't wanna get caught, I think the best time to leave is now. Let's not wait for rush hour."

Mario nodded and cautiously shimmied down the tree, while Sonic just jumped down after looking around for any passersby. The two Smashers crouched in the tree's shadow, hugging its base to look as indiscreet as possible—which was kind of hard to do when one of them was wearing bright red clothes and an iconic hat and the other was a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with gloves and shoes.

"Oh, how convenient-a," Mario suddenly exclaimed and pointed across the road. A Walmart sat on the opposite side, its morning customers entering and exiting through its automatic sliding doors. "We can find-a some leeks and things-a there."

"A Walmart?" Sonic sounded unsure. "I was thinking of something more like a roadside food stand…you know, a place with less security."

"But-a we must've been dropped off-a here for a good-a reason," said Mario. "Master Hand-a knows what to do."

Sonic shook his head. "I can't be too sure about that…"

The two of them then decided that they had chatted long enough and ought to get going; wait any longer and that Walmart would fill with customers. Sonic grabbed Mario's hand and raced across the road and toward the Walmart at a blinding speed. He ran up the wall of the store and ended up on the roof, where he let go of Mario's hand.

"Okay," he said. "So how do we get in?"

Mario glanced at the Pixelator in his hand. "Maybe we can-a locate a Pixelator Camera near us and use it to teleport into Walmart-a via one of its security cameras-a."

Sonic snorted. "Then I guess that means Master Hand somehow went inside Walmart and tweaked up some security cameras without being seen by anyone!"

The red-clad plumber paused. "…Oh. Right. Even he's-a logical enough to deduce that a giant-a floating hand isn't a normal thing in this world-a." He tucked away the Pixelator into some hidden pocket on his blue overalls.

"This _boring as heck_ world." Sonic put a hand to his chin. "Hmm… I can just keep running really fast so no one can see me. What will you do, Mario?"

"Well, since I'm-a not a ninja and-a can't run like you…I brought-a this."

Mario then proceeded to pull something out of thin air. It was a red cap that was completely identical to his own, except that it was transparent.

"It's a Vanish Cap," he explained, "and-a it allows-a the person who wears it to become invisible." He removed his own cap and put on the new one, then disappeared. "Now I'm-a free to roam around as-a much as I like-a."

Sonic nodded approvingly. "Nice. Just try not to bump into too many people."

"That applies-a to you, too, Sonic-a." The invisible Mario jumped off the roof. _"Let's-a go!"_

-ooo-

"…Uh… Anyone ready for Round 2?" Ike asked nervously.

Everyone else in the room shook their heads vigorously. "Absolutely NOT!" Wolf shouted, just to make his point.

The Crimean swordsman glanced at the MacBook Pro, its screen currently displaying the main menu of _Slender: The Eight Pages_. He shuddered and quickly hit the Eject button, making the game disc pop out. "Yeah… I feel kind of iffy about it, too." He gingerly removed the disc and stared at its cover. "But…who knows what other things we could find…"

"Well, in _my_ opinion, we found quite a bunch of stuff," Falco declared. "A bunch of suicide-esque notes and something about something called SilverEXE. Great day."

Wolf folded his arms and said thoughtfully, "There's 'Silver' in _SilverEXE_… You reckon it's got anything to do with Silver the Hedgehog?"

"Let's ask Sonic and Shadow," suggested Falco.

He didn't see Captain Falcon wrinkle his brow in disapproval.

Ike tossed _Slender_'s disc onto a dresser and flopped onto his bed with the MacBook. Wolf sat next to him. "Let's search it up first. Who knows what the hedgehogs' reaction would be." He clicked on the icon for Google Chrome, bringing up a window that led him to the Google homepage. In the search bar, he typed in _SilverEXE_, then hit the Enter key.

"…And here we go."

The results appeared.

"…Holy mother of God."

Wolf gave it a single glance before making a face and gagging.

"This is Samus' Mac, so…remember to clear the history…" Falco whispered, shuddering violently.

The page displayed a multitude of results that said something about SilverEXE. Most of them referred to a creepypasta version of a white hedgehog with powers of telekinesis. Originally, he was a character in various _Sonic the Hedgehog_ games who was well-liked by many members of the video gaming community—that is, until he was twisted by the malevolent acts of game hackers who just enjoyed messing around with everyone's favorite video game characters.

"Silver…EXE…" Ike muttered, scrolling up and down. "A twisted, sadistic alter ego of Silver the Hedgehog. He exists only to brutally kill his closest friends, which then leads to there being EXE or creepypasta versions of _them_…"

Wolf was still choking. Falco just rolled his eyes before proceeding to slap the lupine Smasher on the back.

Captain Falcon nodded slowly. "There are EXE versions of all three hedgehogs: SonicEXE, ShadowEXE, and SilverEXE. There are creepypastas for Tails, Knuckles, and some other characters as well, but they aren't really EXEs. All of these creepypastas involve the titular character murdering characters who are closely related to him and being controlled by the player."

"Yo, Falcon…how do you know all of this?" Falco asked tensely, still beating Wolf's back.

"I was bored one day, so I searched them up and read the stories. Then, just to see the games for myself, I downloaded all three… Don't even try to ask why. I immediately deleted them all right after one playthrough." The F-Zero racer hesitated before continuing, "I tried to hide the _SonicEXE_ game from Sonic, but he managed to sneak a peek." His voice lowered considerably to a murmur. "He told me he had nightmares about his EXE counterpart for the next two weeks."

Wolf let out a low whistle. "That bad, huh?"

"I never would've expected _Slender_ to mention something about an EXE, though," Captain Falcon said.

"That's because _this_ version of _Slender_ got messed around with before we got it," Ike told him. "Could Storm Aurastar have done something with it before giving it to Wolf?"

Falco nodded slowly. "If ya think about it, that's actually a possibility."

"But what does _he_ have anything to do with this messed-up-as-hell game?" Wolf demanded, his coughing fit suddenly subsiding. "He oughta have a good. reason other than wanting to make us piss our pants—which, fortunately, we didn't do."

Just then, Ike thrust the Mac into Captain Falcon's hands and leaped up from the bed. _"That's it!"_ he exclaimed. "Storm downloaded the normal version of _Slender_ and reprogrammed it! Then he downloaded this version onto a disc and handed it over to Wolf for us Smashers to play! But in actuality, he gave it to us in order to indirectly tell us a message. So, by completing the game, we found a message…" The swordsman began to pace around the room. "…and I bet Storm wanted to let us know that Silver the Hedgehog's been turned into an EXE!"

Wolf's eyes widened in realization. _"Damn!"_

"We're in deep crap now, ain't we?" Falco remarked with a wry smile.

Captain Falcon looked at him. "Isn't that supposed to be, 'We're in deep sh—'"

Falco cuffed him over the head.

"What?" the F-Zero racer complained, rubbing his head.

"This fanfic has a rating of _T_!" the Star Fox pilot hissed.

"But almost all teens nowadays cuss all they want, so why—"

The avian Smasher struck him again in the same spot. "Storm Aurastar does not approve, that's why!"

"But—"

"Okay, shut up," Wolf cut in impatiently. "So…about the whole SilverEXE thing. What do we do about it?"

The other Smashers were silent, all out of good ideas.

"…Well, the obvious thing to do is to arrange a rescue mission," Ike stated. "But, after all the things that had happened so far, I'm having some second thoughts about that."

"Same here," Falco agreed. "It's way too risky. The last time the Smashers did that, they ended up saving only one of the two targets, and they also lost a Smasher along the way."

"…Yeah…" Captain Falcon said softly. "Lucario…" **_(4)_**

"Not to mention that the Subspace Army has this Project MGZ thing going underway," Wolf reminded them. "And _they_ have _our_ Metal Gear…the ones they stole from the Brawl System's Shadow Moses Island stage. REX, RAY, and three Gekko."

The other Smashers stood around quietly, unsure of what to say next. As if on cue, a voice boomed over the intercom.

_"CAPTAIN DOUGLAS JAY FALCON, PLEASE REPORT TO MASTER HAND'S OFFICE TO RECEIVE THE DETAILS OF YOUR UPCOMING MISSION. YOU WILL BE LEAVING FOR THE MISSION APPROXIMATELY HALF AN HOUR AFTER YOUR BRIEFING."_

Ike looked around. "That wasn't Master Hand's voice…"

"You're right," said Wolf. "Master Hand left the mansion some hours ago. I think that was Darkrai."

"Huh? _Darkrai?!_" exclaimed Falco in amazement. "His last appearance in this fanfic was, like, _ages_ ago!"

"…Hmm," Ike said thoughtfully. "Master Hand goes out…again… I wonder what will happen today."

The Smashers nodded among themselves.

Captain Falcon sighed and stretched his arms toward the ceiling. "…Disregarding that fourth wall break just now, I guess that sums up our meeting for now, eh?" he said with a small grin. He did his signature two-fingered salute before exiting Ike's room. "See you guys in six hours or so."

"Try not to get killed," Falco sarcastically called after him.

"Oh, don't worry…I'll _try_."

Ike, Falco, and Wolf listened to the F-Zero racer's footsteps as they receded down the hallway. Then Falco reached over for the _Slender_ game disc, turning it over in his hands.

"I'm really worried for Silver," he said. "How do we turn him back? And where _is_ he?"

"The likeliest place is the Isle of the Ancients," said Wolf, "and I think it's too dangerous for anyone to go there. We shouldn't risk losing more people."

"Remember, it's not just Lucario who's missing," Ike pointed out. "There's Bowser, Donkey and Diddy Kong, Peach, Wario, Silver, Tails…Sora…Fox McCloud…"

Falco winced when his best friend's name was mentioned.

"Those are just the Smashers!" said Wolf. "We're also missing Amy Rose, Cream and Cheese, Knuckles, and Waluigi."

"Don't forget all the non-Smash Mansion residents," Falco reminded him. "I don't even wanna make a list. It's too long."

"Adding up only the Smash Mansion people, we're missing a total of…_fourteen_," said Ike after making a quick calculation. "One has been turned into an EXE, another thinks his best friend is AntiSora when it's supposed to be Snake, and God knows how many are now under the influence of the Subspace Army."

"So what do we do?" Wolf demanded. "Sit around and wait for a miracle to happen?"

"…Or…" Falco glanced down at the game disc in his palm.

"…do _we_ go out and cause a miracle to happen?"

-ooo-

"If either of us wants to escape this mess," Fox McCloud huffed irately, "we need a miracle to happen. Right. _Now._"

"Judging from our previous and current situations," Liquid Snake replied calmly, "that is highly unlikely."

"Oh, shut up!" yelled the Smasher. "Keep running!"

"Can't you see that I'm already running?!" the man snapped back, suddenly losing his temper. "I've been running for the last ten minutes! You know, you ought to start running on your own now!"

"Oh, yeah? You wanna try run with some broken ribs and a possibly broken ankle?!"

"I went through a helicopter crash, at least five Stinger missile-caused explosions, an intense fistfight, a sixty-foot fall, a high-speed gunfire-filled chase through a dark tunnel, a car crash, severe burns from that car crash, and the first few minutes of a fatal disease called FOXDIE, and yet I was still able to stand and walk after all that!" **_(5)_**

"Okay, that's great! But you still died, right?"

"Thank you. And yes, I did, but I'm alive again, aren't I?"

"Yeah, whatever, no one cares. Now shut up and keep running!"

"Can't you see that… Never mind."

Liquid's footsteps echoed off the walls as he pounded down the narrow corridor. Fox was still slung over his shoulder, holding up his Blaster and preparing to shoot at their pursuers, if there were any. All the while, the Smasher wondered how Liquid was able to run so fast without tripping over the hem of his long trench coat.

As though he had heard his thoughts, Liquid said, "Concentrate on what's going on around us, not whether I'll trip over my coat."

Fox just exhaled noisily through his nose and adjusted his aim with the Blaster. "Why are we running, anyway?"

"Wouldn't it make sense to run in this type of situation?" Liquid answered without slowing down.

"But we aren't being followed…" The vulpine Smasher's voice trailed off before he quickly added, "I think."

"See?" Liquid snickered mockingly. "You _think_."

Fox groaned. "Okay, thanks for saving me and all, but can you please be a little less _annoying_?"

"Lots of people say that to me," admitted Liquid with a short laugh. "And to answer your question, no. Especially to you."

Fox twisted around to stare at Liquid in disbelief. "What did I do? You have a grudge against me or something?"

"I'll be frank. I hate foxes." **_(6)_**

Fox raised an inquisitive brow. "What's the story?"

His companion made no sign of slowing down as he began to talk. "I was part of a special forces unit called FOXHOUND. It was the same unit that a…certain family member was part of before he left within five years of joining. And it was founded by a man whom I hate even more than that family member. It was during my time in FOXHOUND that I earned the code name of Snake."

"Hold on," said Fox. "What about the 'Liquid' part?"

"That I gave to myself. I chose 'Liquid' as a sign of opposition to the other person who earned the 'Snake' code name before I joined."

_Solid Snake,_ thought Fox with a frown. _Solid versus Liquid… It's fitting._

"I quickly rose to the rank of FOXHOUND squad leader after its original leader retired. Over time, I became particularly close to five of FOXHOUND's most elite members. I don't think it would be too big of an exaggeration to say that we were the best members at that time.

"Then…everything changed—"

"—when the Fire Nation attacked?" Fox guessed. **_(7)_**

Liquid almost tripped over his own feet at the Smasher's response. He recovered just in time, then asked in an incredulous voice:

"What?"

"Hey, it's just a popular internet meme," Fox explained, chuckling. "It came from this TV show. Want me to talk about it?"

"No."

"…Oh."

"As I was saying, everything changed in late February 2005. Have you heard of the Shadow Moses Incident?"

"Yeah… Someone mentioned it to me a couple times." He was careful to avoid saying Snake's name directly. "But please—do tell."

"It was when Metal Gear REX came into play," said Liquid. "I, along with the five FOXHOUND members and some other soldiers who were part of something called the Next-Generation Special Forces, took over a nuclear disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island and gave the U.S. government some demands. We said that if they didn't respond or refused to heed to our demands, we'd launch a nuke."

"Whoa—_whoa_, there! You said that if—"

Before Fox could fully formulate his question, Liquid abruptly came to a screeching halt, nearly throwing the Smasher off his shoulder.

"_Now_ what?" Fox complained.

Liquid spoke quietly.

"Didn't the other fox say that in order to escape the Isle of the Ancients, we had to run straight?"

"That's what I heard," confirmed Fox. "Why?"

"…Then either he was lying or I made a wrong turn…"

"Huh?"

The blond-haired man gestured to the wall before himself. "That's a dead end, isn't it?"

Fox just facepalmed.

"Why does this stuff always have to happen to escapees…"

-ooo-

"Milk…"

Sonic rushed through the aisle, then made a tight hairpin turn and entered the next aisle.

"Ice cream…"

He went to the next aisle.

"Beef…"

And the next aisle.

"Chicken…"

And the next.

"More chicken…"

And the next.

"Where are those _leeks_?"

The hedgehog dashed around some more before deciding to take a two-minute break. He located a small, empty cardboard box and dived under it, Solid Snake-style.

"Okay," he muttered to himself. "I just wasted two minutes trying to look for leeks. My guess is that they aren't in Walmart's refrigerated section…" He peeked through a tiny crack on the box and watched several people pass by. "I really want to get some ice cream, though. It's so tempting. But I gotta stay on track and _find those stupid leeks_!"

Mario wasn't having much luck, either. He was exploring the opposite side of Walmart, strolling past rows and rows of video games for the Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and more. Thanks to his Vanish Cap, he did not have to keep dashing out of sight like Sonic, and it allowed him to take a closer look at things while avoiding detection.

The only problem was that there were too many people milling around in the electronics section. The Vanish Cap had almost been knocked off his head three times already.

_Hmm, too bad-a everyone is so interested in electronics-a nowadays,_ he thought.

There was also the problem of hiding his shadow. The Vanish Cap only hid his body, not the shadow he cast 24/7. Because of this, he was forced to stay close to the walls so that no one would see a distinctively Mario-shaped shadow on the ground.

"Okay… Definitely no leeks-a here," he mumbled. "Let's-a go check another section-a." He waited for everyone to stop looking in his direction, then jumped straight up. He easily landed on the top of a shelf full of Wii and Wii U games, and his new position gave him a much better view of the area. The plumber saw that he was at the back of the Walmart, and all the food items were located near the front. He shook his head in irritation.

"You mean to tell me that-a I've been in the wrong-a sections for more that five minutes-a?! Mama mia!"

Agilely, he made his way across the shelves and toward the sections of Walmart with all the food items.

Sonic was still racing around in circles, trying not to run too close to the customers and stir up a big gust due to his incredible speed. He carried the cardboard box with him in case he needed a place to hide. Mario's sharp eyes caught a nearly invisible blue blur, and he jumped down from a shelf to rejoin his companion.

"Sonic-a!" he whispered as loudly as he dared.

Someone pulled him behind a stack of boxes. Mario removed his Vanish Cap and revealed himself to Sonic, who was starting to look a little exhausted.

"Okay," the hedgehog wheezed. "I must've ran more than ten miles around this Walmart already. Still no sign of leeks."

"Are we even-a checking the right-a places-a?" Mario asked.

Sonic shrugged. "I have no idea. Too bad there isn't a sign hanging around and pointing to the leeks."

"We should-a search around-a some more," said Mario. "If we can't-a find any, then let's-a run around and-a look for a roadside food stand-a."

Sonic sighed. "In that case, Master Hand could've just sent us directly to a roadside food stand!"

Mario nodded in agreement. "We can't ask him anything right-a now because he's-a away from-a the mansion-a."

"Mm-hmm," said Sonic. "How about we—"

He suddenly fell silent, his ears standing on end. He hissed an almost inaudible _"shhh"_ to Mario before pointing to his side with his thumb. He and the plumber flattened themselves against their poor hideout of a stack of boxes and began to listen to a couple customers' conversation.

"…guy said they just ran out of leeks," said a man's voice, sounding disappointed.

"Then I guess we'll just have to go to Costco," a woman's voice replied. "They should have some. Organic ones, too."

Mario and Sonic looked at each other in dismay. If what the man said was true…was their mission all for nothing?

"Hey!"

Rapid footsteps went past the Smashers' hideout and stopped about two yards away.

"I found some leeks," said another voice. "It's the last bunch. They were in the pet food section, for some reason."

Sonic almost laughed. _The _pet food_ section?_

Mario's blue eyes widened. _The _last_-a bunch?!_

He threw a glance at Sonic. One look was enough to tell him that they were thinking of the exact same thing.

_That's ours._

They peered out from behind the stack of boxes to see a young man, a woman, and another man who was about to toss a bundle of leeks into a shopping cart. Right before he could, however, Sonic zoomed out of the hiding spot and used his speed to create a fast wind that caused the man lose his grasp on the leeks.

"Ugh," he grunted. "What the heck was that?"

"I didn't know Walmart had such high-power fans," said the other man, laughing.

"Uh-huh. Sounds legit." The first man bent down to pick up the leeks. "Hey—where'd they go?!"

_Excellent-a work, Sonic-a,_ Mario thought with a grin. He put on his Vanish Cap and quietly left the hiding place, easily making his way past the bickering customers who were still searching the floor for the leeks. When the plumber reached Walmart's slide doors, he saw that Sonic was already there, hiding behind stacks of water bottle packages and hugging the bundle of leeks as though they were his lifeline.

"I'm-a here," Mario whispered. Sonic looked up and nodded. Faster than the blink of an eye, he ran through the sliding doors right before they could close and exited Walmart.

Mario waited for the next person to leave. As the shopper walked through, he ran out, ducked behind some boxes, and removed the Vanish Cap. Sonic reappeared next to him, still tightly holding on to the leeks.

"Pixelator?" he asked.

Mario stuck his hand inside his pocket. Then he frowned and searched his other pocket.

"…Uh, Sonic-a…"

The hedgehog groaned. "Uh-oh."

Mario showed him his empty hands. "We might have a problem-a."

Sonic smacked himself. "Why does this _always_ have to happen? It's getting old."

"I agree. Also, are you looking for this?"

Surprised, the Smashers looked up—and a green-colored gadget the size of a Wii U landed on Mario's head. **_(8)_**

"Mama mia!" he yelped as he raised the object, ignoring the bump on his head. "It's the Pixelator!"

"Awesome!" Sonic said excitedly. Then he became serious again. "But wait. Where'd it come from?"

"…Oh. _Ohhhh._ Oh, God."

They looked back up.

A girl was staring straight back at them. She had long black hair and wide brown eyes, and was wearing a black T-shirt with the words "Video Games Live" in green on it. She had a small red backpack slung over her shoulder. Her face had an expression of utter disbelief.

"Did I just talk to…_the_ Mario and Sonic?" she asked hoarsely.

-ooo-

There were eight other people gathered in the living room when Link and Dark Link came in. Most of them appeared to be wondering why there were in here. Crazy Hand was also in the room, rubbing his fingers in glee as he watched the two Hylians enter.

Link approached Jigglypuff and nudged her gently. "Hey, what's going on?"

She just shrugged. "I have no idea. Crazy Hand said he'll perform a magic trick or something."

"He told me to come to the living room right at that moment, so I did," Amaterasu said. **_(9)_** "Really, though, I don't see how watching a magic trick is so important."

"Yeah, well…apparently, it's so important that Crazy physically threw me in here when I told him to shove off," Snake added with a snort.

"Same here." Samus and Snake exchanged a high five.

"He told me and Otacon to come, too, even though we told him at least five times that we were busy with Subspace army things," said Primid 0001. Turning to Crazy Hand, he said in an exasperated tone, "Seriously, can we _please_ get back to work?"

_"This is _wayyyyyyy_ more important,"_ the hand proclaimed. _"You and Huey can get back to work after this!"_

"Did he seriously just call me Huey?" Otacon grumbled under his breath. **_(10)_**

Neku Sakuraba stepped forward with his arms crossed. "Okay, Crazy," he said brusquely. "What's the story?"

Crazy Hand jerked his fingers erratically, unable to contain his excitement. _"You know how I can teleport around the place?"_

"Of course we do," said Pit. "You do it all the time to avoid getting beat up by Master Hand."

_"Yup-yup,"_ confirmed the left hand. _"At first, I only knew how to teleport myself. _But then!_ Something really awesome happened the other day!"_

"You learned how to teleport other people?" Dark Link supplied.

Crazy Hand was shocked. _"Whaaaat?! How did you know?!"_

"…You kinda suggested it."

"Also, how did you know that you could teleport other people?" asked Amaterasu.

_"I pointed at a random Pidgey and I said a magic word and it disappeared!"_

"That's nice. Did you get it back?"

_"Nope!"_

"That's nice." The wolf paused. "…Wait, you mean that Pidgey's still—"

_"MOVING ALONG!"_ Crazy Hand flew around the room, nearly hitting the ceiling and a bookshelf. _"Today, I handpicked each of you in order to allow you to witness my awesomeness! Watch as I use you as my test subjects—guinea pigs—something—for this amazing teleportation trick!"_ He pointed at the surprised group of people.

"RUN!" Samus yelled.

The Smashers, otaku, and Primid dived for the closest piece of furniture they could reach and took cover. At the same time, Crazy Hand let out a loud shout.

_"WAHHHHH-_HAH_!"_

There was a bright flash of light, blinding everybody in the room. Link squeezed his eyes shut, pressed his hands against his ears, and crouched on the floor. He could hear Dark Link swearing to his heart's content until his voice was suddenly drowned out by the roar of the wind.

_"What's going on?!"_ bellowed a voice that probably belonged to Neku.

"CRAZY HAND!" someone screamed. _"STOP!"_

A massive Dark Pulse attack shot into the room and exploded, causing the hyperactive left hand to let out a high-pitched shriek. The force of the move was enough to send him flying through a wall and away from the mansion. The wind died down as quickly as it had come. Otacon cautiously poked his head over a sofa and gawked at the person who stood in the middle of the doorway.

"Uh—thanks?"

Samus crawled out from behind a bookshelf and saw the boy in the tattered black trench coat and red scarf. "…Where the heck have _you_ been, Darkrai?" she asked, somewhat dazed. "We haven't seen you since…Chapter 35…"

Darkrai waved her off. "Don't break the fourth wall."

The bounty huntress snorted. "Who even cares about the fourth wall now? At this point, it's already been turned into dust."

"Then let's not turn it further into nothing." The Pokémon's cyan eye swept across the half-destroyed room. "Can someone please tell me what just happened in here?"

A Hylian wearing a green tunic landed on his head and pancaked him.

Samus was bewildered. "…Were you hiding in the attic?"

"What I'd like to know is how you got up there in the first place," said Otacon.

Link returned to his feet and helped Darkrai up. "Got spooked."

Samus raised a brow. "You're telling me that the legendary Hero of Time who possesses the Triforce of Courage and wields the Blade of Evil's Bane got spooked by a—"

Darkrai noisily cleared his throat.

"—hand," the Smasher quickly concluded, "and now I'll tell you what happened. Crazy Hand got some people to watch him perform some 'magic trick' in the living room. I think it had something to do with teleportation."

"Speaking of which," Otacon added, "I clearly remember there being _eleven_ people in this room rather than three."

The two Smashers eyed him strangely. Then Link surveyed the room. His blue eyes widened considerably after a few seconds.

"…Where'd they all go?"

Darkrai just growled incomprehensibly.

_Damn it, Crazy…_

-ooo-

"I'm not dreaming, right?"

Mario and Sonic said nothing.

"…Someone pinch me right now."

The girl suddenly looked alert. She quickly stepped away from the two Smashers and whipped out an iPhone, pretending to text someone. Mario pulled Sonic down, barely avoiding the wandering gaze of a man who had just entered Walmart. The girl glanced around before sliding her phone back into her pocket and returning to the stacks of water bottle packages that the Smashers were hiding behind.

"'Kay," she whispered. "Do your best to follow me."

She turned and ran through the sliding doors, prompting Sonic to grab Mario's hand and dash after her. The girl boarded a bike and sped off with the two Smashers in tow and struggling to avoid any security cameras.

"Where's she going?" Mario asked after a couple minutes of silence.

"Let's find out," Sonic replied as he ran through the bushes.

She made a left turn, pedaled up a hill, and made another left. After a few minutes, she parked her bike in the middle of the sidewalk and ducked under the thick foliage of a bush. Mario and Sonic joined her.

"Do you promise," she whispered, "that you won't broadcast my address to the world and all the other worlds?"

The Smashers nodded wordlessly.

_She's still so calm-a,_ Mario thought, impressed.

"Great." The girl crawled through the bush and took out a key, then walked to the door of a modest-looking house. She stuck the key into the keyhole as she said sarcastically, "Welcome to my humble abode."

She turned the key and opened the door…

…and a pile that consisted of a Hylian swordsman, an angel, a Primid, a celestial wolf, a Balloon Pokémon, a teenage boy, and a mercenary landed right at her feet.

Mario gagged.

"Y-you guys-a…?"

The angel, who was at the very bottom of the heap, heard the familiar voice and glanced up.

"Mario?" he yelped.

"Pit-a? Snake-a?"

"Neku? Amaterasu? Jigglypuff? Primid 0001 and Dark Link?!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Hi, Sonic!" Jigglypuff greeted cheerfully.

After the Smash Mansion residents had gotten over the fact that they had all coincidentally ended up in the same foreign place, they noticed that the girl looked pale.

"…How?" she managed to say.

Snake just shrugged. "No idea, kid."

"I just knew something like this would happen," Neku complained. "Stuff like this always happens whenever Master Hand goes out. Remember those Reversals from last time?"

The others nodded somberly.

The girl silently stepped into the house and went to the kitchen without removing her shoes. Mario and Sonic entered as well, and Primid 0001 shut the door after them to prevent other people from seeing them. The girl returned with a slightly outdated Dell laptop and sat on the ground.

"Microsoft Word Office 2007. File name: _Life at_…"

The blood drained from her face.

"…Ohhhh, fffff…"

Everybody held their breaths.

"…ffffudge," she finally said.

They sighed in relief.

"What's wrong?" Dark Link asked.

"The Word file. Crap, crap, _crap_. This is _not_ good."

She showed the screen to her unexpected guests, allowing them to see a small window in front of a Word document, asking for a password.

"Someone edited the file and encrypted it," she groaned. "Now I can't access it. God _dammit_!" she said furiously. "No wonder all these crazy things are happening! Reversals crashing the Smash Mansion, Porky Minch almost returning, Project MGZ coming along, James being a Subspace affiliate, Liquid Snake coming back to life, Dark Link popping in, Silver turning into SilverEXE, and now Smashers crashing my own house! This stuff was never in the original plan!"

"…Uh, excuse me?" Jigglypuff politely inquired. "Does that mean we're not supposed to be here or something?"

The girl set aside the laptop and faced her guests.

"Here's the thing," she stated. "I'm the author of this fanfic where you are the characters. But now that it's protected by a password, I can't edit it. Someone is screwing around with the content and making strange things happen."

"Hold on," interrupted Sonic. "You're an author of a fanfic?"

The girl nodded. "Yep."

"Is it about the lives of the Super Smash Bros. at the Smash Mansion and how the Smashers have to fight the Subspace Army that is threatening the safety of the Smash World again?"

"Uh-huh."

The hedgehog's eyes widened. "Are you…?"

She smiled.

"That's right," she said. "Welcome to my world. You may call me Storm Aurastar."

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Sonic the Hedgehog

**Also known as:** the Blue Blur, Big Blue, the Fastest Thing Alive, faker (by Shadow), rodent/rat (by Dr. Eggman/Erazor Djinn)

**Age:** 16

**Species:** Mobian hedgehog

**World of origin:** Mobius

**Video game(s):** _Sonic the Hedgehog_ series

**Quote:** "No copyright law in the universe is gonna stop _me_!"

**Occupation:** Sonic the Hedgehog is a hedgehog (obviously) who is well known for his ability to run at—as well as faster than—the speed of sound. Appropriately nicknamed "the Blue Blur," he likes to spend his time racing across countries and visiting every continent on the planet in a single day. He has many friends and even more rivals and enemies, including Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic, and the infamous Dr. Eggman. If his speed is not enough to lay waste to his enemies' plans, he teams up with his friends and sometimes his rivals to stay ahead. When he's not busy with the task of protecting the world from devastation, he's usually chilling around, snacking on chili dogs.

**Fun fact:** He was originally a regular brown hedgehog until he became the subject of an accident that involved friction-reducing sneakers and a hamster wheel. (At least that's how it went in the comics.)

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

**_(1)_** I swear this happens to me _every time_ I find a snack.

**_(2)_** Master Hand noticed that each time Kirby used his Final Smash, the Smash Mansion's food supply went down rapidly. Thus, for the sake of preserving the food and saving a lot of money and time, he made the decision to change Kirby's Final Smash from Cook Kirby to Ultra Sword. This is why his Final Smash in _Super Smash Bros. U_ is Ultra Sword rather than Cook Kirby.

See?! It all makes sense!

**_(3)_** In _Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon_, Luigi uses the Pixelator to travel to and from Professor E. Gadd's lab and some ghost-infested mansion. I honestly have no idea how it actually works, so I might have made up some things.

**_(4)_** If you don't remember, please see Chapters 29 and 30.

**_(5)_** Most of this list comprises boss fights in which Solid Snake totally owns Liquid Snake (assuming that the player is able to totally own him).

**_(6)_** Mostly because of Gray Fox. Ironically, Liquid said he'd be "frank," and Gray Fox's adopted name is Frank Jaeger.

**_(7)_** …I have nothing to say.

**_(8)_** Really, though, I don't know what the Pixelator looks like.

**_(9)_** I'll be honest: I nearly forgot that Amaterasu was in this story. So I decided to stick her in here to give her some mentions!

**_(10)_** Huey is the name of Otacon's dad (who just so happens to look _extremely_ similar to our otaku friend).

* * *

><p><strong><em>…Aaaaaaand now it's time to study for stuff!<em>**

**Samus:** What? You just came back! And aren't you on summer vacation?

**_Hey. Real life sucks._**

**Samus:** _*confused*_ …Wha…?

**_Moving along. _****_Will SilverEXE become deEXEified eventually?_**

**Wolf:** He'd better!

**Falco:** I have a feeling that _we'll_ have to do it.

**Ike:** Agreed. I doubt he could break free on his own.

**_Where's Lucario?_**

**Yoshi:**_*indignantly*_Like any of us knows anything about _that_!

**Wario:** For all we know, he could be d—

**Yoshi:** _*pounds Wario*_ Don't jinx it!

**_Does anyone even care about the fourth wall anymore?_**

**Sora:** No.

**Link:** Doesn't look like it. Oh, hi, Sora!

**Sora:** _*cheerfully*_ Hi, Link! What's up?

**Link:** A lot of stuff. Tell you later.

**_Why did the author forget about so many of the non-canon Smashers?_**

**Cloud:** Maybe h—_she_'s suggesting that we aren't important.

**Lloyd:** Well, we _are_ from third-party games—in my and your case, Square Enix—

**Colette:** But Mega Man is a third-party character, too! Why were _we_ forgotten?

**Cloud:** Probably because we were never meant to be Smashers. Mega Man is an actual character in _Super Smash Bros. U_.

**Lloyd:** Then why aren't _we_?

**Colette:** Maybe it's because our games aren't as popular as they used to be.

**Cloud:** Nah. _Final Fantasy_'s as popular as ever. The only thing is that they have a new protagonist, this girl called Lightning, and I haven't appeared in any games lately. I wonder why.

**Lloyd:** …You know what? Let's stop talking about this and let the author continue.

**_Thanks, Lloyd. And speaking of the author—it turns out that Storm is FEMALE!_**

**Sonic:** _*shocked*_ I am utterly _speechless_!

**Mario:** But-a you're still talking-a.

**Sonic:** _*facepalms*_ It's just a figure of speech!

**Snake:** I'm pretty surprised, too. Last time I checked, Storm was male.

**Neku:** Maybe we'll get to know the story in the next chapter.

**Jigglypuff:** _*nervously*_ …So, like…does that mean we'll have to wait another three months for the next update?

_**I'm trying to avoid that.**_

**Amaterasu:** _*sighs in disappointment*_ It's too bad that the author has so many other things taking up _her_ time.

**_True that._**

**_Credits to the Mario Wiki, the Sonic Wiki, the Metal Gear Wiki, the Star Fox Wiki, and the Creepypasta Wiki for, uh…various things!_**

**_See you next time in Chapter 42, which I hope I'll complete ASAP. Remember to REVIEW!_**


	42. A Smasher Between Worlds

**_Guys! Chapter 42 is here! And the chapter title is a reference to a certain _****Zelda****_ game!_**

**_…_****_Wait, what do you mean, it's already the end of July?_**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except myself.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 42: A Smasher Between Worlds<strong>

* * *

><p>Sonic continued to gawk at her.<p>

"You're…Storm…Aurastar?"

The girl nodded again.

"…But…I thought you were—"

"A boy? Yeah, about that…" The girl called Storm grinned and pointed at herself. "The person you're talking to right now is the _real_ Storm Aurastar, the _real_ Author with a capital _A_. Nice to meet you." She gestured toward the laptop on the ground. "The Storm you met before—during the Halloween ExFEARience that didn't really happen—is my avatar."

Amaterasu was curious. "What's an avatar?"

"To put it in simple terms, it's someone or something that represents a particular person," explained Storm. "The Storm Aurastar you met previously is my FanFiction avatar. He does all my online, FanFiction stuff."

"…In other words…we originated from somewhere _online_?" Neku said slowly.

"It sounds a little uncomfortable, doesn't it?" Storm admitted sheepishly. "But please—don't think about it. It's better if you focus on the current events instead. Speaking of which, how did you get here?"

Mario patted Sonic's shoulder. "Master Hand-a sent me and-a Sonic here to acquire some foodstuffs-a."

"Basically, we were sent here to steal some leeks." Sonic paused, then laughed loudly. "Man, it sounds so dumb all of a sudden."

Storm couldn't hold back her chuckles, either. "You came here for _leeks_?"

"Courtesy of Kirby, the Smash Mansion ran out of lots of stuff. Long story."

"Haha… I see." She turned to the other Smashers. "And what's _your_ story?"

"Master Hand went out." Snake did his best to stay succinct. "You know the rest."

"Mmm. When Master Hand goes out, stuff happens. Sort of like that thing with the Reversals."

Jigglypuff was startled. "How do you know about that?"

"Uh, hello?" Storm jabbed her thumb toward herself. "I'm the _Author_. How would I _not_ know?"

Jigglypuff's green-blue eyes shone as she nodded in understanding.

"…Something's really funny, though," Storm then said with uncertainty. "I'm the Author, which means I'm in charge of all the good and bad events that happen in your lives. But I would never deliberately put someone's life at risk. Killing a character is something I consider a huge crime. Sure, I might put some dangerous situations, but I'd never go so far as to have someone's life taken away because of something. That's why I don't write serious Friday the 13th stories… I'm not like those Authors who enjoy writing macabre stories that involve blood and gore and all the whatnot."

"So…you're saying that you're nothing like Joshua was during the Reaper's Game," Neku surmised.

"Exactly. I'd _never_ intentionally kill someone."

"Uh…" began Dark Link hesitantly, "does that include villains like me and the little green villain over there?"

"My name is Primid 0001, and I am _not_ a villain," the Primid fumed.

Storm nodded. "I wouldn't kill villains, either. But then there's another problem. I do my best to stay canon… That means if some dead character—usually a villain—was somehow brought back to life at some point, he'd have to die later on. Otherwise, his existence could affect the actual series of events. You can call it a time paradox." She nodded to Snake. "Someone you're extremely familiar with came back to life not too long ago."

"Name him," the mercenary demanded.

The Author looked serious. "You promise you won't shoot me or…punch me through the wall or something?"

"Don't count on it."

"Well, uh…that's pretty reassuring. Okay." She took a deep breath. "It's your brother."

Everyone watched as Snake reeled backwards, acting as though somebody had slapped him. His breathing was staggered and his eyes were wide.

"Alive…? _Him_…?

Neku glanced at him, noticing something in the mercenary's eyes that he had never seen before.

_Is it just me or is he…_scared_…?_

Storm nodded grimly. "He's very alive, unfortunately."

"_LIQUIIIIID!_ STAY _DEAD_, DAMMIT!" Snake roared.

"H-hey! Hear me out, Snake!" the Author yelped, attempting to calm down the enraged Smasher. "I didn't bring him back to life, I swear! It wasn't my doing! Someone had edited the file for that chapter, and I published the chapter long before I found that the guy had stuck Liquid's name in! By then, it was too late to reedit the file, so I had no choice but to include him in the fanfic! I swear by my title as FanFiction Author that I'm telling the truth!"

"Yo, Snake!" Sonic snapped. "If you keep yelling, you're gonna attract a _lot_ of attention! Anyone who's played _SSBB_ or _MGS_ would instantly recognize your voice and believe David Hayter's in here, doing custom-made voicemail messages or autographs or something like that!" **_(1)_**

"Or they'll believe the real Solid Snake is in here—which, in our case, is very true," Primid 0001 said dryly.

"…Other than the return of Snake's evil twin brother, there've been many other strange occurrences," Storm said after a brief pause, leaving Sonic to help Snake relax. "Did you know that, in the chapter in which Robin the Villager arrives in Smashville, Porky Minch almost returned?"

Pit gasped. "Not him!"

"Luckily, I found the little extra section in the file for that chapter before any readers saw it, and I immediately removed it. Porky's still pork, meaning he will _not_ appear in your lives in any shape, place, or way…"

Jigglypuff sighed in relief. "That's great! I don't wanna face that kid again. He's creepier than Lavender Town's music from _Pokémon Red_ and _Green_ played backwards!"

"…hopefully."

The Balloon Pokémon fainted in dismay.

"Whoever was making these edits must have seen what I was doing, because he immediately began to stuff all sorts of random crap into every single chapter I wrote," continued Storm. "Several times, I removed the edits before anyone noticed. But the editor was sneaky. There were other times when I found those edits when the chapter had already been published for more than three days or so, forcing me to accept those edits as part of the authentic, Storm Aurastar-written fanfic. For example, Phantasmal Fog wasn't supposed to appear at the London Olympic Games."

Mario was flabbergasted. "It _what_-a?!"

"The Reversals weren't supposed to return and attack the Smashers."

"Then we might have avoided all those injuries and everything altogether," Jigglypuff groaned angrily.

"I don't remember writing a scene in which the Subspace Army kidnapped Otacon and forced him to work on Project MGZ."

"Man, how many changes did this idiot make?" Sonic complained.

"Actually, there was never going to be a Project MGZ in the first place. But I found the edit almost two weeks after the chapter was published, so it was far too late to change things back."

"I suppose that means the Subspace Army wasn't supposed to steal the Metal Gear from the Shadow Moses Island stage in the Brawl System," Amaterasu guessed.

"Ridley and General Scales weren't going to appear in the fanfic—until the editor added them in, that is."

Primid 0001 just shook his head silently.

"James McCloud was a genuinely good guy when I wrote that chapter, but the mysterious editor changed him to a Subspace affiliate, which also means that Fox originally wasn't going to be kidnapped by him."

"And because of that major edit, it's all lead to _this_!" Pit exclaimed.

"Dark Link was never set to appear."

Dark Link raised a brow. "Am I supposed to be mad or something?"

"And I never planned to have AntiSora brainwash Lucario into rejoining the Subspace Army."

Snake gagged. _"What?"_

"Got your attention now, didn't I?" Storm sat down and picked up her laptop. "How do you guys feel? Surprised? Amazed?"

Neither "surprised" nor "amazed" was the best way to describe what the Smashers were feeling at the moment. Neku was numb with shock and Primid 0001 was simply wringing his hands, while Mario was still gaping at no one in particular and Snake was on the verge of exploding again. These appalling news had really left them dumbfounded.

"All these things weren't my doing," Storm said quietly. "And now I can't change _anything_ because I never expected the editor to go so far as to encrypt the file for the entire fanfic."

Amaterasu looked dazed, her tail sagging. "So…all these bad events—"

Snake abruptly shoved her aside, almost knocking her off her paws, and stared into Storm's brown eyes. In a low, brusque voice, he demanded, "Tell me about him."

"Who? …Liquid?"

He nodded once.

Confused, Pit asked, "Who's that?"

Storm blinked, doing her best to pretend that she was talking to some other ordinary people rather than real, flesh-and-blood video game characters whose presence would probably make most gamers go insane. "…Well…it goes back to a time _way_ before when he was brought back to life. It's a longish, somewhat-full-of-spoilers story, so I suggest you guys make yourselves as comfortable as possible…"

-ooo-

The first thing Liquid did was dump Fox onto the ground.

"You're too heavy," he said shortly.

The Smasher just folded his arms and snorted in reply, refusing to move from his sitting position. Liquid paid him no mind and told him to keep quiet, and he approached the wall that stood in their way. He hadn't inspected it for more than a mere ten seconds or so before suddenly stepping back.

"It's fake," he announced.

Fox twitched his ears at the statement. "Really? How can you be so sure?"

Liquid rapped a knuckle against the wall, causing hollow, echoing sounds to bounce back in his direction. "Look at the material here. The rest of the wall is made of this unbreakable glassy stuff, whereas this part feels like it's made of some type of weak concrete. Its surface is reflective, similar to the glassy stuff, so if you don't look carefully, you would think it was just part of the entire wall." He gave Fox a dry smile. "Ironic, isn't it? The material that is supposed to be weak is actually more durable than the material that is supposed to be strong." **_(2)_**

The Smasher just grunted in response.

"We need explosives, preferably C4," said Liquid. "Have any on yourself?"

"Of course not. Do special moves work?"

"Special… What?"

Fox carefully got up from the ground, putting all his weight on his good leg, and rammed into the wall with a full-strength Fire Fox.

_Crash!_

"SON OF A—" he shouted, suddenly finding himself sprawled on the ground, his right ankle throbbing with pain.

Liquid was snickering softly. "That's what you get for smashing into a wall when you have several broken ribs," he said mockingly.

The vulpine Smasher gnashed his teeth. "_You're_ the one who told me I oughta start walking on my own! And don't forget that my ankle might be broken, too!"

The blonde-haired man threw a swift glance at Fox's right ankle. "…I don't think so. It looks more like a bad sprain. Either way, your ankle is injured. Nevertheless, I suggest you start walking on your own rather than have me carry you all over the place. It's…_very_ awkward."

Fox let out a long groan. "You know, it would be nice for once if I could find something to use as a splint…"

Even after taking a powerful hit from his all-out Fire Fox, the wall was still standing strong. Liquid noticed some thin cracks running along its surface, indicating that it _had_ taken damage from Fox's attack, albeit very little. He stepped back, brought out his rifle, and held down the trigger, releasing a spray of bullets. He swept his arm around in a circle, causing a number of bullets to embed themselves in the wall in that shape. Once he thought he had unloaded enough bullets, he released the trigger, spun the rifle in his hand three times in a flourish, and smoothly tossed it into his other hand.

Fox scoffed. "This ain't _The Matrix_, you know." **_(3)_**

"Whatever." Liquid stepped away from the wall. "All right, Fox," he said. "Now try that…fiery move again." _An anthropomorphic fox who can use weapons…and envelop himself in fire and use it as an attack…_ he thought. _That's just more proof that I'm nowhere near where I'm supposed to be._

"For your information, it's called Fire Fox." Fox struggled back up and balanced on his left foot, then hopped over to the wall. He crouched and concentrated on the bullet-riddled wall, and a layer of flames surrounded his body.

_"Fire!"_

He launched himself at the wall and braced himself for the impact.

_CRASH!_

The wall, weakened by Liquid's rifle and Fox's previous Fire Fox, rapidly gave way to the Smasher's second attack and broke into several large chunks. Fox sped through the opening using Fox Illusion, with Liquid closely following in pursuit.

Almost immediately, they were met head-on by a large crowd of rubbery, two-dimensional creatures. Each one was colored red, yellow, or green and was no more than nine inches tall. Fox uttered a single word when he recognized them by their signature Subspace Army logo-shaped heads.

"Mites!"

Liquid, of course, was perplexed. "_What_s?"

Before Fox could answer, the Mites swarmed toward them, rushing forward as a single deadly force. Fox whipped out his Blaster and shot several of them at point blank range. Each time one was defeated, however, another one instantly took its place.

"Liquid!" yelled Fox. "Help me out! Use your gun!"

The man drew his rifle again. "It's called a FAMAS." He moved his arm in an arc-like motion, quickly taken many Mites out of commission. One daring Mite managed to avoid the gunfire and ran up to Liquid, only to get a leather boot to the face.

Together, the two companions punched, kicked, and blasted away whichever Mite came near them. But no matter how much power they put into their attacks, the horde of tiny but unyielding enemies never seemed to dwindle.

"We aren't even putting a dent into this crowd," Fox realized, zipping through the Mites with Fox Illusion. He was still fully aware of his badly injured ankle, so he tried to be cautious whenever he used attacked. "Check if there's a Subspace Generator in here!"

"Come again?" shouted Liquid over the raucous din of his FAMAS' gunfire.

_"A Subspace Generator!"_ bellowed the Smasher. The Mites drew closer and began to force him into a corner. "It's a circular, purple thing that'll keep spitting out more enemies until it's destroyed!"

Liquid took a flying leap, jumping so far that he was able to land behind the mass of Mites. He looked right and left and found something that seemed to match Fox's description of a Subspace Generator.

"I believe _that's_ it!"

"Good!" By now, Fox was almost completely covered by a pile of Mites that were punching and kicking him with all their might. He let out a scream when two of them struck his injured ankle. _"Destroy the Generator!"_

Liquid winced at the Smasher's cry of pain before turning on the swirling Subspace Generator. The moment it released three Mites, he took aim and fired.

_Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!_

It was a wonder that the FAMAS, after all the conflicts it had gone through so far, had not run out of ammunition yet. Liquid fired relentlessly at the Generator, knocking out some more Mites in the process. Fox roared in outrage as he pummeled the Mites around him with all he had, occasionally shooting with his Blaster and even using it as a blunt weapon, pounding on the Mites' heads.

All at once, there was a flash of purplish light as the Subspace Generator took a final blow, and it vanished. Liquid was shocked to see that a bright red door had replaced it.

"Fox…! There's a door!"

When Fox heard the word "door," his face brightened instantaneously. With sudden newfound strength, he blasted straight through what remained of the swarm of Mites with Fox Illusion and skidded to a stop at Liquid's side. "The Generator was the key to escape!" he exclaimed excitedly. "C'mon, this is our only way out!"

Liquid felt somewhat dubious as he looked at the door again. "Ah… Are you sure? It's just a door and a doorframe. It should be on a wall, not in the middle of this room!"

"Trust me, Liquid." Fox sounded confident. "I've done this hundreds of times before. I've even experienced the same exact scenario as the one we just went through—having to destroy a Subspace Generator in order to unlock a door to a new place—minus the Mite attack, of course. Instead, I had to face combos of enemies. Mites, Primids, Glires, even the occasional Shaydas… You name it."

Liquid was baffled by all the unfamiliar names. "…I'm afraid you've lost me."

"Never mind… I'll tell you more about the Subspace Army when we're in a safer place. Now are we going or not?"

He pushed open the door and limped through the doorway as quickly as he could. Liquid's eyes widened in amazement when the fox, instead of appearing on the other side of the door, simply vanished.

_What the hell is going on?!_

As the Mites began to close in, he sighed exasperatedly.

_…__Screw it,_ he thought savagely.

He stepped through and slammed the door shut.

-ooo-

The living room was in a huge state of panic when Zoroark entered, attracted by the commotion he had heard while playing _Pokémon Black 2_ in his room upstairs. His jaw dropped when he saw a frustrated Samus, a panicked Otacon, an annoyed Darkrai, a pokerfaced Link, and a Crazy Hand-shaped hole in the wall.

Turning to Samus, he began to ask, "Wha—"

She hurriedly cut him off. "Ask someone else. I'm not in the mood."

The Illusion Pokémon closed his mouth again. He strode to the hole and examined it for a moment. Thanks to the hole, the living room felt a little too chilly even for his liking due to the wintry air right outside. "Uh… Did Crazy Hand go berserk again or something?"

"That's only part of the story." Darkrai gave the hole a cursory glance. "He also opened an interdimensional hole that caused several Smash Mansion residents to warp to some place far away from the mansion."

Zoroark whirled around, stunned. "He _what_?!"

"Far, far, _far_ away from the mansion," Otacon added. He looked extremely worried. "No one has any idea where they went or how to get them back. Now I'm _really_ scared because of all these crazy things that'd been happening recently." He turned away from the others and, almost inaudibly, mumbled, "This stuff should only happen in anime…" **_(4)_**

Just then, King Dedede, Lucas, Ness, and Paula came in. All four of them were wearing winter jackets.

"Hey, guys!" said Lucas cheerfully, completely oblivious to the Crazy Hand-shaped hole in the wall. "What's up? And who turned on the AC in the middle of winter?"

"Oh, nothing much," Link replied with a straight face.

Samus popped out from behind an overturned sofa, her fists clenched. _"Nothing much!"_ she exploded. "Crazy Hand just zapped five Smashers, a Primid, and your dark side into some other crazy world and all you say is 'nothing much'? Come on, now!"

King Dedede promptly dropped his hefty hammer on Lucas' head. "He _what_?!"

Zoroark went up to him. "That's…exactly…what…I…said," he slowly pronounced, poking the penguin in the stomach with every word.

Ness and Paula managed to tug King Dedede's hammer off Lucas. "Any idea where Crazy went?" Lucas asked the moment he was free of the burden.

Samus glared at the hole in the wall. "Hopefully he didn't go cannonballing off to some other crazy world. Just imagine all the panic he'd stir up! I mean, it's not every day you see a giant left hand floating around in the sky and shooting lasers at seagulls and planes and things."

"For some reason, that reminds me of _NGE_…" Otacon said with a silly grin.

Everyone looked at the otaku. "What?"

"_Neon Genesis Evangelion_. It's one of my favorite animes." **_(5)_**

Darkrai just gave him a deadpan look. "I guess you aren't called an otaku for nothing…"

"Well, excuse _me_ for—"

"You're ex—"

"Oh, no, _please_ don't start with the 'you're excused' crap again," Samus cut in, smacking the Pokémon on the shoulder. Otacon, of course, was confused, wondering why the bounty huntress looked so incensed just because of such a simple phrase as "you're excused." The Smasher exhaled loudly before going on. "Anyway, because Master Hand will be out for what seems to be a while, we're in charge of running the mansion. That also means we have to find Crazy Hand somehow before he wreaks too much havoc in…wherever he's at. And we need to find the Smashers he kind of 'accidentally' teleported. There's no doubt they're in another world, too."

"If anyone has an easy way of checking every single dimension in existence for the missing Smash Mansioners, please raise your hand," Ness said loudly.

No one raised his or her hand.

"…'Kay, then… I should have expected that."

"…Um…" Paula said shyly. "Um… Isn't there a Pokémon here who's in charge of space? Maybe he can do something about it."

Lucas' eyes brightened. "Yeah, Palkia! I bet he has a way of locating people in certain worlds!" He turned to Darkrai. "Am I right?"

The Dark-type Legend was unsure. "Well, I don't know… It's true that Palkia can do some pretty incredible things, but I have no idea if his wide range of abilities includes dimension searching. Even if he _can_ do it, I imagine that doing so would require a vast amount of energy." He shook his head. "It's too risky."

"How about Arceus?" Zoroark suggested. "He's, like, the _god_ of all Pokémon. I'd be surprised if even he can't do it."

"Like I said, dimension searching—if possible—would require vast amounts of energy. Arceus may be the Creator and the Original One, but even _he_ has a finite strength, you know. Don't jump to conclusions based on weak evidence."

"Then…what if he and Palkia—"

_"Enough!"_ Link yelled, instantly proving the "silent hero" myth false **_(6)_**. "All right, it's clear that the Legendary Pokémon's help won't be enough. But we can't just rely on them all the time. _We_"—he patted his chest—"need to do something, too. We can't just sit here."

"Yeahhhh, sure," King Dedede argued, "but allow me to say somethin'. _We don't even know where in the world of heck to begin with!_"

A high-pitched scream interrupted the discussion.

"OH, MY _GAWD_!"

Lucas stuck a pinky in his ear. "Ouch."

Zoroark stuck his head through the Crazy Hand-shaped hole in the wall and shook his fist and someone on one of the upper floors. "Shut _up_, Falco! If you're that scared of Slender Man, then _stop playing the goddamn game_!"

Apparently, the avian Smasher took no notice of him, because he continued to scream agitatedly.

"HOLY! THIS IS _UNREAL_! AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT _SLENDER_ OR ANYTHING! _HOLY—CONSTIPATED—CRAP!_"

Paula made a face. "Eww. That's just plain disgusting."

"FALCO, YOU'D BETTER SHUT UP RIGHT NOW OR I'M GONNA LOCK YOU IN WARIO'S BATHROOM AND FORCE YOU TO LISTEN TO THE TEN-HOUR VERSION OF THE NYAN CAT SONG!" Zoroark roared.

Samus pulled the Illusion Pokémon aside. "Here, let me deal with this." She leaned through the hole so that the upper half of her body was outside in the cold, wintry air. Then she aimed her plasma gun upward and pulled the trigger, releasing a single plasma bullet that cut off Falco mid-scream.

"All right, birdbrain," she yelled angrily. "Just what the hell is going on up there?"

Falco shook off the temporary paralyzing effects of the bounty huntress' plasma gun's bullets and hollered back, loud enough for anyone in and around the Smash Mansion to hear.

"IT'S FOX!"

Samus dropped her gun.

Falco bellowed again.

_"FOX MCCLOUD IS BACK!"_

-ooo-

"…and that's pretty much all there is to it."

By the time Storm finished talking, several members of her audience were speechless.

"…Wow," Pit said, unable to find a word that fit better.

"I agree," said Mario, nodding. "Wow."

Neku removed his headphones. "Okay, let me get this straight. Originally, this fanfic—_Life at the Mansion_—was gonna be a gigantic story of the crazy lives of the Smashers at the Smash Mansion, right?"

"Right."

"But one day, a mysterious editor thought to him or herself, _Hey! It would be great if Tabuu came back to life without any explanation!_"

"Actually, the editor _did_ think of a pretty good explanation, but please go on."

"After the editor put Tabuu in the story, you saw the edit, swore, and changed the title from simply _Life at the Mansion_ to _Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace_."

"I didn't swear, but yes, I was forced to change the title."

"After that, major BS started appearing all over the place. As of the last chapter you published before the editor—at least you _think_ it's the editor—thought it would be a great idea to encrypt the Microsoft Word file that had the entire _Life at the Mansion_ story typed out on it—"

"—and Lucario is still Ferron," Amaterasu supplied.

"AntiSora is still his annoying self," added Primid 0001 with a huff.

"The other Olympian-a Smashers are still out-a there somewhere-a," Mario whispered.

"Sora got a mind-controlling device on his head, but his digital counterpart Data-Sora destroyed it, and they were last seen fighting off a bunch of _Star Fox_ enemies called Aparoids," said Dark Link.

"The Shadow Moses Island stage's Metal Gear are still missing and Project MGZ isn't stopping any time soon," groaned Pit.

"James McCloud turned Silver the Hedgehog into a creepypasta called SilverEXE," Sonic muttered.

"Liquid Snake, for unknown reasons, refused to work with AntiSora and instead chose to become a renegade, making himself yet another potential target for the Subspace Army," concluded Snake. "And he still wants to kill me, but no one knows how or when."

"And that's pretty much all there is to it," Storm said again. She looked very bothered. "We need fix everything as soon as possible. I'm thinking about starting a new document for the future chapters of my fanfic, but even so, I have to find a way to get back the original document. Now that it's in the editor's hands, he or she can type anything and…well, you know the rest."

The Smash Mansion residents looked at each other and shuddered.

"…But wait," the Author suddenly said. "Does writing in the doc and _only_ in the doc affect the story? Or does a certain chapter have to be published on the FanFiction website in order to have certain events occur?"

Snake grabbed her laptop before she could say any more. "Let's find out."

He typed in the URL of the FanFiction site. "FanFiction…dot…net." The homepage loaded, and he found an orange-colored name on the upper right-hand corner of the page.

"…You don't even bother logging out?"

One look at Storm's sheepish grin was enough to tell him the answer.

"It's dangerous, you know," he warned her. "What if the editor also manages to hack into your account and destroy everything from there?"

"…Good point…"

Snake clicked on the orange link, bringing him to Storm's FanFiction account's Settings page. Storm leaned over his shoulder, took the mouse, and clicked _Publish_, then _Doc Manager_. Her guests looked at the computer screen to see a list of documents, mostly consisting of chapter documents for _Life at the Mansion_. Storm started with the first document, labeled _SSBB 01_.

"This is the first chapter," said the Author. "If the editor messed with it, then the entire fanfic is over."

With pounding hearts, the Smash Mansion residents watched as she opened the document and scrolled through it.

"…Nothing out of the ordinary," she finally announced.

"Well, that settles things, I guess!" Pit exclaimed, looking giddy with relief.

"Nah. We aren't out of the woods yet. I need to check all the other _Life at the Mansion_ chapters I uploaded here to make sure the editor didn't tamper with _them_, either."

One by one, she opened and scanned each document, her mouth set in a straight line and her brown eyes sweeping from left to right. Neku, in the meantime, put his headphones back on and played a song from _The World Ends with You_, setting the volume on full blast. Sonic instantly recognized the song.

"Is that 'NOISY NOISE'?" he asked.

Neku nodded, tapping his foot to the fast-paced beat.

"Y'know, you should turn the volume down a bit," Sonic suggested. "You're gonna blow your ears out."

The orange-haired teenager disregarded the hedgehog and turned his back toward him.

He saw a flash of red light.

_What the—?_

Storm was now reading the document labeled _SSBB 26_. She scrolled downwards, then quickly backtracked and scrolled back up. She squinted at the text of one particular section and raised a brow.

"Something the matter?" asked Dark Link.

"…As much as I hate to admit this…the editor actually did some good this time."

Amaterasu was shocked. "Is that so?!"

"Uh-huh," said Storm. "That also means that I should update my password. But let's get to the point. The Animal Crossing Villager living in the Smash Mansion is named Robin, right?"

"Yep, that's him, all right," confirmed Snake. "Robin the Villager."

"Mmm. Well, it turns out that the _SSBU_ team just released the newest trailer for the new _Super Smash Bros._ game. One of the characters is named Robin. That means Robin the Villager has to change his name, and that's allowed because in the _Animal Crossing_ games, you're can name your character whatever you want. Because _SSBU_ now has a character whose official name is Robin, the Villager has been renamed to—"

Neku gave the Author a small kick.

"What?" she demanded.

He hissed a short _"shhh"_ and motioned at everyone to be quiet. He turned the volume of his headphones down to 10% and stared intently at the wall.

"Noise," he said briefly. "Right outside."

"Well, of _course_ there's noise outside," Jigglypuff exclaimed humorously. "There's noise all around! Did your headphones' loud volume blast some of the sense out of your head?"

Storm, however, seemed to understand what Neku was talking about. "Not _that_ kind of noise, Jigglypuff… He means Noise with a capital _N_, the enemies in _The World Ends with You_."

Sonic looked startled. "You mean those weird animal things with fancy-schmancy tattoo-style arms and legs and wings and things?"

Both Neku and Storm nodded. "Are you sure there's actually a Noise out there?" Storm asked.

"I'm positive," the orange-haired teen said. "And there's a problem. As you probably know, a Noise exists in the space between the RG and UG, meaning it exists in two places at once. In order to defeat it, you need two people to pair up and have each person go to each place. Also, how the hell did a Noise end up in _this_ world, anyway?!"

"How am I supposed to know?!" Storm replied harshly. "Try asking the Composer!"

"Joshua is nowhere near here, and besides, the Game ended years ago. There shouldn't be a Noise hanging around this place!"

The other Smashers exchanged blank looks.

"Any idea what they're going on about?" asked Primid 0001.

Suddenly, Neku sucked in his breath.

"It's here."

Almost immediately after he said those four words, a powerful force threw him back, landing about ten feet away from where Storm and the other Smashers were standing.

Sonic looked scared. "Aw…_heck_, no."

"What is there to see?" Amaterasu shouted, swerving her head around. "Is the enemy invisible?"

"I can see it perfectly fine!" said the blue hedgehog, shocking the others. "It's a House Rhino!"

Storm let out a groan. "Oh, come _on_! Just because it's called a _House_ Rhino doesn't mean it has to come barging into a _HOUSE_!"

"Hey, at least it didn't make a ginormous hole in the wall!" Sonic optimistically reassured her. "Actually, it didn't cause any damage at all! And be glad that it ain't as big as a _real_ rhino!"

Neku quickly recovered and leaped back onto his feet. He drew out a Pin with a gray mouse on it and fastened it to his shirt. The Pin glowed briefly and disappeared the moment he finished fixing it.

_"Teleport Dash."_

He shot forward at a speed too fast for the Smashers' eyes to follow. The moment he reappeared, he brought out another Pin, this one decorated with a yellow and white lightning bolt, which he also attached to his shirt.

_"Lightning Rook!"_

Storm then realized that there was a battle occurring in her own home.

"Aye! Watch the furniture! And the walls! And the plants! _And the entire house!_"

Neku blasted streaks of lightning out of his fingertips and into the space before him. The lightning zipped forward and struck an invisible shape, surrounding the transparent mass with thin tendrils of electricity.

"…I have a feeling I know why I can't see what you're hitting…" mused Storm.

"Um, Neku," Sonic began, "didn't you say that defeating a Noise requires _two_ people?"

"There's no one else to make a pact with," answered Neku, "and yet I think I can hurt the Noise. Weird, right?"

"I don't see anything running anywhere!" Snake growled. "What's going on?"

"My guess is that only those who completed _The World Ends with You_ or participated in the real Reapers' Game could see things that originate in the UG or hang around between the UG and RG," Storm hypothesized. "Neku was a Player in the Game, so it goes without saying that he could see the Noise. And Sonic is probably the only one here who's played _TWEWY_ before, so he could see it, too."

"What the hell is the Reapers' Game? And the UG and RG? And Noise?!"

"NOT NOW, SNAKE!" Neku bellowed.

As the boy went in for another attack, Sonic tugged at Storm's Video Games Live T-shirt. "Even _you_ can't see it?"

"I've only watched a walkthrough of it," the Author explained. "That's why I know about the Game but can't see the Noise. _Ah!_" she yelped when Neku was thrown onto the ground for the second time. "You okay?"

The Psych user appeared to be unfazed. "Of course," he said brusquely, this time fastening a purple pin with hexagon designs to his shirt. _"Mitama!"_

Sonic narrowed his eyes and cracked his knuckles. "I think you need some backup, Neku. Let's see if this'll work!" He curled into a ball and launched himself forward. _"Spin Dash!"_

Pit was jumping with anticipation. "Why is it that only people who played the real Game or the game version of the Game can see and fight the enemy?! It's so unfair! I hate being helpless!"

"Also, I'm quite sure a _rhino_ couldn't get into this house without having to knock some structures down," Primid 0001 added, glancing at Storm. "Do you have any ideas why?"

"I'm gonna make a few more good guesses," said Storm. "Noise originate in the UG, a separate dimension where dead people who are given a second chance at life reside. They can physically harm a person in the UG, but they only cause psychological damage to a person in the RG, the 'real' world. The UG is kind of like the RG's mirror: it exists _with_ the RG, even though people in the RG have no idea that there's even such a thing as the UG. So it would only make sense if a Noise can't cause real damage in _my_ world, which might be considered a part of the RG."

"…Sorry, but you've lost me," admitted Dark Link after a moment of hesitation. "Just tell us if there's any way we can help Neku and Sonic defeat that…thing!"

"Wait. Instead of trying to attack head-on, let me try something." Storm clicked on the Microsoft Word 2007 icon on the bottom left corner of her laptop's screen, opening up a new document that she immediately saved as _LatM v.2_. "If the document for _Life at the Mansion_ could be so magical that the events I wrote could actually start happening in my _own_ life…"

She started typing words into the document. _The Noise—a House Rhino, one of the more powerful "regular" Noise that had hopefully chosen the wrong time at the wrong place to mess with the wrong people—_

"…then I _should_ be able to stop the Noise or at least affect it somehow by typing something new!"

_—__revealed itself to those in the Realground._

Neku and Sonic hastily fell back when the House Rhino they were fighting—visible to them, but invisible to everyone else—abruptly stopped its counterattacks and stood still. A semitransparent blue cloud of 0's and 1's surrounded its feet, then gradually traveled upward until the Rhino's entire body was revealed, fancy red- and orange-colored horn and all.

Jigglypuff gaped at the creature. "_That_ is a House Rhino?! Why not House _Cat_?!"

"If it really were a House Cat, you'd start complaining that it's too _cute_ for you to kill," Snake told her matter-of-factly.

"Heyyyyy!"

Storm was still typing.

_It wasn't what one would expect from a Noise. The single entity somehow existed simultaneously in the RG and UG, allowing the Smashers, who were bound to the RG, to physically harm it and contain whatever damage they caused within the UG, thus preventing any harm directed to the RG that would more than likely have the Author's parents ask why there was a gigantic hole in the wall._

Primid 0001, noticing the last phrase, gently prodded her. "I see you're fond of humor."

"Humor is the panacea of all situations!" the Author proclaimed before saving the document again. "Okay, guys. Attack that thing all you want!"

"It wouldn't be wise to leave _me_ out of this."

Three missiles rained down on the House Rhino and struck its back. The Rhino Noise bawled in pain and reared up on its hind legs, then slammed its front legs down. Thanks to Storm's _LatM v.2_ document, the attack did not cause any damage to anything in the real world.

"I'm still wondering why there's a fight going on in my house," Storm remarked to no one in particular.

A stranger warped into the house, startling everyone there, including the House Rhino. She looked to be in her early twenties, but something about her regal and even deity-like appearance suggested that she was far older than that. She wore a gold laurel crown, gold jewelry, and a flowing white dress adorned with intricate gold-colored designs, and had long olive-green hair that brushed against her calves. She had a gold and blue staff in her right hand and a circular blue shield strapped to her left arm.

"It's about time I took part in a fight," she said with a smile.

Everybody was stunned. Pit started stammering uncontrollably when he tried to speak.

"Y-y-you gotta be _kidding_ me…!"

Storm grinned wryly.

"I should've known this would happen sooner or later. Palutena alights!"

-ooo-

The entire Smash Mansion was silent—except for Falco Lombardi's cacophonous squawking. For some reason, he had just begun quoting Shakespeare.

"But _soooooooft_! What light through yonder window breaks?! It is the east, and Fox is the—" **_(7)_**

Someone slapped his beak shut.

"Are you suggesting that you'd like to see yourself and Fox sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N—"

_Smack._

"Don't start it, Lupin."

"Name's Wolf."

"Don't care."

"McCloud's here."

"Oh, yeah! _FOX MCCLOUD IS BACK!_"

Zoroark was fed up. "That's it—I'm going." He stormed out of the living room and marched down the hall, presumably to head upstairs and force Falco to listen to the Nyan Cat song for ten hours in Wario's bathroom. The other Smashers were too shocked to even move from their positions.

The tiny figure that was Fox was slowly approaching the mansion, dragging his feet through the snow and creating two long, ski-like trails with each sluggish step. Link then noticed that the vulpine Smasher had a companion—a tall, blonde-haired man wearing a buttoned-up trench coat.

"Looks like Fox found a friend," he said, nodding toward the duo.

Ness, Lucas, and Paula all shrieked at the same time when Fox suddenly swayed to the side and collapsed onto the snow, where he lay unmoving. His companion glanced at him, lifted him up, and continued his way to the Smash Mansion with the fox draped over his shoulder.

"Fox looks pretty beat," Samus noted.

"What, were you expecting him to come skipping home with a smile on his face?" Darkrai replied.

The bounty huntress refused to allow the Pokémon's sarcasm to get onto her bad side. "Well…I was kind of expecting him to come back in better shape than _that_…"

"He just escaped from the Subspace Army's place. _Tabuu's_ place. The _big, bad boss'_ place. Of _course_ he'd be in bad shape."

Link threw on a blue scarf with a red-colored crest of the Royal Family of Hyrule on one end **_(8)_**, then stepped through the Crazy Hand-shaped hole in the wall and onto the soft layer of snow outside. "Come on. We should meet them. I have a feeling that Fox's companion isn't local."

Samus ran out of the living room to fetch a coat and a pair of mittens, while Darkrai jumped through the hole and followed Link. King Dedede, sensibly thinking about his extremely inhuman appearance, chose to stay behind with the three kids.

"Let's just sit back and watch," he told them.

Link tramped across the snow and waved at the blonde-haired stranger as he and Fox drew nearer to the Hylian. "Over here," Link called out. "Are you all right?"

The man stopped before him and set Fox down onto the snow. "More or less," he answered, his voice slightly muffled by the high collar of his trench coat but the British accent clear. He gestured toward the vulpine Smasher. "But I can't say the same for _him_."

"I can tell," Link agreed with a worried look. "Fox had been missing for such a long time. I'm so relieved to see him in one piece."

Darkrai caught up with the Hylian and knelt down to examine Fox's prone body. "Let's see… Bruises…scratches…multiple wounds that are still bleeding… What's this?" he suddenly said, eyeing Fox's left leg. "A twisted ankle?" He gently applied some pressure on Fox's chest and immediately removed his hands when the Smasher silently screamed in pain. "And broken ribs…" He sighed and stood back up, staring into the blonde-haired man's blue eyes. "Just _what_ did you have to face back there?"

The man's eyes were expressionless. "I'd rather not say."

Fox's breathing was irregular. His left hand was clutching at his chest, probably involuntarily attempting to soothe the pain. Link gingerly scooped him up and muttered, "He needs immediate medical attention. I don't want him to suffer any longer. And you," he said to the man, "look pretty messed up, too, though not as badly as Fox. Maybe you should see the medic, too."

"I'm not that weak," the man said, looking indignant.

"Okay, okay. Still, you should come with me to the Smash Mansion to recuperate. Even small skirmishes with the Subspace Army can have nasty outcomes, which my friends and I learned the hard way." Link nodded at him. "How does that sound?"

The man said nothing.

"You can also check on Fox if you come. I'm sure he'd prefer that."

He decided to give in. "Fine. I'm coming."

Link smiled. "Good choice. My name is Link. What's yours?"

"…Some things are better left unsaid," the man said cautiously.

"Ah… I see."

Darkrai watched the man walk with Link, who was carrying the still-unconscious Fox. At that moment, he saw Samus, now wearing a faux fur coat and a pair of mittens, exit the mansion through the hole in the living room's wall and stop to say something to Link and look at Fox. Then she gave the blonde-haired man a good look for the first time. Darkrai blinked in confusion when he saw the bounty huntress jerk away from the man with an expression of shock. Link said something to her, and she rapidly shook her head before hurrying away from him. Link just shrugged and continued toward the mansion with Fox and the stranger.

"What just happened?" Darkrai asked when the Smasher joined him.

Samus appeared to be somewhat unnerved. "That man… Did you see his face?"

The Pokémon was mystified. "Not that clearly… It was partially concealed. Why?"

The Smasher murmured, "I think he's related to Solid Snake somehow!"

Darkrai stared at her. "Are you serious? How could you tell?"

"The eyes," she said. "The eyes gave it away. They have the same shade of blue…and the same light in them. But this guy… His eyes were colder, harsher. There's something about him that frightens me." She lowered the volume of her voice. "If he's actually going to be living with us for a while, we need to keep a constant eye on him. I don't trust him."

"Do you know who he is?"

"No. As I told you earlier, my guess is that he might be related to Snake. If that's true, we have a problem. Snake's world is famous for producing some pretty notorious villains."

"We can wait for Fox to wake up and tell us," Darkrai suggested.

Samus shook her head. "Fox likely escaped from the Subspace Army's clutches with help from his 'friend.' That means he'll have a biased viewpoint, which could severely skew the truth."

"So what are you planning to do? Go online, do some research, and try to put Snake's family tree together, piece by piece, in order to identify the newcomer?"

"I'll do just that if I have to. I don't trust that man… He has something up his sleeve, and I don't like it one bit." She turned and headed back the snow-covered hill. "Let's go… I need to get my computer back before the guys who're playing _Slender_ manage to destroy it."

Darkrai smiled after her. "It might be a little too late for that…"

He dusted some snow off his black boots and followed her back to the mansion.

-ooo-

Ferron had been told to retrieve something from a certain room, and he was completely fine with the task. However, no one ever told him that he had to go with some creepy white hedgehog that had black eyes that cried blood.

As they paced down one of the many narrow corridor, SilverEXE was muttering to himself.

_"It's no use…"_

Ferron gnashed his teeth. "Please stop saying that. This has already been the thirtieth time within fifteen minutes."

_"That does not matter."_ SilverEXE turned his head toward the Lucario, red liquid flowing out of his abnormally colored eyes. _"There is no point in saying so."_

_This creep…_ Ferron shuddered and quickly looked away. _Where and how the hell did James find him?_

_"Why are you counting?"_ the hedgehog asked._ "It's no use to count. There is no point."_

"I…couldn't help it. Anyway." Ferron hastily changed the subject. "Who escaped again?"

SilverEXE grinned maniacally. _"Did you forget again? There may not be a point in some things, but there _is_ a point in remembering. _That_ is of use."_

"Just give me the damn names," the Pokémon growled impatiently, a blackish aura flickering around his paws.

_"Fox McCloud, leader of Team Star Fox and son of James McCloud. Liquid Snake, former leader of FOXHOUND and brother of Solid Snake. James told us not to worry about them, so stop thinking about them."_

Ferron gave a sudden start. "Solid Snake?"

_"One of the people who escaped was _Liquid_ Snake, who is the _brother_ of the aforementioned subject. Don't tell me you've forgotten your states of matter as well."_

"No, I haven't forgotten, thank you very much," Ferron snapped. "I just have a feeling that the name is…a little familiar. But…it's all so vague… The name is slipping away… Each time I hear it, it's like I know it less and less. I don't know what's happening." He clenched his fist, which was surrounded with black aura. "But I don't care. The name is familiar, but I am not supposed to know it. AntiSora said it's the name of a sworn enemy. It doesn't matter if the name is familiar. What matters is that I crush this enemy and allow the Subspace Army to make progress."

SilverEXE tilted his head. _"Yes. That's it. There is no point in knowing. It's no use. But is there a point in making progress?"_

"…Why wouldn't there be?"

The hedgehog shrugged. _"There is no point in knowing. It's no use to know."_

Ferron pondered this for a moment, then asked slowly, "Is there a point in anything at all?"

_"How am I supposed to know?"_ SilverEXE replied._ "There is no point in knowing. It's no use to ask."_

Deep inside, the Lucario was brimming over with frustration. _This hedgehog… SilverEXE… Is he unable to answer _anything_I ask? Or was he just hit with a more severe case of—oh, I dunno—itsnouseitis?_

He paused.

_…__Then again, he _does_ have a point. Is there a point in knowing? Is there a point in remembering?_

_Heck, what are memories for?_

Ferron came to a screeching halt when he and SilverEXE found themselves in a huge, dark room with looming figures at the back.

"Department Z." It took a few seconds for Ferron's dull, crimson eyes to adjust to the darkness. "I think this is it."

SilverEXE didn't seem to be bothered. _"I like this place."_

"Oh, yeah?" Ferron said. "Does it make it easier to find and kill your victims?"

The hedgehog just cackled.

Ferron looked around and saw a wooden desk to his left. He went over to it and found a packet of 8.5-by-14-inch sheets of paper, held together by a single staple. "Check this out…"

SilverEXE was at his side in seconds, and he snatched the packet out of his hands. _"Project MGZ,"_ he said, _"the Subspace Army's little pet project. Using highly classified blueprints of Metal Gear stolen from Solid Snake's world and actual Metal Gear stolen from the Super Smash Brothers' Brawl System, Fox McCloud, the project's primary engineer, managed to get thus far in designing the Subspace Army's Metal Gear Z, or MGZ."_ He sounded bored._ "How extraordinary."_

Ferron raised a brow toward him. "Getting a little _talkative_ now, huh?"

_"It's no use trying to shut me up,"_ SilverEXE said.

The Lucario just rolled his eyes and took back the packet, locking his eyes on the drawings on the first page. Fox had included every little detail, including an inside view of MGZ's cockpit, how the hinges at the legs' joints worked, and even the number of screws for each piece of metal around the feet. It was flawless.

"It's spectacular," he said in awe. "Did it really take this little time for him to design all this? I'm pretty impressed."

_"He escaped not too long ago with Liquid Snake,"_ SilverEXE reminded him. _"Do not think so highly of him."_

Ferron ignored him. "Looks like Fox also included notes to point out structures of some significance…probably to clarify things that are easy for him to understand." He flipped through the packet. While the first page had sketches of MGZ's left side as seen from three different angles, the second page had sketches of the Metal Gear as seen from the front, right, and below. Near the margins of the paper were drawings of the foot joints and the underside of the feet. The third page was focused on the structure of the top half of MGZ, which included the cockpit and something that looked like a rail gun.

_"Inspiration from REX, I believe,"_ SilverEXE noted, floating over the Lucario's shoulder.

Ferron continued to thumb through the packet, examining each drawing and each note.

"One, two, three, four, five, six pages… Yeah. I bet if we showed this to Tabuu right now, he can easily make it. Every diagram is very clear."

He returned to the first page and slapped the packet onto a table. The three sketches of MGZ's left views stared back at him.

"No way to stall any longer now, huh?" he said cheerfully.

SilverEXE shook his head. _"There might be a problem…"_

He pointed at a corner of the packet. Ferron looked in that direction, and it was then that he discovered something very wrong. Upon closer inspection, he discovered a small bit of paper wedged directly underneath the staple that held the six pages of blueprints together.

"Not six pages," he realized.

SilverEXE nodded. _"Seven."_

The paper belonged to the top left corner of a page that had been torn out.

_"Then the so-called first page of the packet—the one with the three sketches of MGZ's left side—is actually the _second_…"_

Ferron was confounded. _So…where's the first page?_ he thought, bewildered.

_"I must inform James of this,"_ SilverEXE declared, flying out of the room. _"Wait here."_

The Lucario was hardly listening to him, for he had just discovered another thing. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the packet, activating his Aura Sight, and saw patches of aura on each sheet of paper. The orange- and blue-colored aura unmistakably belonged to Fox McCloud—who had insisted on being called Fox-X, for some reason—and was probably about a day old, judging by its fading colors. What caught Ferron's attention was a newer, much more obvious aura that seemed to have been left there only a couple hours ago. This aura had rather out-of-place colors: dark red, gray, black, and dark green. There were practically no other colors, and the fourth color was clearly overpowering everything else.

_Jealous, much?_ Ferron thought.

Even more unusual was that this aura somehow had an air of familiarity to it. The Lucario swore he had seen these colors before.

_There aren't many people with such negatively-colored auras. Even Master Tabuu and AntiSora have happier colors than these. I wonder what's wrong with this person._

Then he became aware of a trail of aura that started at the MGZ packet, went out the door, and made a sharp left turn. It was still fresh and had the same colors as the negative aura, indicating that whoever had touched the packet before Ferron and SilverEXE had left the room and turned left. Ferron hypothesized that the person had torn out the first page of the packet before leaving.

SilverEXE had told him to wait in this room.

_Screw you, too,_ he thought with a grin, and he set the packet back on the desk and followed the aura trail.

-ooo-

The door that had granted freedom to Fox McCloud and Liquid Snake was still standing in the middle of the small, Mite-filled room. The Mites, having nothing to do, simply mingled around, dancing like a bunch of miniature Mr. Game & Watches.

At that moment, the door burst open, squashing any unlucky Mites that happened to be standing right in front of it. A boy tumbled out and flattened several more of the rubbery creatures when he hit the ground, shouting uproariously.

"_Ahhhhhh_—yeah! _Ow!_"

Sora grimaced as he groggily sat up, rubbing his aching head. His Keyblade lay on the ground to his right. Data-Sora was nowhere to be seen.

"Figures," Sora mumbled to himself. "After all, he _is_ made of data…"

The Keyblade wielder jumped up to his feet and dusted his pants and large yellow shoes. Then, for the first time since he arrived at his unintended destination, he realized that he was surrounded by a large horde of small, rubbery, two-dimensional creatures.

"…Oh, what now?"

The Mites rushed toward him. Sora just sighed wearily and picked up his Keyblade.

"Will I _ever_ get a day off?"

He charged at the Mites.

-ooo-

"'Palutena alights'? That doesn't sound too bad, really."

The goddess of light stepped forward, brandishing her staff at the House Rhino. "I don't think you're supposed to be here," she said to it kindly.

The Rhino Noise snorted in response and charged forward, plowing straight through anything in its way as if they weren't there. Just before it reached Primid 0001, Dark Link grabbed the Primid and barely dodged the Rhino's sharp horn.

"Watch yourself," the swordsman reprimanded the Primid, who just nodded meekly.

Just then, Storm had a great idea. She put down her laptop, picked up Jigglypuff, and threw her at the Rhino.

"What gives?!" the Pokémon squealed when she landed right in front of the Noise, which had begun pawing at the ground.

"Uh, hello? _Sing?_"

Jigglypuff stared at the Author for a moment before she finally understood what she meant. "Oh, yeah! Sing!" She pulled out a wireless microphone. "Everyone shut your ears!"

"I've watched enough episodes of _Pokémon_ to know that that method doesn't work!" yelled Sonic.

"Hold on." Storm typed a couple sentences into the _LatM v.2_ document. _Jigglypuff prepared to use Sing, a move that could be considered signature to the Balloon Pokémon species. Since the move was directed only at the House Rhino, it had no effect on the people around Jigglypuff._ "All right, there we go. Jigglypuff, use Sing!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Jigglypuff hopped onto Snake's head (Snake did his best to refrain from throwing the Pokémon at the Rhino like Storm did) and proceeded to sing.

_"Jiiiiigglyyyyy-puuuu-uu-uuuff, jiiiiggly-puuuuuuff… Jiiiiigglyyyyy-puuuu-uu-uuuff, jiiiiiiiiii…"_

Upon hearing Jigglypuff's song, the House Rhino stopped trying to stab Mario, who was trying to keep his hat on his head, and began to slow down. Eventually, its legs gave way completely, and it crashed onto the ground, close to falling completely asleep.

"There's a good boy," Storm said sarcastically as Jigglypuff ended her famous song.

Palutena approached the prone Noise and gently tapped its head with her staff, much to its chagrin. All this time, Pit had been stuttering away.

"…L-L…Lady Palutena…" he spluttered. "What—how—why—?"

"Hold on, Pit—I'm busy." The goddess knelt down and looked the Rhino in the eye. "You're not supposed to be here," she said to it. "This isn't the right world. Okay, it technically is, but it's not the right universe. You know what I'm saying, right?"

Mario scratched the back of his head. "You know, Palutena, I don't-a think it understands a single word of-a what you're saying-a."

"Oh, that's fine. How _did_ this thing get in here, though?"

The House Rhino just grunted and sluggishly swung its head toward Palutena, who easily avoided its horn. Amaterasu stepped up, produced a blue glaive out of thin air, and gave the Rhino a good whack between its eyes. The glaive simply glanced off its tough hide.

"In case you aren't aware," Storm called from behind Dark Link and a cowering Primid 0001, "House Rhinos are invulnerable on the front. Attack its face and you'll bounce right off."

"Tch." The celestial wolf's glaive disappeared. "Its face is invulnerable even to the Tsumugari, hm?"

"Apparently so." Storm then made a face. "Hey, can someone get rid of the Rhino before someone comes in or something? UPS should be coming today to deliver stuff. Normally, Noise are invisible to people in the RG, but because I wrote stuff into a document that brought it into the RG, anyone in the RG can see it, and seeing a rhino in a house isn't a common thing around these parts."

"Again, what's the RG?" Snake asked impatiently.

"I'll tell you _after_ I send this Noise to hell," Neku snapped, then ran behind the House Rhino and used Lightning Rook on its, well, behind. Sonic joined him and slammed onto the Rhino's back repeatedly with Homing Attack. Dark Link decided to stop hanging around in the back and slashed at the Noise with his monochrome Master Sword. Jigglypuff saw that the adversary looked low on stamina, so she began to spin her place and charge her Rollout move to maximum power. Amaterasu leaped forward and head-butted everyone out of the way so Jigglypuff wouldn't end up launching them into the sky with the Rhino. Storm typed one more sentence into the _LatM v.2_ document.

_The House Rhino disappeared into nonbeing._

The Noise vanished in midair, leaving behind no traces that it had ever started a fight with the Smashers in a fanfiction Author's house. Everyone let out a deep sigh of relief once they knew that the battle was over.

"…Aaaaand _pop_ goes my laptop," Storm said when her laptop froze and abruptly shut itself down. "Looks like writing things that change real-life events causes my laptop to crash… I guess it's because of an overload of…physics-defying…reality-defying…" She tried to find a fitting word and quickly gave up. "…_things_. You know, it shouldn't be possible for me to actually be able to change things just by typing stuff into a Word document…"

"Maybe it only affects things that don't belong in this world, like that House Rhino," suggested Primid 0001.

"Eh…" Storm shrugged. "I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if that's true. This laptop needs to recharge." She got up and went to the family room, leaving the Smash Mansion residents standing around in the living room.

"…Well, um…" It was evident that Snake was attempting to lessen the awkwardness of the situation. "I guess we're all stuck here for now, huh?"

"Too bad," said Sonic. "I'm already missing the Smash World and the Smash Mansion. Wonder what all out buddies back there are doing right now."

Pit still couldn't quite get over the fact that a goddess—_his_ goddess—was within the same area of space that he was in. "Lady Palu—"

"Oh, _please_, Pit." The goddess sounded exasperated. "Just call me Palutena. There's no need for formalities. I'll be on the same level as you as soon as I get to the Smash Mansion."

Pit was surprised. "Huh? You mean you…?"

"Yes." Palutena withdrew an envelope with a Smash Ball seal. "I received this invitation a couple weeks ago, but since I had some away-from-Skyworld errands to run at the time, I didn't know. I returned yesterday and found Viridi there, and she told me about the invitation." She looked a little miffed. "She'd already opened it…and it was my _invitation_… It's not like _she_ didn't get an invitation, too…that is, for being a background character rather than a Smasher…"

"And then what?" asked Pit eagerly, ignoring Palutena's muttering.

"After reading the invitation, I decided to get to the mansion right away. In fact, I was on my way only a couple hours ago when a giant left hand decided to show up and use me as a guinea pig for what he—at least I _think_ it was male—called a 'super awesome magic trick' that teleported me to _this_ place." She tucked away the invitation. "I noticed that there was a large commotion coming from this house, and when I went to investigate, I found you." She nodded to the Smashers. "And here I am."

"Funny," Neku remarked. "That's exactly how all of us ended up here, too."

"Everyone except me and-a Sonic," said Mario. "Master Hand-a sent us here on purpose. We still have-a the Pixelator, so we can-a probably still be able to go home-a." He brought out the yellow device. "Now all we need-a is a Pixelator Camera, and-a then we're all set-a."

Snake looked over the plumber's shoulder. "Er, Mario…I think it's out of battery."

"What-a?" Mario looked at the Pixelator's screen and groaned. "Mama mia! Not-a _now_!" He shook the device, trying to knock some life back into it, but to no avail. "Mama mia! We really _are_ stuck-a here."

"You might as well make yourselves at home for the time being, then," added Storm, rejoining the fighters in the living room. "I doubt that thing uses double-A or triple-A batteries. After all, that's a _Super Mario Bros._ universe device."

"Mmm…" The entire room gradually faded into silence once more. Neku turned up the volume of his headphones again, this time listening to a song called "Make or Break."

Then Storm smiled at the Smash Mansion residents. "Hey," she said. "In anticipation for the upcoming _Super Smash Bros._ for 3DS and Wii U, would you like to play a game of _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_? It's not _your_ version—you know, the one with all those other characters like Neku Sakuraba, Blaze the Cat, Cloud Strife, Amaterasu, Tetra, et cetera—but I completed _The Subspace Emissary_ and unlocked all the characters already, so that should be good enough."

Everyone was quick to agree. "That would be _great_," Sonic said happily. "I call Player 1!" He zoomed off in the direction of the family room.

"Hold on-a!" Mario protested. "You were Player 1 last-a time and-a the time-a before that and the time-a before _that_-a! Are you even-a listening to me?! _Sonic-a!_" He chased after the hedgehog.

"You're too slow!"

"You're too _hoggish_-a, if you know what I mean-a!"

"Eh, does it look like I care?! And besides, _you're too slo-ow!_"

"MAMA _MIA_!"

Primid 0001 shook his head at the immaturity of the two Smashers, then turned back to Storm. "Before all the mayhem with the House Rhino began, didn't you say something about the mysterious editor changing Robin the Villager's name?"

"Oh, yeah." Storm paused for a moment to allow Pit, Dark Link, and Jigglypuff stampede into the family room to fight over the Player 1 and Player 2 controllers after Mario and Sonic finished using them. Palutena and Amaterasu ambled after them, having a friendly conversation about their statuses as goddesses in their respective worlds. Neku paid no attention to anyone as he immersed himself in his music, tapping his foot to the beat.

"The Villager's new name is…_Arden_!" Storm announced with a dramatic sweep of her arm.

Primid 0001 applauded, feeling satisfied. "'Arden' means _enthusiastic_ or _passionate_ in Celtic," he said. "It fits perfectly."

"So…" Snake gave the Primid a look of approval. "It looks like someone here understands Celtic."

Primid 0001 shrugged. "Barely any."

Storm shoved them aside. "Shut up, guys. The Villager's new name is Arden and that's awesome. Now let's go play some _Brawl_."

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHARACTER PROFILE<span>**

**Name:** Storm Aurastar

**Also known as:** Zyfaran (on Facebook, Twitter, deviantART, and other websites)

**Age:** Classified

**Species:** Human

**World of origin:** Earth

**Video game(s):** N/A

**Quote:** "Write on!"

**Occupation:** Storm is a _girl_ (emphasis on "girl") who spends two-thirds of her time suffering from school and the remaining one-third doing the things she likes to do, such as playing piano, drawing fan art, fangirling over _Metal Gear Solid_ and _Pokémon_, and writing fanfiction. When going by her pen name of Storm Aurastar, she is best known for being the Author of a _Super Smash Bros._ fanfic called _Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace_. She is in charge of writing the events of her story while making sure that no one or nothing completely ruins it. _Life at the Mansion_ started as a multi-chaptered one-shot fanfic in the "Humor" genre similar to _The Game_ by MouseMaster42 or _The Normals_ by HyperInuyasha, but a strange twist of fate forced Storm to change the entire plot—she had to include villains that she never would have thought of and, currently, deal with a bunch of Smash Mansion residents hanging out in her own house. Using her laptop's Microsoft Word 2007 program, she can change fanfic-related events, but doing so causes her laptop to freeze and crash due to an overload of real-world, physics- and reality-defying "things." Her avatar, a male character also called Storm Aurastar, carries out her online activities, and her nemesis, Star Aurastorm, her avatar's counterpart, wants to take over _Life at the Mansion_ as his own fanfic.

**Fun fact:** She's Asian, but not stereotypically Asian. If you know what I mean.

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

**_(1)_** David Hayter is Solid Snake's voice actor. Sometimes, he records custom Solid Snake-voice voicemail messages for winners of certain events.

**_(2)_** Reference to _Metal Gear Solid_. There's a part where you have to use C4 to bust through a fake wall.

**_(3)_** Reference to _MGS: The Twin Snakes_, a GameCube remake of the original _Metal Gear Solid_. It's pretty famous for its fancy, slow-motion, over-the-top cutscenes—especially the one where Solid Snake _jumps on a missile_ fired from a Hind D helicopter, uses it for leverage, and (in a very epic, slow-motion manner) fires a Stinger missile at the Hind D and brings it down, all without getting any scratches whatsoever. And this is why people continue to compare this game to _The Matrix_, a movie famous for its use of bullet time.

**_(4)_** Otacon is an otaku. Of _course_ he should constantly make little references to anime!

**_(5)_** You know, the funny thing about _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ is that there's a character called Kensuke Aida who looks a _lot_ like Otacon. Kensuke, like Otacon, is also an otaku!

**_(6)_** _Zelda_ fans, you should know what I'm talking about.

**_(7)_** …_Romeo and Juliet_ isn't all that bad, you know.

**_(8)_** _Hyrule Warriors_, anyone?

* * *

><p><strong><em>Well? How was it?<em>**

**Sonic:** Not bad.

**_…_****_Is that really all you can say?_**

**Sonic:** Shhh, I'm busy beating up Mario in _Brawl_.

**Mario:** _*fuming*_ I'm-a getting the Player 1 controller next time-a, I swear!

**_Good luck with that. Did the whole "ermahgerd half of this fanfic was written by an unwanted guy" thing come as a shock to you?_**

**Primid 0001:** _*uncertainly*_ I guess so…

**Neku:** _*continues to listen to his music*_

**_What do you think of the Villager's new name of "Arden"?_**

**Amaterasu:** I actually prefer this one. It's more unique than "Robin." Also, I noticed that every single chapter in this fanfic that mentions the Villager now has "Arden" as his name…

**_Yeah, courtesy of the editor. Speaking of whom, who could the editor be?_**

**Snake:** _*bored*_ …Kid, you made it as obvious as my series is confusing.

**Dark Link:** I honestly don't think _Metal Gear Solid_ is all that confusing.

**Snake:** That's only because you actually truly understand it. _*suddenly realizes something*_ Hold on, you've played _MGS_?!

**_Will Sora ever get a day off?_**

**Sora:** _*fighting a bunch of Mites*_ AHHHHHH…!

**_Guess not. Will Pit continue hyperventilating over Palutena's presence?_**

**Pit:** _*hyperventilating uncontrollably*_

**_…_****_Yep. What's going on at the Isle of the Ancients?_**

**Ferron:** Shhh, I'm following an aura trail.

**SilverEXE:** _*annoyed*_ _You know, I _do_ remember telling you to wait in that room._

**Ferron:** _*nonchalantly*_ Screw off, hedgehog.

**_Credits to the TWEWY Wiki._**

**_See you next time in Chapter 43! Remember to REVIEWWWWW!_**


	43. No Place to Hide

**Hey, look! I updated surprisingly early this time!**

**_WARNING! This chapter contains a lot of…stuff. (That's a massive understatement.) And it's very long._**

**_The chapter title is a reference to one of _Metal Gear Solid 4_'s less obvious themes._**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here except myself, the Author of this fanfic!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 43: No Place to Hide<strong>

* * *

><p>Amaterasu was not too pleased to learn that she was about to play as the test subject of yet another experiment.<p>

"I've just about had it with _experiments_," she said with a huff.

"I promise, Ammy, this one's perfectly safe," Storm insisted for the third time. "If it turns out that the UPS guy can't see your markings, that's good! And if it turns out that he _can_ see them, then Palutena, being a goddess and all, can erase his memory of seeing you. What's there to complain about?"

"I _just_ arrived here, Storm. Three hours ago, I was in the Smash Mansion's living room. What if something else goes terribly wrong? There's a possibility that—"

"Even if something _does_ go wrong, it definitely won't involve Crazy Hand or teleportation," Sonic interrupted, providing Storm some backup. He had just finished his third brawl against Mario—his third consecutive win, much to the plumber's frustration—and was now relaxing on the armrest of a couch with a can of Mountain Dew that he had found in the refrigerator. He took a quick sip before adding, "Besides, I doubt he's even in this world. News of a giant floating hand would travel pretty fast, dontcha—"

He was cut off by a triumphant yell from Mario, who was having a brawl with Jigglypuff. "HA!" he crowed and threw his Wiimote into the air. "I win-a!"

Jigglypuff looked crestfallen. "No fair!" she whined, shaking her Wiimote. "This controller isn't made for fingerless hands! I need a custom controller!"

"It's-a your fault-a for not taking it along with yourself-a."

"Well, it's not _my_ fault that Crazy Hand picked me as one of his guinea pigs for his 'super awesome' teleportation experiment!"

"Guys, guys, guys," interrupted Storm, "stop bickering. Jigglypuff, when my laptop recharges, I'll see if I can write something about a custom Wiimote. Mario, it's about time you gave someone else a chance to play _Brawl_."

"Yeahhhh…someone like _me_!" Pit piped up eagerly. "You've already played four games, Mario."

The plumber just shrugged and passed his Wiimote to the angel, who immediately set his character as Pit and picked the Brinstar stage.

"Why Brinstar?" asked Jigglypuff. "I _hate_ that stage!"

Pit laughed. "Oh, I dunno… Just wanna practice there a bit, I guess."

The Balloon Pokémon just groaned.

Palutena, in the meantime, was still attempting to persuade Amaterasu into taking part in Storm's experiment. "It'll be all right, Amaterasu," she said soothingly. "I'll make sure I clear the person of his memories. Nothing can go wrong."

The celestial wolf was reluctant. "_Many_ things can go wrong, you mean…" she muttered.

Storm sighed and left the room to go upstairs and check on Neku, who was on the lookout for a UPS truck. Snake was on the balcony, talking with Primid 0001 and Dark Link about his twin brother, Liquid Snake. The FanFiction Author caught snatches of their conversation as she passed by.

"So…what do you think Liquid will do, now that he's alive again?"

"Liquid is a tactician. He plans everything out beforehand. Then he waits for the perfect moment…and swoops in to get the big prize. That was exactly what he did to me at Shadow Moses. I have no idea what he's currently planning, though."

"He and Fox were together when they escaped from the Isle of the Ancients, no? I may know little to nothing about your brother, Snake, but I honestly doubt he will do anything villainous right now. After all, he came back to life not too long ago. I'm sure he's still adjusting to his new environment. It's impossible for one to be accustomed to the Smash World in a short time."

"Yeah, maybe. But as for FOXDIE…"

Storm went to her room and noticed that the window was wide open. She poked her head outside. "Uh…Neku?"

"On the roof."

She looked up to see the soles of the orange-haired teenager's sneakers. Startled, she jumped back inside. "Oh! There you are." Then she frowned and looked out again. "Neku, someone will see you. You should make yourself less obvious."

Neku yawned loudly and splayed his arms and legs across the rooftop. "Don't worry. I'm a pro at being inconspicuous."

"Says the guy with the bright orange hair," Storm said with a laugh. "Yep, _totally_ inconspicuous."

"Says the girl whose house got invaded by a freakin' _House Rhino_," Neku shot back. He smirked at the scowl the Author gave him. "Gotcha good, didn't I?"

"Oh, stop it," she retorted. Then she remembered why she was searching for Neku. "Hey, any sign of the UPS truck?"

The ex-Player shielded his eyes from the sun and peered toward the end of the road. "Doesn't look like it. It _is_ coming today, is it?"

"Yeah…unless there's a delay, of course. But UPS is usually on time. Occasionally, it even comes a day or two early."

"Did Amaterasu agree to your little 'experiment'?"

Storm blushed. "Not really. Palutena's still trying to persuade her."

Neku nodded before turning away from her. He shielded his face from the sun and squinted at a small object that had just appeared at the end of the road. "Is that it?"

The Author followed his gaze and blinked. "Aha. Yep, that's the UPS truck. Neku, you should get inside now—"

"Nah. I'll just stay here and lay low. Literally." Neku crawled away from the edge of the roof and flattened himself. "I don't think the UPS guy will bother to look all the way up here."

"Hmm…good point. But still, don't let him see you." Storm went back inside and shut the windows halfway. Then she noisily pounded back down the stairs and to the family room, where Pit was brawling with Sonic on the Hanenbow stage.

"Hey, everyone! The UPS guy is coming!" she announced.

Sonic paused the game and whirled toward her. "In how long?"

"About a minute."

There was a wild scramble of movement as the Smash Mansion residents rushed to find a place to hide. Mario switched off the television and dived under some pillows on the sofa. Jigglypuff sat on top of the pillow stack and did her best to pretend that she was merely a life-sized, scarily realistic Jigglypuff plush doll. Sonic ducked behind the far end of the sofa and curled into a spiky blue ball. Pit threw open a random door, discovered that it led to the pantry, and, deciding that there was no better place to go, went in and shut himself inside. From the balcony upstairs, Dark Link shouted, "We'll just stay here and be quiet, if that's fine with you!"

Before Amaterasu could react, Storm had already grabbed her by the thick fur on her neck. "Ammy, there's no place to hide," she told her seriously.

Snake's voice called out, "Was that an _MGS4_ reference I heard just now?"

"Shut up, David," Storm yelled back.

"Oh, _no_! Not you, too!"

Storm just rolled her eyes before looking back to Amaterasu. "Anyway, here's the plan. When the UPS guy rings the doorbell, follow me. Let him get a good look at you when I open the door to receive the package. If he says anything about your markings and the Reflector on your back, Palutena will jump in and erase his memory of seeing you. Did you get all that, Palutena?"

The goddess slowly emerged from the pantry and gave her a silent thumbs-up. Storm raised an inquiring brow.

"Isn't Pit in there, too?"

Palutena nodded.

"…What the heck are you guys doing in there? _Together?_" the Author asked in a jokingly accusing tone. **_(1)_**

Palutena's cheeks turned bright red, and she glared daggers at Storm before returning to the pantry and making vague sounds of fury, to which Pit responded to with childish giggles.

The doorbell rang. Storm went to the foyer of the house. "C'mon, Ammy."

The wolf let out a long growl as she followed her. "I don't remember giving you permission to call me Ammy…"

"Well, Issun calls you that all the time, so I guess I can, too." **_(2)_**

"…Hnghhhhh…"

Storm reached the door and put her hand on the handle. She glanced back to Amaterasu, smiling confidently. "Ready?"

The wolf wanted to get everything over with as soon as possible. "Just go ahead. There's no time to argue."

The Author nodded.

"Okay. Three…two…one…and here we go."

She unlocked the door and pulled it open. A man wearing the brown uniform of UPS was standing there with a cardboard box in his hands.

"Your package, ma'am?" he said politely.

Storm accepted the package with a smile. "Thanks a lot."

Amaterasu stayed out of sight. While Storm was chatting with the deliveryman, Palutena stealthily left the pantry, sneaked along the wall, and hid behind a table, using the tablecloth to conceal half of her body.

"What are you waiting for?" she whispered to Amaterasu. "Get going!"

The wolf shuddered nervously. Taking a tense step forward, she warily approached the open door and joined Storm. With round eyes, she stared at the UPS deliveryman, who gave her a curious look.

"…Wow," he murmured after a brief pause. "Beautiful dog you have. Or is it a wolf?" he added teasingly.

"Why not both?" said Storm, chuckling.

The deliveryman laughed. "Sure…a wolfdog, then." He gave Amaterasu a closer look and said, "Looks more like a pure white wolf to me, though. Lucky kid you are."

He and Storm exchanged a few more words before the deliveryman finally noticed that he had more packages to send. He waved good-bye to the Author and ran down the porch. Storm hurriedly shut the door, accidentally slamming it a little too hard, and lay against it, breathing heavily.

"Well," she said, putting a hand on her forehead, "that was a relief."

One by one, the Smash Mansion residents reemerged from their hiding spots. Mario and Jigglypuff left the sofa, and Sonic uncurled himself. Snake, Primid 0001, and Dark Link came down the stairs with Neku following close behind. Pit tiptoed out of the pantry with a cookie in his mouth.

"Pit…it's expired," Storm pointed out.

The angel shrugged and continued eating the cookie. Palutena sighed and explained, "That kind of stuff doesn't matter to him."

Primid 0001 and Dark Link gave each other a strange look, and they both broke out into laughter.

"Hahaha! That was a close call!"

Dark Link nodded in agreement, grinning broadly. "Yeah, it sure was! I hope it happens again."

"Oh, no, I hope not," said the Primid, suddenly looking grave.

Storm locked the door and listened to the deliveryman's UPS truck drive away. She then faced her guests with her arms crossed.

"Mission accomplished."

At that moment, her laptop, which was recharging in the kitchen, let out a shrill, warning _beep_.

-ooo-

Pikachu and Taki the Piplup were playing _PokéPark_.

"Um, Taki, you're supposed to use some move _other_ than Thunderbolt…"

"Relax, will ya, Zane? I never played _PokéPark_ before!"

"Mmm… That's pretty obvious. Too bad the Mystery Dungeon World doesn't have video games…"

"You can say that again. Ha, I beat him!" Taki cried when he finally defeated the Torterra he had been fighting for the eighth time. Unlike its successor _PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond_, the original _PokéPark_ had only one playable character: the mascot of the _Pokémon_ series, Pikachu. Because of this, players were forced to make choices with extreme caution when battling Pokémon with type advantages, or Legendary Pokémon.

Taki set down the custom Wiimote that he and Pikachu had stolen from Jigglypuff's secret stash of game controllers customized for fingerless hands. "Have you defeated Groudon yet?"

Pikachu looked incredulous. "Arceus, no! He's Ground-type _and_ Legendary! He takes up the entire screen, too. I still haven't figured out a proper strategy."

"There's always YouTube and other people's _Let's Play_s," the Piplup reminded him.

The Mouse Pokémon shook his head vigorously. "That's the stuff I wanna avoid. What I want is to find my _own_ solution." He made himself more comfortable in his beanbag chair, looking thoughtful. "Y'know, this is just my opinion, but…I feel like we're all getting stupider every day as we resort more and more to the Internet. Things that we knew by heart before are now all over the Net, making us believe we have no more need to fully understand that thing anymore." He glanced at Taki. "Y'know what I'm saying?"

The Piplup was gaping at him. "…Since when did _you_ get so deep?"

"I'm just expressing my own views," Pikachu replied.

Just then, a black-furred, red-haired, canid Pokémon stomped into the room and kicked the door shut, making it slam into the doorframe so hard that the entire room shook.

"Oh! Hi, there, Zoro…" Pikachu sniffed the air and grimaced. "…What's that smell?"

"Sorry," Zoroark apologized. "I went to Wario's bathroom and locked Falco inside." He was talking while pinching his nose to keep out the stench that clung to his fur. "I never thought that bathroom would be _that_ repulsive…"

Pikachu trembled violently, not wanting to imagine what horrors could be lurking in the garlic-loving Smasher's personal bathroom. Meanwhile, Taki was feeling a little worried for Falco's safety.

"You said you locked him in _there_? _Alone?!_"

Zoroark waved off the Penguin Pokémon's concern. "Eh, he'll manage."

"Why'd you throw him in there, anyway?! That's, like, the worst punishment I could ever think of!" Taki paused. "Well, apart from being erased from existence, of course."

"He was screaming too much about getting caught by Slender Man, finding ten pages instead of eight, another creepypasta, Fox McCloud returning to the mansion, downloading about six million viruses into Samus' MacBook, something about _Romeo and J_—"

"Wait just a sec," Pikachu cut in, his brown eyes wide. "Did you just say something about Fox McCloud returning to the Smash Mansion?"

"Uh…yeah…except I didn't say '_Smash_ Mansion'—"

"SCREW THAT!" the Electric-type exploded. "FOX IS BACK? _FOX MCCLOUD IS BACK?!_ WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?!" He grabbed Taki's foot and started dragging him out the room. "C'MON TAKI! LET'S GO SEE—"

Before he could continue any further, Zoroark snatched him up by his tail and dangled him five feet above the floor. "Hold your Rapidash for a minute, Pikachu," he said sternly. "Fox is currently under the care of a couple Pokémon doctors…an Audino and a Chansey, I believe." In a gentler, softer voice, he went on, "He saw lots of crap at the Isle of the Ancients… It's best to leave him alone for a while."

Pikachu stopped thrashing about and turned his body to stare into Zoroark's cyan eyes. "…Is it really that bad?" he asked quietly.

The Illusion Pokémon nodded grimly. Then he brightened up a bit.

"I forgot to mention… We have a guest. He came with Fox, so I'm assuming he escaped with him. Maybe he could tell you a thing or two."

"Oh, cool!" Taki said enthusiastically. Pikachu was still holding onto his foot, and he was hanging below the Mouse Pokémon. "What's his name?"

"I don't know… I haven't met him yet." Zoroark lowered the two smaller Pokémon to the floor. "Do me a favor and ask him for me, all right?"

Pikachu stood up and saluted him. "Not a problem, Zoro! Let's go look for that guy, Taki!" He and the Piplup quickly scampered off. They made sharp turns through the hallways and practically flew down the staircase, ending up on the first floor. In their irrepressible enthusiasm, they nearly crashed headlong into Samus.

"Whoa, there!" she exclaimed, stopping the two Pokémon. "Why all the excitement?"

Pikachu beamed up toward her. "Hiya, Samus! Me and Taki are just looking for that guest Zoroark told us about!"

Instead of smiling back and letting him and Taki pass, the bounty huntress narrowed her blue-green eyes. "…You're looking for the visitor?"

Taki slowly nodded, feeling slightly tentative because of Samus' unexpected reaction. "Is, um… Is something the matter, Miss Aran?"

Samus was silent for a minute or so. Then she knelt down, her eyes darting left and right for any passersby, and Pikachu and Taki leaned closer to her, sensing that she had something personal to say.

"Here's the thing," the bounty huntress said in a low voice. "I understand that our guest is a…well…_guest_, but something about him that throws me off. I think he's planning something… What exactly he's planning, I can't say. But I suggest you be careful around him. Don't ask him too many questions, and don't give him too much information."

She was dead serious. "If you want to talk to him that badly, go to the library." Then she stood up and went up the stairs, leaving the two Pokémon completely baffled.

Taki nudged Pikachu. "What's with her?" he whispered.

The Mouse Pokémon did not immediately reply. When he did, he sounded hoarse.

"L… Let's go…_carefully_…" _Gee, Samus, way to ruin the mood,_ he thought with distaste.

Together, the Pokémon dashed in the direction of the library, their feet pattering against the clean floor. The corridors were unusually quiet, which Pikachu found rather unsettling. Within three minutes, he and Taki reached the entrance of the library. Taki motioned Pikachu to be quiet before cautiously peering past the open doors.

Only half of the lights in the library had been turned on, which did not help at all with the Pokémon's uneasiness. The air was so still that Pikachu could hear the frantic beating of his own heart. Taki whimpered to himself and fearfully waddled into the large, dark room; Pikachu hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, before tagging along with the Piplup. They hadn't taken more than two steps when Pikachu stuck his arm out and held Taki back.

"There's a funny scent in here," he whispered. "Like…blood, I think."

"Really?" Taki sniffed around. "I can't smell anything."

"You're a Piplup. I'm a Pikachu. Do the math." Pikachu took the lead and crept toward the looming bookshelves. Taki was so frightened that he took hold of the Electric-type's tail and wouldn't let go. They inched closer to the bookshelves and nearly died of shock when a voice rang out.

"I can hear you."

_What?!_ Pikachu thought, stunned. _We're walking so quietly! How?!_

He heard a resounding _click_ nearby. He had seen other Smashers use firearms enough times to know that it was the telltale sound of a gun's safety being released.

"You haven't noticed me yet?"

Pikachu shakily held up his hands, a sign of surrender. "Okay, okay! We're sorry for sneaking up on you. Please don't be so…"

He turned around and found himself looking straight into the barrel of a rifle.

"…hostile…"

Taki cried out in terror when he saw the tall, trench coat-wearing human wielding the rifle, and he clutched Pikachu's tail even more tightly. "Z-Z-Zane…"

The man stared down at the two quivering Pokémon with a malevolent glare in his eyes. "…What are you doing here?" he asked softly.

Pikachu's breaths came out in uneven gasps. "We—we…" He swallowed nervously. "We…just wanted to—"

"—say hello," Taki blurted out, quickly losing his cool. "'C-c-c-cause we heard that…there was a guest…a-and, uh…"

"Exactly what he said," Pikachu concluded, unknowingly taking several tiny steps back in an attempt to get the barrel of the rifle out of his face.

The man looked apprehensive. "Is that all you came here for?"

"Please…" Pikachu was desperate. "Please don't shoot us. We just wanna talk to you…since you're a visitor and all." He was close to the point of completely breaking down. "Can you please…put down the gun?" he begged.

As though on cue, a man sauntered into the library, an open MacBook in his hands.

"…info on RAY," he was saying while typing something. "I'm an expert on REX, but I don't know all that much about the other—" His eyes left the screen, and he saw Pikachu and Taki. "Oh, hey! It's you two. What are you…"

His voice slowly trailed away when he noticed that the two Pokémon were standing stock-still. The barrel of a rifle was pointed directly at Pikachu's face.

"…Emmerich?"

Otacon gasped and dropped the MacBook, instantly recognizing the British-accented voice. A horribly familiar man strode out of the shadows, lowering the rifle in his right hand.

"Liquid—_gah_—" The scientist choked on his own spit. "—Snake?!"

Pikachu and Taki glanced at him, then at the man with the rifle.

"…You guys know each other?" Taki eventually asked.

Otacon's legs were trembling uncontrollably. "W-w-we do, unfortunately," he stammered weakly. "But…n-no way. It can't be. You died from FOXDIE m-more than…t-t-ten years ago… Liquid! H-how are you alive? Why are you here?!"

The rifle fell from Liquid Snake's hand and landed on the floor with a clatter.

"Dr. Hal Emmerich…also known by his nickname of Otacon," Liquid said quietly. "Solid Snake's geeky, technology-savvy, otaku friend who developed Metal Gear REX. I would like to ask you the same question: Why are you here?"

"I-I was taken here against my will," Otacon defended himself. "B-but it's different for you. You—you _died_." He pointed at the man before him, his arm shaking. "A-a-and yet you're standing before me in the flesh. _How?!_"

Liquid was still a bit taken aback by the fact that Otacon was standing in the same room as he was. The last time they had spoken to each other was during the Shadow Moses Incident—"more than ten years ago," according to the stuttering scientist. "You have no need to know how I am alive," he muttered. "But there is something _I_ must know." He snatched up his rifle and aimed it at Otacon, much to the scientist's shock. "Where is Snake?"

Pikachu was startled. _Snake? What does this guy—Liquid Snake—have to do with Snake?_

_…Wait a minute. _Liquid_ Snake… _Solid_ Snake… What the _heck_?!_

Otacon almost stepped on his MacBook at the sight of the weapon. "Hold on—but it's b—" He gasped. "You're _still_ after him?!"

"Why wouldn't I?" Liquid snapped. "My brother and I still have a score to settle."

_"Brother"?_ thought Pikachu, his eyes widening. _…Holy Arceus! Snake had a _brother_ all this time?! "Solid" and "Liquid"… You'd have to be an idiot if you can't see the connection!_

"Snake killed our father. He denied my chance to prove myself to him. He _must_ die by my hand!" The volume of Liquid's voice gradually rose. "Where is he?!"

"…Liquid." Otacon spoke quietly but firmly. "Snake killed you already. Well—_he_ didn't exactly kill you—but still, _you_ were the one who died in the end. Consider everything over and done. When will you _learn_?"

A gunshot rang out. The scientist suddenly realized that a bullet had embedded itself into the wall behind him.

"I'm not fooling around, Doctor." Liquid's voice was deadly. "Next time, I won't miss."

Otacon whimpered and sagged onto the floor. Liquid's rifle followed him.

"You have five seconds to tell me, Dr. Hal Emmerich—_where is Snake?_"

The scientist could not speak. Liquid began a countdown.

"Five…four…thr—"

"Otacon! Pikachu! Taki! _Run!_"

A massive, black-furred figure dived on top of Liquid and wrenched the rifle out of his hands. Pikachu and Taki shrieked and scampered out of the way, while Otacon regained his senses and rushed after the Pokémon, though not before quickly scooping up his MacBook and saving it from further damage. Zoroark growled menacingly as he wrestled with Liquid.

"There will be no deaths in the Smash Mansion as long as I'm here!" he snarled.

"We'll see about that," Liquid sneered back.

He threw the Pokémon off himself, then leaped to his feet and searched for his rifle. Zoroark saw it first and kicked it away.

"No weapons, human!"

In response, Liquid gave him a powerful kick to the stomach, launching him into a bookshelf. Bizarrely enough, the bookshelf did not topple over from the force of the blow it received. Zoroark quickly recovered and rushed at his adversary, fangs bared, claws outstretched. Liquid narrowly avoided the slash that Zoroark was aiming at his right arm and countered with a punch that the Pokémon sidestepped. Zoroark attempted to thrust his paw at the man again, but he was forced to dodge another kick that Liquid gave him.

Taking shelter behind a bookshelf far away from the fight, Pikachu, Taki, and Otacon watched the scene unfold.

"Why did Zoro have to start a fight the moment he came in?" Taki asked with a groan.

"That Liquid guy could've shot Otacon if Zoroark hadn't jumped at him," Pikachu told him. "He did the right thing."

Amazingly enough, nothing had been seriously damaged by Zoroark and Liquid's battle yet. Zoroark lunged at Liquid, who jumped onto a bookshelf to evade him.

"You fight like a bull," he taunted the Pokémon. "A bull that knows nothing but how to blindly charge at its foe!"

Zoroark roared with rage and pounced at Liquid, his paw instead making contact with the bookshelf when the man jumped off at the last second. Liquid rolled onto the floor, sprang to his feet, and clobbered Zoroark with a spin kick that caused the Pokémon to cry out and reel away in pain.

"You said there'd be no deaths as long as _you_ were here, didn't you?" Liquid said with a maniacal grin. While Zoroark was still incapacitated, the man lashed out with another strong kick.

"Well, it'd be bloody ironic if the only death was _yours_, would it now?!"

The Illusion Pokémon leaped away, barely avoiding a fast roundhouse kick. He skidded across the floor until there was ten feet of space between him and his opponent. Panting heavily, he managed a faint smile. "You fight…_very_ well for a human," he admitted with grudging respect. "I…haven't had a chance for a fight like this…for a pretty long time." His eyes flashed with a cyan light. "How long can you keep this up, _human_?"

Liquid chuckled. "As long as you're still standing, _mutt_."

Zoroark reached for him and instead snagged his claws on the left sleeve of Liquid's coat. He pulled his paw away along with some strips of fabric, exposing Liquid's left bicep. Otacon gasped when he saw a tattoo of a snake coiled around a sword.

_That's it… He's _definitely_ the real Liquid Snake. I can't think of anyone else with that tattoo. Now the only thing is…_

He winced when he saw Zoroark throw Liquid against another bookshelf, then proceed to have a hand-to-hand scuffle with him.

_…how and why is he here?_

Three red energy shots struck the floor right at Zoroark and Liquid's feet.

"What the hell…is going on in here?"

Fox McCloud hobbled into the room, his right ankle wrapped in a cast and his Blaster pointed straight at the two opponents with an unexpectedly steady aim.

"What is it with Smashers and pointless fighting, anyway?" he said with a grunt. "I _just_ got home, I _just_ woke up, my ankle is sprained, and I come down to see _this_?"

"Fox!" Zoroark shoved Liquid against the bookshelf. "Get out!" he ordered. "You're in no shape to be strolling around! This is _my_ fight!"

"Zoroark—"

"Now _there's_ something we can agree on," Liquid said with a snarl, pushing against the Illusion Pokémon with his hands and feet. "Leave us alone before the fight involves you, Fox!"

"Liquid—"

"Hey!" shouted Zoroark. "I don't remember saying you could speak to a fellow Smasher!"

"We escaped from the same place together, you bastard!" Liquid yelled back. "We know each other!"

"And now you're trying to kill me! Whaddya gonna do next, kill _him_? Kill _everyone_?"

"Look, all I want is to—"

_"THAT'S ENOUGH!"_ Fox bellowed, hurling his Blaster onto the floor and breaking it in two. He kicked the pieces aside, stormed toward Zoroark and Liquid, and punched them with so much anger and force that they both went flying five feet away from him. "You _idiots_!" he seethed. "It's like you have no sense of civility at all! What happened to the customary 'hello' and 'how do you do' and 'my name is so-and-so'? The last time I checked, greeting visitors didn't involve an all-out brawl! Save those for the _Brawl System_, god dammit!"

Pikachu was so appalled by Fox's behavior that he did not even bother to make an exclamation about how the vulpine Smasher had been absent from the Smash Mansion for no less than five months. Fox jabbed a finger at Zoroark, who was just as astonished by Fox's livid demeanor.

"Zoroark! Stop jumping in and attacking people you don't even know! If you had _nicely_ asked him for his name and why he was here, you could've avoided this fight altogether!"

Thinking about how he had entered the library to see Liquid aiming a gun at Otacon, Zoroark began to mutter, "But he was—"

_"Shut up!"_ Fox barked, instantly causing Zoroark to close his mouth. "Okay, he was pointing a gun. And what did you do? _You attacked him right out of the blue!_ You jumped on him and started a fight when you could've just told him to put the thing down! Remind me to teach you how to _calm the hell down_!"

"I think _Fox_ is the one who needs that lesson," Pikachu whispered to Taki.

Fox whirled around and pointed at Liquid.

"And _you_, Liquid Snake! I was watching everything from the very start! I saw you draw a gun on Pikachu and Taki because they were sneaking up on you. Pikachu asked you to put the thing down, and what did you do? Oh, yeah, you _didn't_! Then Otacon came in, and what did you do? _You pointed the damn thing at _him_!_ You even started a _freaking countdown_!"

Liquid said nothing.

The vulpine Smasher sucked in his breath when he accidentally applied too much weight on his bad leg. He quickly rocked back to his left leg, clutching his right. His normally calm, emerald-green eyes were blazing with fury.

"God…freaking…_dammit_," he swore through his teeth.

Pikachu, Taki, and Otacon, sensing that everything was now somewhat back to order—apart from Fox's temper, of course—inched out of their hiding place with wary eyes.

"…Uh… Is everything okay now?" Otacon managed to ask.

There was a crumbling sound coming from the corner of the half-lit library nearest to him, Pikachu, and the others. Then, all at once, a small section of the wall tumbled down, stirring up a cloud of dust and white plaster.

_"Ack—ack—ack—"_ someone coughed.

The silhouette of a messy-haired figure came into view, marching through the dust cloud. A boy soon emerged, holding his arm up to his face to keep the airborne debris out of his mouth.

"_Ack—ack—_I guess bashing down the wall wasn't exactly the best course of—_ack_—action—_ack—_"

He swiped his hand across the air, bringing out a blue, holographic computer keyboard, and hit the Backspace key multiple times with his index finger. The onlooking Smashers (plus one visitor) were amazed to see the dust cloud vanish in small chunks each time the boy pressed Backspace. In no time, the entire dust cloud had been eliminated, and the boy removed his arm from his mouth with a look of relief.

"Sorry for the damage I caused," he apologized. "I'll make sure I fix it before Master Hand returns."

"How do you know about—" Taki began to say.

Pikachu abruptly cut him off when he realized that he had seen the boy before. The boy was wearing a blue jacket with a white-colored back and random blue letters on it, blue-gray jeans, blue and white sneakers, and a white T-shirt with gray stripes and two words on it in capital letters…

"Storm Aurastar!" the Pokémon exclaimed, completely forgetting about the Zoroark-versus-Liquid brawl that had taken place before his eyes mere moments ago. "Good to see you again!"

The boy swept aside his holographic keyboard and gave the Mouse Pokémon a two-fingered salute. "Hi. Long time no see, huh? Just one thing: please call me Aurastar."

"Why? What happened to 'Storm'?"

"I'll tell you later…"

Five strangers entered the library after him. Three looked like Miis—one had a plain double-edged sword, one donned a pair of yellow gloves, and the only female wielded an arm cannon. The other two—a young, white-haired man and a navy blue-haired girl who could be easily mistaken for Marth's long lost twin sister at first glance—were dressed similarly to Marth and Ike and were both armed with swords.

"Oh, right," said Aurastar. "Everyone, meet the Mii Fighters…"

The three Miis smiled and waved.

"…and Lucina and Robin."

The blue-haired girl, Lucina, said, "Hello, there!" while the man simply nodded politely.

"They'll be the newest addition to your already ginormous group of Smashers," Storm explained to his confused audience.

Pikachu blinked and started to say, "But don't they need—?"

"They don't need Master Hand's approval as long as they have _my_ approval," interrupted Aurastar. "Besides, Masahiro Sakurai has already officially introduced them."

"Oh, that's great! Welcome to the Smash Mansion, guys!"

"Save the formal introductions for later, please. I have big news for all of you."

The light in Aurastar's brown eyes was strangely intense.

"It involves all of you here—including _you_, Liquid Snake." Before the man could ask him how he knew his name, the boy went on, "Pikachu, Taki, and Otacon, go around the mansion and gather everyone here in the library."

"Everyone?" repeated Otacon.

_"Everyone,"_ Aurastar said with a little more emphasis than before, "meaning all the Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, guests, and Darkrai and Mewtwo. Zoroark, get Fox a beanbag chair before he faints again. Liquid, feel free to get your FAMAS and _do not_ attack Zoroark. The same goes for you, Zoroark." He glowered at them. "I'm watching you two."

Zoroark and Liquid exchanged a glare, their eyes full of loathing for each other. Then Zoroark stalked off to get a beanbag chair for Fox, just as Storm had requested, while Liquid went to retrieve his rifle. Fox, who was leaning against a bookshelf and grasping his injured leg, squinted at the boy with one eye.

"Ngh… Hey, St—_Aurastar_, I mean…" He took a deep breath to ease the pain. "I could tell you have something to say. Is there something bad happening?"

"Yeah, pretty much," replied Aurastar. He paused briefly and corrected himself. "Actually, no… Scratch that. It's _much_ worse. The situation is so big and important that it could completely change your fates if something isn't done." He tapped his foot impatiently. "Hurry up, everybody; we don't have any time to spend dallying. I have to make this quick or everything goes down to hell."

-ooo-

After confirming that Amaterasu appeared in the eyes of other humans in Storm's world as a pure white wolf/dog/wolfdog, the Smash Mansion residents followed the Author to her laptop, which had apparently finished recharging and was now loudly beeping away.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked.

Storm opened the laptop and pressed the power button, turning the laptop on and stopping the beeping. "It's a warning beep. Storm Aurastar has an urgent message."

"Storm Aurastar?" said Primid 0001. "Are you talking about your avatar?"

"Mm-hmm." The Author typed in the password and logged in to her laptop. An icon on the screen was flashing. Snake leaned closer and peered at it.

"That looks like the FanFiction website's icon," he observed.

"It's not a shortcut to the site, though," said Storm, double-clicking on the icon. "It's actually a program." While waiting for the program to load, she explained, "When I first created a FanFiction account, I noticed that this program had downloaded itself onto the computer. At first, I was a little suspicious of it, thinking that it could be malware. But my self-control was terrible back then, so I eventually gave in to my curiosity. It's a bit like Pandora and the box of evils, if you think about it."

Pit and Palutena gave a start. "P-_Pandora_?!"

Storm was confused by their reaction. Then she realized whom they had thought she was talking about. "Oh, I'm not talking about _your_ crazy Pandora," she reassured them with a smile. **_(3)_** "I'm talking about the one in Greek mythology."

The angel and goddess sighed in relief.

"Anyway, when I opened the program, a guy wearing a blue jacket and a shirt that said _STORM AURASTAR_ on it popped out started chatting with me through text bubbles. He explained that his name was Storm Aurastar and that he was my FanFiction avatar, so he was in charge of running my FanFiction account and doing all the saving, uploading, proofreading, and security stuff."

"That is so cool!" Jigglypuff gushed, her blue-green eyes shining with glee. "I wish _I_ had an avatar like that."

The program finished loading, and a blank window opened. The Smash Mansion residents gasped when a messy-haired boy climbed out of the window and waved at them through the laptop screen. A text bubble appeared above his head.

_"Hi, guys!"_ it read. _"I'm Storm Aurastar—the avatar one, that is. Since the real Storm Aurastar is with you, please call me _Aurastar_ from now on__. This way, we can avoid confusion between the real Author and her avatar. Anyway, how are you?"_

"…Can-a he _see_ us-a?" muttered Mario.

"Yes, actually," said Storm. "This program is amazing." She clicked on the avatar's text bubble and pulled up a second, empty text bubble. She typed something and hit Enter.

_"Hi, there. Did you send a warning just now?"_

Her avatar was quick to reply.

_"Yeah,"_ he confirmed. _"I think there's something going on in the fanfic."_

Storm was alarmed. She quickly typed, _"Is it the editor?"_

_"No…not _that_ bad. But, uh…Liquid Snake is at the Smash Mansion."_

"What?!" Snake shouted. He pushed Storm out of the way and typed furiously on the keyboard. _"Liquid's at the mansion?! What's he up to?"_

_"Umm… Give me a moment, please."_ Aurastar turned around and stared into the window he had jumped out of. Lines of text sped down the window at too fast a speed for anyone's eyes to follow.

"What's he doing?" Dark Link whispered curiously.

"Analyzing the fanfic," Storm replied.

The avatar turned back to face his audience. A large block of text appeared in his text bubble.

_"Storm probably knows this already—Fox McCloud and Liquid Snake managed to escape from the Isle of the Ancients. However, they had to leave Silver the Hedgehog behind because of his currently irreversible EXEification."_

"'_Currently_ irreversible'?" mumbled Neku. "What are you hinting at?"

"_They went through a door—you know, those Subspace doors that take you to different stages—and turned up in Smashville. They went to the Smash Mansion, where Link greeted them and took Fox to the infirmary. Then he took Liquid to the library and had a brief, awkward chat before Zelda called him to the kitchen. Zoroark told Pikachu and Taki that the visitor (he didn't say the name) was in the library, so Pikachu and Taki went to say hi. You know the rest."_

_"What rest?"_ Snake typed.

_"Scroll up. Read the section with Zoroark vs. Liquid._ _The fight is still ongoing."_

Everyone nodded at each other in understanding, while Snake looked a little worried.

"Still ongoing, huh… Damn…"

Storm took the laptop and typed a command.

_"Aurastar, I want you to go to the mansion and tell everyone what's going on. They need to know the truth."_

_"Got it. Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and…?"_

_"All the guests, plus Darkrai and Mewtwo,"_ she typed. _"And get the Mii Fighters, Lucina and Robin, Rosalina, Greninja, and Pac-Man. They're on their way to the mansion, but they're going at a pretty relaxed pace. Drag them to the mansion if you have to. Take the fastest route to the mansion before someone's killed."_

Her avatar nodded and saluted. The text bubbles disappeared and he climbed back into the window, which folded up into the FanFiction icon again. Storm shut the laptop and groaned loudly.

"I wish the editor had never thought of Liquid," she said with a disappointed sigh. "He's crazy. Insane. Totally out of his mind. 'Give up' means nothing to him…"

"Why is your brother so intent on killing you, anyway, Snake?" Amaterasu asked.

"As ridiculous as it sounds, it's a genetics-related issue," explained the mercenary. "As far as I know, Liquid still thinks I possess the superior genes."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We're…clones of our father. Twins, in fact. 1972, Les Enfants Terribles. Read the wiki if you're still confused. One of us received all the dominant genes while the other received all the recessive genes. Dear old Dad apparently told Liquid that he was the inferior one, so Liquid hates my guts. In actuality, _I'm_ the inferior one and Liquid's superior. But I learned this long after Liquid had died, so…" He shrugged. "Gotta watch out for him."

Mario took off his hat. "That's-a brotherly _love_, all right-a," he commented sarcastically as he dusted the top of the hat. "I'm-a _so_ glad it's-a not like-a that with-a me and Luigi."

"Oooh, just imagine all the _Super Mario_ games if that happened to be the situation!" Jigglypuff shuddered at the thought. "I'd never want to play any _Mario_ games ever again!"

Everyone, even Storm, jumped with surprise when the laptop started beeping again.

"Wow, he is _fast_!" Primid 0001 remarked as he watched the Author open the laptop, allowing Aurastar to pop back out of the FanFiction avatar program.

_"I'm at the mansion,"_ his text bubble read.

Storm looked pleased as she typed, _"Good! In one piece, I hope?"_

_"Ha. I'm _always_ in one piece."_ The avatar's face had a sheepish expression when he then said, _"Can't say the same for the Smash Mansion, though…"_

_"…What now?"_

_"You told me to 'take the fastest route,' and so I did. However, my definition of 'fastest route' was 'smash through the mansion's wall and walk straight into the library'…"_

Storm slapped herself in exasperation while the Smash Mansion residents just laughed wildly. _"Oh, come _on_, Aurastar!"_ the Author typed._ "The mansion may be called the _Smash_ Mansion, but that doesn't mean you have to literally _smash_ through it! It's kind of like how a _House_ Rhino doesn't have to attack a _house_!"_

Aurastar grinned. _"Well, at least I made it in one piece. I also got the Mii Fighters and the _Fire Emblem_ newcomers."_

_"Now _there's_ something I like… What about Rosalina, Greninja, and Pac-Man?"_

_"I couldn't find them."_

Storm deadpanned. _"…What?"_

_"Sorry. They weren't with the Miis and the others."_

_"…Hm…"_

The avatar held up his hand. _"Announcement time. This might take a while."_ He bowed courteously and proceeded to reenter his window. _"Please be patient."_

-ooo-

When Aurastar closed his holographic, video chat window, the library was already more than half-filled with Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters. He saw Darkrai and Mewtwo sitting on top of the _Pokémon_ bookshelf, Fox relaxing in a beanbag chair, and Liquid wisely standing in the emptiest corner of the large room. In order to make room for the rest of the incoming Smash Mansion residents, some of the smaller Smashers situated themselves on top of the larger characters such as Ganondorf, King Dedede, and Charizard. The Mii Fighters, Lucina, and Robin, unsure of what was happening, huddled around Aurastar to avoid getting lost in the flood of unfamiliar faces. Some of the veteran Smashers gave the newcomers mystified glances and asked each other whom they were or, if they recognized them, why they were here. All at once, a voice cut through the din.

"Lucina! Robin!"

Marth Lowell and Ike Greil shouldered their way through the mass of Smashers, Assist Trophies, and background characters. Some of the Smashers gasped when they saw the striking resemblance between Marth and Lucina, the navy blue-haired girl. Lucina herself was shocked, too—but for another reason.

"Robin, look! It's the Hero-King himself!" she said excitedly, pointing at the Altean swordsman. The moment he reached her, she lowered herself to one knee. "Prince Marth, it is a great pleasure—no, a great _honor_—to meet you."

Marth blushed and chuckled. "Daughter of Chrom, it is my pleasure as well. But please—this is the Smash Mansion, not Ylisse or anywhere else across Archanea… There's no need for formalities here. You'll learn soon enough."

Ike poked at the Altean swordsman. "Err, Marth… Why does this girl look like a gender-bent version of you?"

Marth was exasperated. "Haven't you seen _Fire Emblem: Awakening?_ Lucina traveled to the past, to a timeline in which I was…quite well known, I guess. Her father, a descendant of mine, resided in this timeline, and in order to gain his trust, Lucina thought it would be a good idea to disguise herself as me."

"It worked quite well, I must say," Robin added with an admiring smile, much to Lucina's embarrassment. "She had us all fooled for a while." **_(4)_**

Meanwhile, Arden the Villager, the Wii Fit Trainer, and Pichu were striking up a conversation with the three Mii Fighters.

"You guys are three of those customizable characters from the Wii?" Arden said excitedly. "That is so _cool_!"

"I think you're pretty cool, too!" said the girl with the arm cannon. "That axe is something else!"

"Oi, we haven't introduced ourselves yet," the boy with the sword reminded her.

"Ah! That's right!" The girl flicked back her red hair with her cannon-less hand. "I'm Amber! I'm called that because of my amber-colored hair!"

The sword boy scoffed. "Your hair's red."

"Oh, be quiet, Carl. It's amber when I say it is!"

The gloved boy rolled his eyes. "Ignore them," he told Arden, Trainer, and Pichu. "They're always arguing over trivial things. Anyway, my name is Ben. Glad to know ya!"

"Hi, Ben," Pichu greeted him warmly.

Arden looked at him suspiciously. "…You're not related to BEN Drowned, are you?" **_(5)_**

Ben was shocked. "Aw, heck, no!" he cried. "There's no way in heck I'm related to that creep!"

The Villager raised his hands. "Okay, okay, just asking. Anyway, who's the other Mii?"

Ben, mentally thanking Arden for changing the subject, gestured at the dirty blonde-haired, blue-eyed Mii with the sword who now shaking a fist at Amber. "That's Carl. Like I said, he argues with Amber almost every day. I swear they behave like kids half the time."

"BE-_EN_!" Amber and Carl shouted indignantly. Almost immediately afterward, they resumed their dispute over Amber's hair color.

"Amber, Ben, and Carl," said Trainer, ignoring the two Miis. "A, B, C. Have an explanation for that?"

Ben tilted his head. "I'm pretty sure there's a good reason, but I dunno what it is. Not yet, at least."

"So, like, do you guys always travel as a group?" asked Arden, wanting to know more about the trio of Miis.

"Yup," said Ben. "Ever since we were created—you know what I mean, right? **_(6)_**—we've stuck with each other through thick and thin." He made a face in Amber and Carl's direction, though neither of them noticed anything. "Dealing with their silly arguments isn't easy, I'm telling ya."

Pichu laughed nervously. "I'm, uh, kinda glad I'm not in your position," she admitted, her red cheeks turning even rosier.

Ben nodded understandingly. "There's no need to tell me why."

Trainer pointed to his gloves. "You three have different weapons because…?"

"To balance out our strengths and weaknesses, we specialize in different weapons that have different range, speed, and power," Ben explained. "Amber's a Mii Gunner. She uses projectiles like missiles, making her a great long-distance fighter." He laughed. "Heck, I won't be surprised if she starts a rivalry with Samus Aran or Mega Man tomorrow…maybe even today! Then there's Carl, a Mii Swordfighter. He uses a sword and other bladed weapons like shurikens and chakrams." He showed Trainer his gloves. "I'm a Mii Brawler. Instead of using weapons, I fight with my hands and feet, so I'm the best close-range combatant out of us three. I'd make a _great_ match for Little Mac, if I do say so myself," he boasted.

The green-gloved boxer heard Ben's comment and came over. "A great match for me?" he said, grinning. "I'm looking forward to that, kid. Your first opponent will be _me_!"

Ben balled up his fists and jabbed at the boxer's direction. "Awesome. But _I'm_ gonna be the winner!"

"Heh, no guarantees about that. But all we can do is wait until we're called to a Brawl match and see how it turns out from there."

"I can't wait." Ben and Little Mac exchanged a friendly fist bump.

"Awww, look at them go," Trainer whispered to Arden and Pichu. "Ben just got here and he's already friends with Mac. Nice!"

"If only Amber and Carl could be like him," Arden whispered back, eyeing the two Miis, who had finally ended their quarrel.

"They have a lot to learn," Ben said.

"Oh, halt die Klappe, Ben!" yelled Carl. **_(7)_**

"Carl is German," said Ben when he saw his audience's clueless expressions. "Naturally, he tells me to shut up in German. I'm Chinese, so…" He whirled around, cupped his hands around his mouth, and retorted, "哎呀，别吵了！你們兩個太煩人了！"

"Eso es grosero!" Amber shot back, offended. **_(7)_**

"…And Amber is Spanish," concluded Ben. "As you can see, we tend to start ranting off in our native languages when we're annoyed, in tight situations, or just downright pissed off."

Pichu was rather amazed by the sudden onslaught of foreign languages. "Um… Excuse me?"

"You're excused!" Darkrai called from on top of the _Pokémon_ bookshelf, smiling goofily.

Mewtwo slapped him.

"…You're no fun, Mewtwo. No fun at _all_." Darkrai sighed theatrically. "Oh, what_ever_ shall I _do_ with you?"

_"Ahem!"_

Aurastar stood on a stool in the center of the library. The Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, Pokémon, and guests ceased their chatter and all had their eyes on him.

"Thank you," he said. "All right, let's get down to business." He folded his arms. "There's been a lot of crap occurring lately, correct?"

Some members chorused in agreement.

"At least Fox came back!" yelled out Wolf, earning himself a round of cheers from the Smashers around him and a weak smile from Fox.

Aurastar remained grim. "Don't forget that many other Smash Mansion residents are missing." He counted his fingers. "Wario, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Amy Rose, Tails the Fox, Knuckles the Echidna—"

"Okay, okay, we get the point," Shadow the Hedgehog broke in, shifting uncomfortably from side to side.

"As for Silver the Hedgehog…" Aurastar nodded encouragingly towards Fox. The Star Fox leader sat up in his beanbag chair, clenching his teeth to avoid letting the others know how bad his ankle felt.

"Silver…"

He swallowed nervously.

"…turned into an EXE…"

Falco, Wolf, Ike, and Captain Falcon's jaws dropped to the floor.

"Are ya sayin' the notes actually told the truth?!" yelped Falco, who smelled like air freshener. (Clearly, Peach didn't want him to smell like Wario's bathroom any longer.)

Captain Falcon, who had returned from his mission half an hour ago, poked him. "The _pages_."

"Screw that! The important thing is that they told the freakin' _truth_!" The panicking avian Smasher grabbed the F-Zero racer by the collar of his blue shirt and shook him back and forth. "Don't you remember what the last page said? It had 'SilverEXE' on it!" Falco let him go and pointed at Aurastar. "Why didn't you just go ahead and tell us instead of making us play that game?!"

"Simple. I'm not allowed to just freely give away answers. Being vague is a plot device."

"A plot—_wha…_"

Leaving the avian Smasher to ponder over the term, Aurastar turned back to his audience and brought out his holographic keyboard. "You remember what I said after the Halloween ExFEARience, do you?"

All the veteran Smashers nodded while the non-canon Smashers merely looked bewildered. "You said you were the author of a fanfic, I think," said Olimar.

"That's right," Aurastar said. "Now I need to tell you what I mean by that. Truth be told, I'm actually not the real author."

The Smashers were flabbergasted. _"WHAAAAAAT?"_

"The real Author—with a capital _A_—lives in the place where all of you are video game characters. You call it the real world, right?" Aurastar pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm her avatar. There's no such thing as teleportation in the real world, so I'm in charge of doing all the non-real world stuff. She creates the story and I publish it—"

"But wait!" Nana protested, standing on Popo's shoulders and waving her hands to get Aurastar's attention.

"There's more!" cried her brother sarcastically.

Nana kicked the side of his head and, ignoring his complaints, exclaimed, "'She'? The Author is a _girl_?!"

Aurastar chuckled. "Surprised?"

The people in the library muttered among themselves incomprehensibly.

"It'd probably be more effective to show you rather than tell you." Aurastar typed something on his holographic keyboard and opened up a window with a fuzzy image of several people. "Watch."

He tapped the screen. It crackled with lines of static before suddenly clearing up and playing a video.

_"You're…Storm…Aurastar?"_ asked an incredulous-sounding voice.

Shadow the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat gawked at each other.

"That's Sonic!"

_"…But…I thought you were a—"_

_"A boy?"_ an unfamiliar female voice spoke. _"Yeah, about that… The person you're talking to right now is the _real_ Storm Aurastar, the _real_ Author with a capital _A_. Nice to meet you. The Storm you met before—during the Halloween ExFEARience that didn't really happen—is my avatar."_

The audience made sounds of disbelief, realization, and anger as the video continued. A couple Smashers laughed when Mario and Sonic admitted that they were sent to the real world only to steal some leeks. Klonoa nearly fainted when he heard Neku ask if he and his friends came from "somewhere online," to which the girl called Storm confirmed as correct. Some Smashers actually fainted when the Author revealed that a mysterious "editor" was the main reason why so many unfortunate events were occurring in rapid succession.

_"I wouldn't kill villains, either,"_ Storm was now saying. _"But then there's another problem. I do my best to stay canon… That means if some dead character—usually a villain—was somehow brought back to life at some point—"_

Liquid Snake's eyes snapped open.

_"—he'd have to die later on."_

__…_I see,_ he thought. _So _that's_ how it is…_

_"Otherwise, his existence could affect the actual series of events. You can call it a time paradox."_

Those who were familiar with _Metal Gear Solid 3_ giggled and fist-bumped or high-fived each other.

In the video, Storm nodded to someone who was cut off by the left border of the screen. _"Someone you're extremely familiar with came back to life not too long ago."_

A rough, battle-worn voice answered her.

_"Name him."_

Liquid took a silent step forward.

_"You promise you won't shoot me or…punch me through the wall or something?"_ asked Storm with a serious look.

_"Don't count on it"_ was the curt reply.

_"Well, uh…that's pretty reassuring. Okay."_

For a moment, the Smashers and others could only hear the low, continuous hum of the still air. Storm spoke again.

_"It's your—"_

A gunshot pierced the holographic screen, disrupting the light particles comprising it and causing it to fill with static before promptly dying out. The younger Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and guests squealed with fear and ran to the older people for comfort. Zoroark leaped to his feet, as did Fox, who ignored the painful throbbing of his right ankle, and they saw Liquid with his rifle raised, a thin trail of smoke trickling out of the barrel.

The man took another deliberately slow step forward—and felt the cold steel blade of a katana touch the side of his neck.

"Liquid Snake."

He smiled mirthlessly.

"It's been too long…Gray Fox."

-ooo-

Aurastar reappeared in the window. The text bubble over his head read, _"Houston, we have a problem."_

Pit gave the laptop a nervous glance. "Umm…Storm…?" He gestured to it.

The Author rushed to her laptop and read what Aurastar had to say. She typed back, _"What's going on?"_

_"You told me to gather everyone in the library. That includes Gray Fox because he's an Assist Trophy. But Liquid Snake is also in the room, sooooo…"_

Storm's eyes widened when she realized the fatal mistake she had made. "…Oh, fudging _crap_," she cursed aloud.

Palutena looked up from the book she was reading (earlier, she had rifled through the bookshelf in Storm's bedroom and found _The House of Hades_ by Rick Riordan to be the most intriguing **_(8)_**) and frowned. "What is it?"

"Let's just say…Gray Fox plus Liquid Snake equals _very_ bad."

"I couldn't agree more," Snake said. "Liquid killed Fox during the Shadow Moses Incident. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Aurastar comes back with the news that Fox killed Liquid. Liquid _does_ have to die, anyway."

"I don't think he should die _that_ way, though," said Primid 0001, feeling a chill run down his spine at the thought of the cyborg ninja slicing up Liquid. "It can't be that violent. It just can't."

"You'd better be right, Primid 0001." Storm typed a response to Aurastar. _"Aurastar, don't let Gray Fox do anything…_bloody_ to Liquid. And remember, if things start getting ugly, use Control Z."_ With a dark expression, she added, _"Or Delete."_

_"_…Delete? You're willing to go__ that_ far?"_

_"Yes."_

The avatar paused, then nodded and vanished again. Storm and the Smash Mansion residents stared at the laptop's screen in trepidation.

"…Man, I really hope things won't start getting ugly," Sonic muttered.

-ooo-

Liquid did not move a muscle. Neither did Gray Fox, who held his katana backhanded, its blade ready to cut right through the blonde-haired man's neck.

"I will never forgive you for what you did to me all those years ago," he said quietly.

Liquid just smirked.

"G-Gray_…_Fox?" Mr. Game & Watch sounded fearful. "Calm down…"

"We don't need any unnecessary deaths today," R.O.B. added. "_Please_, Fox…"

Aurastar jumped down from his stool and hurried toward Liquid and Fox, bringing out his holographic keyboard along the way. "Guys, settle down. I'm sure we can sort everything out."

Surprisingly, Fox complied, withdrawing his sword and allowing Liquid to relax. The cyborg ninja gave the man a livid glare before leaving him with Aurastar and saying, "I hope you death was more painful than mine."

A wave of relieved sighs rolled across the room once everyone saw that Gray Fox wasn't planning on killing anyone today. Aurastar brushed away his holographic keyboard and stood next to Liquid.

"I'd like to introduce you all to the person I least expected to turn up at the Smash Mansion today." He cocked his head toward the man. "This is Liquid Snake."

Several Smashers jolted when they heard "Snake."

"And as his name suggests…yes, he is Solid Snake's twin brother."

A simultaneous gasp rose around the room. One person stepped up and aimed a plasma gun at Liquid.

"So I was right," Samus Aran spat in disgust. "You really _are_ Liquid. You're one of the perpetrators of the Shadow Moses Incident!"

"Samus…" Aurastar attempted to stop her, but she wasn't finished.

"Snake mentioned your name to me once. Just a few minutes ago, I did some research, and guess what I found? You and your band of goons took over Shadow Moses Island, a test site for Metal Gear REX… You forced Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich to continue his work on REX. You all tried to get Solid Snake killed at least twelve times. _You_ alone, Liquid, tried to kill him five times. And you killed Gray Fox by _having REX crush him with its foot_!"

The people around her were horrified, and the younger ones shut their ears.

"What is a _sadist_ like _you_ doing here?" Samus hissed, approaching Liquid. _"Alive?"_

"Samus!" Aurastar barked. "Stop it or I'll have to use Control Z!"

Captain Falcon walked to the bounty huntress and put his hand on her shoulder. "You heard him, Samus," he said quietly. "Let it go."

"Do you not know who we're dealing with, Falcon?" asked Samus with a tone of incredulity, but she did lower her gun. Liquid watched her and smiled faintly.

"Perhaps you'll reconsider the thought of shooting me on the spot…" His hand slipped into the right pocket of his trench coat. Aurastar swore he heard the sound of crinkling paper. "…if I showed you _this_." He brought out a folded piece of paper.

Samus stared at him, then at the paper in his hand. Cautiously, she went up to him and took the paper, taking care not to touch his hand. Everyone in the library could feel the electrifying suspense in the air as she slowly unfolded it.

Her eyes widened.

"Aurastar…"

-ooo-

_"It's a page!"_

Neku glanced at the laptop screen. "You got mail," he shouted.

Someone tumbled down the stairs and landed on top of Mario, who was reading a biology textbook because everyone else had claimed all the interesting books. Storm helped Mario up and picked up the fallen textbook. "Sorry, Mario."

"Oh, don't-a worry. Bowser did-a that to me before."

The Author ran to the kitchen to where her laptop and Neku were.

"'It's a page'…? What does Aurastar mean by that?" She typed a reply.

_"Aurastar, please elaborate."_

_"Good news is that Fox didn't kill Liquid or anyone else."_ Her avatar's words appeared in his text bubble in a rush. _"And I have more good news."_

_"Get on with it!"_ typed Storm impatiently.

_"Liquid has a _page_."_

_"What page?! It better not be a real-life page from_ Slender_!_"

_"Project MGZ! A blueprint page! He has one!"_

Storm blinked and read the line again.

_"…You sure you didn't just type a typo?"_

_"Oh, _please_. Am I one to make silly _typos_?!"_

Once she was sure that Aurastar hadn't made a typo, the Author fell off her chair. "YEEEESSSSS!"

The Smash Mansion residents had surrounded her within three seconds. "What now?!" Jigglypuff demanded. "I haven't even gotten through the first chapter of _The Lost Hero_ yet!"

Storm just weakly waved towards the laptop. Jigglypuff looked at the words in Aurastar's text bubble.

"HOLY ARCEUS!"

One by one, the Smash Mansion residents read the words and cheered loudly. One of Project MGZ's blueprint pages… It was probably the best piece of news they had heard yet.

"I bet the editor never saw _that_ coming!" Dark Link said with satisfaction.

Snake nodded. "Maybe…just _maybe_…Liquid has a few good intentions after all," he said with grudging respect.

Storm grinned at him. "What, are you disappointed?"

"This is _good_," Primid 0001 gushed, looking more excited than anyone else. "Anything regarding Project MGZ is highly classified. The Subspace Army makes sure no one except the small number of _certain_ members can look at any of the information. We Primids, being the lowest-ranked members, aren't allowed to even speak of the matter. And then _this_ happens!" He gestured at the laptop. "This is wonderful! Now we're _actually_ making some progress. It's true that it's only a single page, but one page is better than nothing, no?"

"You talk too much," Storm said to him, beaming.

-ooo-

Taki exited the library.

"Hey, Taki…" Pikachu went after him. "Wait up!"

The Piplup ignored him and hurried through the hallway. Pikachu had to run to catch up with him.

"Taki! Where are you going?"

Taki came to an abrupt halt, causing Pikachu to nearly crash into him.

"Whoa, there!" The Electric-type righted himself, then tapped Taki's shoulder. "Taki? Is something wrong?"

The Piplup turned around. Pikachu yelped when he saw the pale blue gleam in Taki's left eye. **_(9)_**

_"Zane,"_ Taki said in a voice that wasn't his. _"Zane…do you really still think this is your friend Taki?"_

_I know that voice!_ Pikachu thought as he slowly backed away. "Who are you?! What did you do to Taki?!"

Taki laughed maliciously. _"Poor, poor Taki. He doesn't know a thing. But_ I_ know. I know _everything_. Did Storm and you Smashers really think you could get away with it so easily? There's nowhere to run. No place to hide."_

Pikachu was horrified. "Are you…AntiSora?!"

_"No. Not AntiSora. Do you not recognize this voice, Zane?"_

Pikachu paused for a moment, pondering. Taki began to chant something in a singsong voice.

_"On a moonless night of the week's fifth stage,  
>"The star appears with the tempest's rage.<br>"Stories anew he can create  
>"By composing with the pen of fate."<em>

Realization hit the Mouse Pokémon like a Home-Run Bat to the head.

"Oh, no!"

_"Shall time expire, then all will remain  
>"As their other selves, bound by the chain<br>"Of the star whose aura has no form  
>"And reflects the aura of the storm."<em>

"It _can't_ be—"

_"Ah, but it _CAN_!"_

A black shadow flew out of Taki's left eye, leaving the Piplup to crumple onto the floor, unconscious. The shadow quickly took a humanoid shape, and Pikachu's horror instantly solidified. Standing before him was a boy with messy white hair, pale blue eyes, a black jacket with a white-colored back and random black letters on it, torn gray jeans, black sneakers with red and white shoelaces, and a gray T-shirt with two words on it in capital letters: _STAR AURASTORM_.

"YOU'RE _FINISHED_!" **_(9)_**

Pikachu screamed as Star lunged toward him.

-ooo-

The aura trail led Ferron to a small room filled with rubbery, bouncy Mites. The Mites, upon recognizing the Lucario as a high-ranked member of the Subspace Emissary, immediately exited the room through the hole in the wall in a single-file line to allow him to do his business in private. Ferron gave them a smile of appreciation.

"Okay, let's see where that aura trail goes…"

He closed his eyes and activated his Aura Sight. Earlier, he had discovered that the odd-colored aura trail had merged with a bright orange and blue aura that he recognized as Fox McCloud's. The two auras stuck with each other all the way to the room that was occupied by Mites just seconds ago.

"Then this negatively-colored aura must belong to the other person who escaped. Liquid Snake, wasn't it?"

He reopened his eyes and looked around the room.

"What kind of life did Liquid Snake have for him to have this sick-looking aura?"

"A pretty bad one."

The Lucario whirled around. AntiSora stood just outside the gaping hole in the wall, arms folded and a knowing smile on his face.

"Hello, Ferron." He walked up to the Lucario. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh… Hi, AntiSora. I was following an aura trail." He spread out his arms. "It led me here."

"Or, more accurately…" AntiSora turned him around. "…it led you to that door?"

A bright red door sat in the middle of the room, looking as innocent as ever. Ferron approached it and pulled on the handle, opening it.

"What's this random door doing here?"

"That's the thing," said AntiSora. "It's _not_ random. Once you step through it, you'll find yourself in a totally different place that will likely not be somewhere around the Isle of the Ancients."

Ferron poked his head through the doorway, seeing nothing but white. "So in other words, this door can teleport me?"

AntiSora nodded. "Fox and Liquid went through this door not too long ago."

"I need to track them down," said Ferron determinedly. "If I wait any longer, the aura trail will fade." He glanced back at AntiSora. "Are you fine with this?"

The yellow-eyed boy gave him a curious look.

"Well, _I'm_ fine… I suppose Master Tabuu will be all right with this, too. Be careful."

"I will." The Lucario prepared to enter the door.

"Wait." AntiSora grabbed his arm. "I have a present for you." He took out a maroon armband with steel edges and wrapped it around Ferron's arm. Ferron raised a brow when he saw the large, marble-like stone embedded in the center of the armband.

"What's this?"

AntiSora did not immediately reply. He touched the stone, admiring its smoothness and polished surface.

"This was discovered just recently in the Pokémon world—that is, the anime and game ones. Only select Pokémon are able to utilize the power of these stones. Those Pokémon have their own special stone that only their species can use. Likewise, yours can only be used by the Lucario species."

"But what is it?"

AntiSora paused for a moment before speaking again.

"It's called Lucarionite. It's a type of Mega Stone." **_(10)_**

He gave Ferron a pat on the back.

"Use it well. You'll need it."

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Liquid Snake

**Also known as:** [Unknown]

**Age:** 33

**Species:** Human

**World of origin:** _Metal Gear _universe

**Video game(s):** _Metal Gear Solid_, _MGS2: Sons of Liberty_ (mental doppelgänger), _MGS4: Guns of the Patriots_ (mental doppelgänger)

**Occupation:** Liquid Snake is a former FOXHOUND squad leader with an IQ of 180 and mastery of seven languages. He and his twin brother, Solid Snake, were born in 1972 from the cloned cells of Big Boss, "the greatest soldier of the twentieth century," to carry on his legacy. A secret organization called the Patriots, which carried out the cloning project, didn't want anyone else to use the two Snakes, so they altered their DNA before they were born, causing them to suffer from accelerated aging. When he was young, Liquid was told that he carried all of Big Boss' "flawed, recessive" genes, causing him to loathe his father and brother. When Snake killed Big Boss in 1999, this hatred only grew deeper, and Liquid vowed that he would kill Snake. However, as fate would have it, he was killed by Snake in 2005 via a virus called FOXDIE.

**Fun fact:** It is highly plausible that his real name is Eli.

* * *

><p><strong>NOTES<strong>

**_(1)_** It was suggested in _Kid Icarus: Uprising_ that there's something going on between Pit and Palutena…

**_(2)_** Issun is Amaterasu's partner in _Okami_. Because Amaterasu can't talk, Issun speaks for her. Near the beginning of the game, he complains that Amaterasu's name is a bit of a mouthful, so he shortens it to _Ammy_. (I don't think Amaterasu appreciated it, though.)

**_(3)_** Pandora is one of the bosses in _Kid Icarus: Uprising_.

**_(4)_** I haven't seen a walkthrough of _Fire Emblem: Awakening_ yet, so Lucina and Robin may be severely OOC in future chapters.

**_(5)_** BEN Drowned is the name of a creepypasta based on _The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask_.

**_(6)_** You create Miis. Duhhhh.

**_(7)_** I don't know any German or Spanish at all, so I have to use Google Translate. Please excuse me if there are any translation errors.

**_(8)_** Ironically, the main antagonist of _Kid Icarus: Uprising_ is called Hades. Of _course_ Palutena should find _The House of Hades_ to be the most intriguing!

**_(9)_** This was first mentioned in Chapter 32. If you can recall, it was AntiSora who said, "[Taki's] left eye is _my_ left eye. I see whatever he sees." But look! Now it's _Star Aurastorm_ popping out! Why, you ask? All this will be revealed in Chapter 44.

**_(10)_** Uh… Dun-dun-_duuuuunnnnnn_!

* * *

><p><strong><em>*coughs politely*<em>**

**Wolf:** Can I just say something? _*takes a deep breath*_ TOO MANY PLOT TWISTS!

**_It's a plot device._**

**Falco:** _*still confused*_ A plot—_wha_…

**_Do you think the Smash Mansion residents stuck at Storm's house will manage to avoid being seen by everyone outside the house?_**

**Amaterasu:** _I_ have no problem. They just think I'm an abnormally large, pure white dog, which I honestly don't really like.

**Mario:** Sonic and-a I have-a the biggest problem-a.

**Sonic:** _*fearfully*_ We're gonna get killed by a stampede of fans the _moment_ someone sees us…

**Snake:** …I might have a problem, too… My voice is instantly recognizable… No offense, but god dammit, David Hayter.

**Neku:** Is _TWEWY_ even popular around this place…?

**Pit:** _*glances at Palutena*_ Uhh… Any ideas on how I can hide my wings?

**Jigglypuff:** _*thoughtfully*_ Maybe I should just pretend I'm a Jigglypuff plushie…

**_…Let's, uh, save that for later. What do you think of Liquid Snake?_**

**Samus:** _*impatiently*_ Can we _please_ just boot him out of the mansion, like, _right now_?!

**Captain Falcon:** Cool it, Sam… He gave us some vital info. Maybe he has more. You won't get any of that stuff if you boot him out right now.

**Samus:** _*groans loudly*_

**Otacon:** _*nervously*_ As long as he doesn't try to shoot me again…I'll be fine…I think…

**Gray Fox:** _*matter-of-factly*_ Please refrain from wetting your pants—again.

**Otacon:** _*indignantly*_ Hey, hey, _hey_, there! No _Metal Gear Solid_ references, please! Especially _that_ one!

**_Will Mario and Sonic ever get their leeks and complete the mission Master Hand gave them?_**

**Palutena:** Storm should just do the shopping for them—

**Sonic:** NO! I wanna do something _risky_! _*excitedly*_ _I'll_ do the shopping!

**Palutena:** Well, then, we won't bother to rescue you if you get caught.

**Sonic:** _*sadly*_ …Man, you're no fun.

**_HOLY FANFICTION! What's with Star Aurastorm's unexpected appearance?! …Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to know about that. Never mind._**

**_…Aaaand because both Master Hand and Crazy Hand are absent, we must skip the "drags Crazy Hand away" sequence._**

**_Credits to the Metal Gear Wiki for information on Liquid Snake, and credits to Bulbapedia for some information on Mega Stones, which will be mentioned in the upcoming chapters._**

**_See you next time in Chapter 44 of this fanfic, which now has a plot so convoluted that even_ I'm_ starting to forget some important things! Remember to REVIEW!_**


	44. Ghosts of the Past

_**Hey, look, Chapter 44 is here! It's another long chapter.**_

_**I have nothing else to say except…enjoy the chapter.**_

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here except myself and my avatar.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 44: Ghosts of the Past<strong>

* * *

><p>"This stuff should be highly classified! How did you manage to get it without getting caught?!"<p>

Fox McCloud grasped the wrinkled sheet of paper with both hands, gawking in stunned silence at the sketches—_his_ sketches. Liquid Snake gave him a look of smug satisfaction.

"Well?" he said, not answering the question. "What do you think?"

The vulpine Smasher traced the pen lines with a trembling finger. "I… I-I'm…pretty thankful, really. Now the Smashers have a lead. Having one page is better than no page…" He waved the paper in Liquid's face. "But seriously, how did you get it?"

"I waited for the right moment," the man simply said.

Fox deadpanned. "…Explain."

"After you left me alone in that room with REX, the kid—AntiSora, I think his name was—came in and told me to help him kill a certain individual."

"Solid Snake, right?" asked Lucas timidly, speaking for the first time.

Liquid glanced in his direction. All of a sudden, Lucas felt a wave of fear crash over him. He had just spoken to a villain—one whose actions were so notorious that they would probably make Ganondorf's exploits seem completely reasonable. This man had tried to kill his own brother by his own hand a whopping five times. Lucas gulped and cowered behind the Wii Fit Trainer, who patted him comfortingly.

_That guy can instill fear just by _looking_, huh?_ she thought, watching Liquid turn back to Fox. _Figures… Anyone can see the harshness in his eyes. He still has the disposition of a villain who wants to see blood…_

Liquid folded his arms, sighing. "Yes," he said. "He wanted me to help him kill Snake."

Wolf snickered. "Well, too bad for _you_, 'cause your bro ain't here," he called derisively. "In fact, he's in a totally different _world_ right now. Even _we_ don't know how to get him back here. Guess you'll have to postpone your little assassination mission for a not-so-little while! _Ha!_"

"I never said I agreed to AntiSora's request," said Liquid coolly.

The Star Wolf leader's jaw hit the floor. "Eh?"

Liquid examined the FAMAS in his hand. Fox instinctively reached for his Blaster, but just as he was touching the holster on the side of his right leg, he remembered that he had broken the weapon earlier. Shaking his head in regret at his brashness, he made a mental note to ask Slippy Toad to make a new Blaster for him.

"AntiSora only wants to use me," Liquid explained in a quiet voice. "He wants _me_ to track down the target…and then claim the kill for himself. Why even bother to bring me back to life if things will turn out that way?"

"That's all the Subspace Army does," said Aurastar. "The highest ranking members—namely, Tabuu, AntiSora, and possibly James McCloud—recruit other people or beings from foreign worlds. Then they send out those recruits to the frontlines to attack the enemies, while they just sit in the background, relaxing with cups of coffee or cans of soda or whatever they like to drink." He slammed his fist on the tabletop and snapped distastefully, "They're _cowards_, every last one of them."

Liquid was faintly amused. "That routine sounds fairly similar to what _I_ did…"

"Oh, I didn't mean _you_," answered Aurastar. "You actually went out and did stuff with the Hind D. _No_, I am _not_ justifying his actions!" he yelled when Samus opened her mouth to speak. "What he did was very wrong and I'm pretty pissed off about it! He tried to kill Snake with a freaking _Hind D_ and—"

The bounty huntress raised her hands. "No, no, I wasn't going to say anything about that! Just…be quiet for a moment and _listen_!"

Aurastar instantly shut up, as did the Smashers and everyone around him. He patiently waited for Samus to continue, but she did not talk. Instead, she pointed toward the entrance of the library.

Two voices screamed.

"YOU'RE _FINISHED_!"

_"AHHHHHHHH!"_

Red the Pokémon Trainer's eyes widened when he recognized the second voice. "Pikachu!" he cried, and he dashed toward the doors with Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard right on his heels. "Hang on! I'm coming!"

Just before he could run out of the library, a bundle of yellow fur barreled right through the wall, creating a small hole, and landed in Zelda's arms. Startled, Zelda would have dropped it onto the floor had it not been for Link, who quickly scooped the furball out of the air. The ball uncurled into a limp Pikachu, his normal liveliness absent and brown eyes devoid of all emotion.

"Hey…Pikachu?" Link nudged him gently. "Pikachu, are you all right? Can you hear me? _Pikachu!_"

He tried to arouse Pikachu by lightly slapping one of his red cheeks—and his hand went right through the Pokémon.

Several Smashers shrieked, while a few others passed out. Pichu, her face pallid, was rooted to the ground in shock. Gasping in horror, Link let go of the Mouse Pokémon, whose body had become translucent. As if he were nothing but a ghost, Pikachu drifted slowly in midair, staring blankly ahead.

Zelda clutched Link's arm. "Oh, mother of _Din_," she whispered, terrified by what she was seeing. "What is this?"

All at once, Pikachu's see-through body began to disappear in streaks, as though the eraser of a pencil were slowly rubbing him out. In no time at all, he vanished.

The older spectators in the library let out streams of oaths and the youngsters whimpered helplessly. Link collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily, his green hat askew.

"What in Hyrule…just happened here?" he asked mutedly, unable to look at anyone.

-ooo-

Solid Snake had always heard the voice.

It was soft at first, tickling the back of his mind, taunting him, sneering at him. He had tried on many occasions to block it out, but it continued to return and whisper things to him.

The first time he heard the voice, it merely said single words—_"death,"_ _"FOXDIE,"_ _"Snake"_—those kinds of things. Over time, however, the single words began to combine and gradually lengthen into full sentences.

_"It's not over yet, Snake…"_

The mercenary groaned and stretched his arms toward the ceiling. Aurastar had not returned to Storm's laptop for a while already, so Storm had decided to disappear into her bedroom to "jot down a little tune I just thought of in my head," as she had told her guests. Neku had initially suspected that she was only going upstairs to read _The House of Hades_ with Palutena, who seemed to be very intrigued by Rick Riordan's well-written plot, but upon discovering that Storm was truly working on a composition, he went back down the stairs and sat on the bottom step, where he listened to the _TWEWY_ music blasting out of his headphones.

While everyone else was spread out in the different rooms of Storm's house—or, in Mario and Sonic's cases, sunbathing on the roof—Snake was alone in the kitchen with the laptop, which showed no signs that Aurastar was going to reappear to notify Storm and the Smashers of something. He sighed and slipped his right hand into a pocket of his cargo pants, only to pull it right back.

"That's right," he said to himself. "No more cigarettes. I told myself and Otacon in 2014 that I quit." _And yet I still feel that yearning… I guess old habits just never disappear, no matter what. Just like the easiness of killing,_ he thought cynically.

_…__What year is it in this world, anyway?_

He glanced down at the counter before him and saw an inch-tall stack of paper; the page on top was covered in barely legible scribbles that appeared to relate to algebra and trigonometry. He pushed the stack aside and found a small calendar that had been flipped to the August page.

_August…_ Snake flipped the calendar over to see the cover and the year. _…__2014. What? It's the year of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection with the Guns of the Patriots thing and all?_ He smiled wryly. _Heh. I wonder what all the _MGS_ fans were thinking on New Year's Day._

_In all seriousness, though… August 2014. If Otacon hadn't seen the Halberd flying over our rooftop, I'd be six feet under the ground today. I owe him so much…_

He turned the calendar back to the August page and propped it against the wall. Then he took the top page of the stack of paper he had moved and attempted to make sense of the messy mathematical scrawls.

_Is _this_ how __you do math, Storm? __**(1)**_

There was a function here and a triangle there, a geometric sequence here and the law of cosines there. Snake couldn't help but admire the Author's ability to decipher this intricate, unorganized array of algebraic and trigonometric terms. He returned the paper to the stack and—

_"Snaaaaaake…"_

The mercenary paused, hearing a sinister hiss in his ear. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The voice sounded British and refined—much too familiar for his taste. Snake ground his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. It was that voice again—the one that belonged to the man who had been one of the main conspirators of the Shadow Moses Incident, the man whom he had met, fought, and killed nine years ago.

Liquid Snake.

_"Did you like my sunglasses…?"_ the voice asked jeeringly.

Snake did not move. There was no way in hell he was going to let a silly voice freely hassle him like this. But the more he tried to convince himself otherwise, the more he got a sense of dread in his stomach. He shivered, suddenly feeling a cold chill in the air. "Liquid…"

He turned around and froze. There, standing right behind him, tan trench coat and all, was his blonde-haired brother. Liquid still had that signature smug look on his face that clearly screamed, "I know something that you don't!" He nodded cordially toward Snake. "Hello, there…_brother_."

Snake just stared back at him, making no sound as Liquid slowly made his way toward him. "Liquid?" whispered the mercenary, his knuckles turning white with anxiety. "How…"

"…am I even here?" the blonde-haired man finished Snake's question for him as he casually flicked a strand of hair out of his icy blue eyes. "How about _you_ provide an explanation? And pray tell me why none of your friends have noticed anything out of the ordinary yet."

Snake paused, repeating his brother's words in his head. Now that Liquid mentioned it, no one else _had_ come into the kitchen to see who was talking. He shook his head in confusion and raw anger. Something was very wrong, but he had no idea what. He eyed Liquid cagily. "What do you want?" he growled. "If you want to rub something in my face, go right ahead. Then get the hell out of here."

Liquid grinned menacingly. "Still the same man as before, I see… Taciturn. Right to the point. Still unwilling to talk to your own brother. I suppose that will never change." He extended a hand toward Snake. "Why not accept some change now, brother?"

In a flash, Snake drew his gun from the holster strapped to his right thigh, released the safety, and pulled the trigger. A single bullet exploded from the barrel…and passed right through his brother's chest. Liquid gave him one last smirk before his form dissipated, brown mist flying away from where he once stood. Within seconds, any traces of his being there were gone. Surprise seemed to keep Snake rooted to the floor as he looked at the spot where Liquid once stood…only to find a girl wearing a black Video Games Live T-shirt crouching there, gaping at the fresh bullet hole imprinted in the wall.

"…Rude," remarked Storm Aurastar with a nervous laugh, standing up again. "What happened to 'what's up, Storm' or 'hey, there, Storm'? I don't remember there ever being a greeting in which you shoot at the other person. Hey, you aren't planning to kill me, are you?"

Snake blinked several times before realizing that he was still aiming his SOCOM pistol at Storm. Swallowing, he exhaled deeply and slid the gun back into its holster. The Author relaxed and glanced at the hole again.

"Ah, crap," she said with a sigh. "I don't know if I can fix _this_…"

The mercenary was silent. Storm looked at him strangely.

"What's with you, Snake? It's not like you to lose your cool so easily." She noticed how his hands looked clammy and how his breathing seemed to be staggered. "You look like you just saw a ghost." She paused. "…A ghost…of the past, maybe?"

Snake leaned against the counter, holding one hand to his forehead. "You think you're real funny, don't you."

Storm quickly shook her head. "What? No! Don't be ridiculous… Wait." It took her a moment to register the mercenary's words. "Wait a minute… You actually saw something?"

Snake said nothing. He crossed his arms, looking pensive. "Look, there's… There's something I need to tell you, Storm." When the Author did not answer, he continued in a lower voice, glancing around the kitchen for a moment before speaking. "I know it may sound a little weird, but it's important for me to ask."

Storm waited expectantly.

"Did you hear Liquid's voice?"

That most certainly was _not_ what the Author was ready to hear. Her mouth fell open, and then she shook her head in denial. "No, I didn't! If Liquid were here, I'd recognize his voice in a millisecond! Cam Clarke's fake British accent is indistinguishable." She furrowed her brows, concerned. "Why? Did _you_ hear him?"

The mercenary remained silent, which only gave attested that he _had_ heard Liquid. Storm frowned before giving the bullet hole in the wall another uneasy look. "…Is that so?" she murmured. "That's really weird. I thought it would make more sense if you heard Liquid's voice when he was _dead_. That's how it usually goes. But we already know for sure that Liquid is alive and in the Smash World. Why would he be haunting you _now_?"

"I have no idea." Snake was speaking almost inaudibly. "I don't think I want to know. It's bad enough that he's alive again."

"But if it weren't for Liquid, we wouldn't have that one page of MGZ," Storm reminded him. "I know you don't want to acknowledge it, but we should thank him."

"Thank _him_? _Liquid Snake?_ He tried to _kill_ me. Even as he was dying from FOXDIE, he tried to kill me! You can't deny that."

"No, I can't," agreed Storm. "But you can't deny that he also provided us a lead. Maybe the editor of my fanfic can't change _everything_… There's no such thing as omnipotence." She looked at the clock on the wall, which read 2:33 PM. "At least I hope that's the case."

The doorbell rang, buzzing loudly in everybody's ears.

The Author pursed her lips. Upstairs, the Smash Mansion residents panicked and scrambled for the closest hiding places. Mimicking Pit, Jigglypuff ran past Storm and shut herself in the pantry.

"Snake, I think you oughta hide…" Storm turned back to face the mercenary and was surprised to find that he had disappeared. Her eyes trailed downward to a completely innocent-looking cardboard box that hadn't been there two seconds ago. Much to Snake's amusement, she said, "Huh. Just a box." Raising her voice just a little, she said, "Okay, guys—stay where you are and do not move until I say so. I'm getting the door."

The doorbell rang twice more, urgent and persistent. Storm loudly groaned as she pounded to the door. "Coming…" When she unlocked the door and opened it, she came face-to-face—well, it would probably be more accurate to say she came face-to-neck—with a tall boy wearing a white T-shirt and basketball shorts. Evidently, he had been playing basketball for the past hour or so.

"Oh… Hi, Jordan," said Storm. "What's up?"

Instead of greeting her back, the boy named Jordan _**(2)**_ simply pointed upwards.

"What's Sonic the Hedgehog doing on your roof?" he asked.

-ooo-

The last place anyone in the right mind would want to be was probably Subspace. Filled with strange and dangerous enemies and locations, it was a terrible place to go. Then the Isle of the Ancients, being the only remaining portion of the dark dimension since the end of the Subspace Incident in 2008, would most likely be anyone's last choice for a destination.

Unfortunately, for a certain Keyblade wielder from the Destiny Islands, he had ended up in the Isle—again.

"I hate portals," grumbled Sora.

He was breathing heavily, having defeated at least thirty of the rubbery creatures he had encountered in the room with the red door just mere moments ago. When the number of the creatures had proved to be too high to deal with properly, he had turned tail and escaped through a hole in the wall where the air smelled suspiciously of blood and smoke. Now he was taking a rest in a small alcove he found along the purple, glassy wall.

"I haven't seen the Smash Mansion for so long," he lamented. "First I'm kidnapped by AntiSora, then I'm taken to the Isle of the Ancients, then I get a mind-controlling device stuck on my head, then I'm sent to the Subspatial cyberspace within the Brawl System, and then some random portal decides to show up, suck me in, and spit me out back here in the Isle—for the second time. Just great."

He only vaguely remembered what the Isle looked like: his consciousness had been readily sealed off by the mind-controlling device not too long after he had arrived here the first time. But it was obvious that he was back in Subspace.

"Stupid purple glass," he mumbled, elbowing the concave wall behind him and feeling the coldness of the strange material. "It gives me the creeps. I bet the Subspace Army has no clue what a _heater_ is." He rubbed a bruise on his shin that he had received from one of his rubbery adversaries. Then he ran his hand up and down along the length of his Keyblade, polishing the metallic surface until it shone, and got onto his feet. "Okay, time to go!" he said cheerfully. "I hope I won't bump into any enemies along the way.

He left the alcove and walked headlong into a Fire Primid.

"…I didn't mean that literally."

The red-colored Primid launched a fireball from its nonexistent mouth at Sora, who quickly used Blizzaga to put out the fire. The Fire Primid spat more fireballs in Sora's direction and forced him to dodge.

"Okay… Let's fight fire with fire! _This_ time, I mean it literally!" Sora raised his Keyblade above his head and rapidly brought it down, sending out a large orb of fire that exploded on the Fire Primid upon contact. The Primid stumbled backwards, but it appeared to have taken no damage whatsoever.

"…Oh. Well, that worked. _Strike Raid!_" Sora threw his Keyblade at the Fire Primid once, twice, three times, and quickly destroyed it, sending the Primid to wherever Primids went to after they died.

"All right! That was great." Sora swung his Keyblade in a circle to relax himself. "I hope no one heard all the noise. This time, I _really_ hope my hopes aren't jinxed."

He sneaked along the wall, allowing the glowing, cyan- and lavender-colored lines that streaked across the glass-like material to guide him as he made his way through the narrow corridor. Luckily for him, his hopes proved to be not jinxed, as he was able to make his way through the entire corridor without meeting another Primid or other enemy. Sora stopped in front of a steel door with thin gaps running across it.

"I've played enough _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ to know that this type of door appears in places like the Research Facility."

To his surprise, the door slid open on its own as he approached it. Dogged on remaining unperturbed by this, Sora walked through the doorway and found himself outside.

"…Huh," he said, looking up to the black sky and seeing all the smoky, gray and purple clouds. "That's weird. I wasn't expecting that corridor to lead me so far that I ended up _outside_ the place." The steel door quietly shut behind him as he took a couple steps forward, then turned around. He gasped when he saw only the door and not a giant building like he had expected.

"What the…?"

Sora headed back to the door, which opened for him, and went through it. He found himself back in the corridor he had walked through just moments prior.

"…Okay…"

He walked back outside and turned around. All he saw was the steel door.

"_That_ is really weird. Maybe it's all just an illusion and there's actually a giant invisible building in front of me. He shot a Firaga from his Keyblade, expecting the fireball to hit an invisible wall. Instead, it flew through the air and eventually lost power and dissipated.

"Huh. Guess not. In that case, maybe the door is actually a type of short-range portal that takes me to different places that are kind of close to one another."

Sora paused. Then he made a face.

"I hate portals," he grumbled again.

An earsplitting roar blasted through the air, shattering the stillness. Sora raised his Keyblade when he saw the silhouette of a large dragon with red eyes drew near him, its tattered wings creating strong gusts with each flap. As it drew near, he began to make out its rough purple scales, boney body structure, sharp claws, and razor-tipped tail. Its red eyes glowed with rage.

_"GRAHHHHHHHHH!"_

Sora narrowed his eyes. "I've also played enough _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ to know that this guy is Ridley."

Ridley landed heavily on the ground, creating a small earthquake that almost knocked Sora down. "You!" he said, exposing all his pointed teeth. "You're the boy that AntiSora took in not too long ago!"

"'Took in'?" Sora repeated. "That's an awfully nice way of putting it. 'Kidnapped' would be more accurate, I think."

"It doesn't matter!" said Ridley impatiently. "What matters is that you are _here_, free of Tabuu's control."

Sora saw a metallic object on the Space Pirate's head and instantly knew that it was one of the Subspace Army's infamous mind-controlling devices. "That's the ironic thing," he replied as he prepared himself for the imminent battle. "_You're_ under Tabuu's control and you don't even know it!"

"I am _not_ under Master Tabuu's control!" Ridley bellowed. "I am only working with him for easy access to _blood_!"

"Nah… It's more like working _for_ him for easy access to _brainwashing_, you idiot!" Sora yelled back.

Ridley made the first move, thrusting the barbed end of his tail at Sora. The Keyblade wielder dodged by rolling to the side, and then he quickly followed that up with Strike Raid, throwing his Keyblade like a boomerang. The Keyblade missed its target at first but managed to clip Ridley's right wing on its way back to Sora's hand. Ridley shot several fireballs at Sora, who countered by using several Blizzaga spells in rapid succession. Then Sora ran toward the Space Pirate and, before the adversary could react, used a direct Finishing Leap on his left foot. As Ridley howled in pain, Sora, whose Finishing Leap had launched him into the air and almost level with his opponent's shoulders, whacked the head of his Keyblade on the Space Pirate's lower jaw, adding even more pain. Ridley's tail knocked Sora out of the air, sending him sprawling onto the hard ground.

"I will not allow you to make a fool of me!" roared Ridley, flapping his wings and taking to the sky. "I _will_ win!"

Sora leaped back to his feet. "We'll see about that!"

Ridley swooped down and swiped across the ground, causing Sora to stumble. The Keyblade wielder, however, was quick to regain his balance and use Retaliating Slash, striking the Space Pirate's wrist. Sora then ducked under a fireball that Ridley blasted at him and used Thundaga. The sky darkened considerably as a cascade of lightning came down and electrified Ridley. The Space Pirate's red eyes burned like wildfire as he scraped the razor-tipped end of his tail along the ground and toward Sora.

The Smasher, instead of running off to the side, met the attack head-on. He pushed his Keyblade against Ridley's tail, grunting with effort. Much to the Space Pirate's shock, Sora backflipped right over the tail barb and proceeded to run straight up his tail and onto his back.

"What do you think you're doing, insolent brat?!" he screamed, bucking up and down in the air in an attempt to throw Sora off his back.

Instead of panicking, the Keyblade wielder seemed to be having the time of his life. "Aw, _yeahhhhh_!" he whooped, holding his Keyblade in his right hand and grasping Ridley's bony shoulder with his left. "I feel like I'm part of a rodeo show! This is _awesome_!"

Ridley began to fly in tight circles, hoping that Sora would eventually get dizzy and fall off. But somehow, the Smasher managed to hold on and continue cheering. When Ridley paused to catch his breath, Sora stood on the Space Pirate's shoulders, getting a full view of the mind-controlling device on his head, and held up his Keyblade.

"I think I've had about enough!" he exclaimed, the head of the Keyblade alighting with flames. "Tabuu, say good-bye to another of your unwilling servants! _Firaga!_"

He slammed the fire-enveloped Keyblade onto the metallic device. Ridley let out an unearthly screech that set vibrations rippling across the sky, and he crashed onto the ground, convulsing in pain. Sora hopped off his ride and ran for cover—not that there was any—and watched from a safe distance as fire engulfed Ridley's entire body.

"Note to self: Do _not_ use Firaga directly if you do not want to end up roasting the other guy," he said to himself. "Maybe I should've used Aeroga…or Blizzaga… Freezing is better than roasting, right?"

The flames died out faster than he expected, leaving behind a charred, mind-controlling device-less Ridley. He slowly blinked his back-to-normal orange eyes, feeling very bewildered.

"…Where the…" he muttered in a daze. Then he looked at himself. "Was I just set on fire or something?"

Someone tapped his back. He turned around to see a spiky-haired boy with a large key, smiling at him. His eyes widened.

"You look like one of those Smashers!" he hissed, raising a clawed hand. "How _dare_ you stand and smile in _my_ presence! Now go—"

Sora threw his Keyblade forward. It smacked Ridley's lower jaw—again—and the Space Pirate promptly fell over, knocked out.

"—to sleep," Sora finished, summoning the Keyblade back to his waiting hand. He let out a long sigh of relief, breathing heavily. "Well…I'm glad that ended all right."

_"I couldn't've said it better!"_

Startled, Sora looked around. Then he realized that the voice had come from his left wrist. He glanced at it and gasped when he saw a small hologram of himself—or rather, Data-Sora.

"Data-Sora? I thought you couldn't appear in the real world!"

_"That's right,"_ Data-Sora answered before pointing downward. _"You never saw the thing on your wrist?"_

Sora noticed a blue, wristwatch-like device strapped around his left wrist. The hologram of Data-Sora stood on a small screen on top. "…Where'd this come from?" he asked, scratching his head.

Data-Sora just shrugged. _"I dunno. But if I were you—which I technically am—I'd stop thinking about that. Anyway, back to business."_ He cleared his throat. _"While you were fighting Ridley, I managed to get a scan of your surroundings. This place, as you already know, is the Isle of the Ancients, the only known portion of the original Subspace to have survived the Subspace Incident."_

"Okay, that's cool. But can you tell me _exactly_ where I am?"

_"Right now, you're outside…duh. To be more specific, your current location is around the northeast corner of the area I mapped out."_ Data-Sora disappeared and a green-tinted holographic map replaced him. _"The white dot up there is you. And what you said about that steel door back there is partially correct… Some of those doors _do_ function as short-distance portals."_

"I hate portals," Sora grumbled for the third time.

_"Okay, no need to tell me again,"_ said Data-Sora, appearing next to the holographic map. _"Anyway, here's what you missed: the Isle is actually made up of _several tiny dimensions_. The reason why you can't see anything past the door from here is that the place with the corridor is located in _another_ dimension. It's right next to the dimension you're currently in, but it's still a separate dimension."_

"…I get it," said Sora. "Because all these little dimensions are like neighbors, you could still put everything onto a single map."

_"Yeah. Also, there's another door southwest of where you currently are."_ A small green blip appeared near the bottom left corner of the map._"It should take you to…a really big room."_

"A really big room? How big?"

_"That I can't say… My measurements aren't _that_ accurate. It _is_ pretty big, though. Why not check it out?"_

Sora looked over his shoulder to see Ridley, now free of mind control but still looking cooked and snoozing away. "And leave this guy behind? Sure, why the heck not?"

Using his digital counterpart's map as a guide, he walked across the empty, silent field and into the unknown, lonely echoes accompanying his every step.

-ooo-

When Ferron reopened his eyes, he found himself standing on the top of a snow-covered hill, his feet buried in six inches of snow. Shivering because of the sudden temperature change, he folded his arms and waited a minute to allow his body to become accustomed to the cold. He looked at the multicolored stone embedded in the maroon armband wrapped around his left arm.

_AntiSora called this thing a Mega Stone…its specific name being Lucarionite,_ he thought. _He said I'd need it…but what for?_

The Lucario put his right paw on the stone, feeling the warmth it emanated. For a brief moment, the dark blue aura that surrounded his paws gained a brighter hue. Ferron looked straight ahead and saw a large mansion in the distance. When he closed his eyes and activated Aura Sight, he could easily see the odd-colored aura and bright orange and blue aura trails that he had found in that room back at the Isle of Ancients.

_I'm still wondering why the first aura is so negative…_

The aura trails went straight to the mansion. Ferron finished using Aura Sight and looked toward the mansion again, narrowing his dull crimson eyes.

_There's my destination._

Piles of snow were thrown into the air as the Lucario raced down the hill and toward the Smash Mansion.

-ooo-

Storm gaped at Jordan. "…Sonic…the Hedgehog?" she repeated slowly and dumbly.

Jordan nodded. "You should come out and see. I swear it's _the_ Sonic."

Within the safety of his cardboard box, Snake cursed in his mind.

_Damn! I _knew_ one of us would get caught on the same day that we arrived here! And it just _had_ to be one of the "famous" Smashers! God dammit, Sonic!_

_…__Quite frankly, though, I'm glad it wasn't Mario who was seen. Otherwise, the whole neighborhood would go bonkers._

"I can't think of anyone—or anything—else with blue spikes," Jordan said as Storm stepped outside. "Then again, I could just be seeing things. I forgot to put on my contact lenses last night." The moment the door closed behind the Author, the Smash Mansion residents reemerged from their hiding places and joined each other in the living room.

"We have a problem," Palutena stated.

Primid 0001 snorted. "As if _that_ weren't obvious enough already."

"The guy only mentioned Sonic," said Snake. "But wasn't Mario on the roof with him?"

"I guess that means that Mario was being smart and lay low the whole time, while Sonic was…well…" Jigglypuff shrugged. "…being Sonic."

Dark Link pulled his monochrome Master Sword out of its sheath. "The moment that blasted hedgehog steps inside, I'm going to stab him right through his—"

Pit held him back. "Ahhh, don't you dare!" he cried. "The last thing I wanna do is get arrested and then sent to some freaky laboratory for some creepy scientists to run tests on me because I have wings!"

Neku prepared to run up the stairs. "I'm gonna watch from the window."

Amaterasu bit onto the hem of his shorts, stopping him. "Don't be reckless!" she admonished him. "You might be seen by the boy, too! Stay here!" When Neku reluctantly complied, the wolf suggested, "Let's just stay down here and listen through the wall. When I hear footsteps approaching, hide."

Outside, Storm and Jordan were looking at the roof of Storm's house, shielding their eyes from the sunlight. Jordan pointed up again.

"See… They're right there. Those funky blue spikes."

Storm followed his gaze. To her alarm, Jordan was right: three furry blue spikes sat near the edge of the roof, looking as plain as can be. Hoping that she could dissuade Jordan somehow, she decided to feign ignorance.

"Uh… I'm not sure if I know what you're talking about, Jordan. I honestly don't see anything."

Jordan wrinkled his brow. "Really? I didn't even put on my contacts and I can still see those spikes. They're clear as day."

"Even if there _are_ a bunch of blue spikes up there, I doubt it's Sonic… What led you to that conclusion anyway?"

"Look. The spikes _moved_ while I was watching them. And I'm pretty sure I saw a red and white sneaker with a gold buckle for a second or two. Hey, I'm not kidding!" he added when he saw Storm's shocked expression. "I swear I saw 'em!"

_This is bad,_ Storm thought. _I might have to resort to asking Palutena to use her memory-erasing magic thing, after all._

But she stalled some more, this time choosing to indirectly yell a warning at Sonic, who was probably asleep on the roof. "I dunno, Jordan… Are you _positive_ that you didn't imagine it?" She raised her voice. "I'm quite sure your eyes were deceiving you 'cause I SURE DON'T SEE ANYTHING ON THE ROOF THAT LOOKS EVEN REMOTELY LIKE A BLUE HEDGEHOG WEARING RED AND WHITE SNEAKERS WITH GOLD BUCKLES."

Her prayers were heard—Sonic disappeared from the edge of the roof, probably yanked away by Mario. Storm coughed loudly to cover the hedgehog's startled yell. Then she turned back to Jordan.

"There's nothing there," she reassured him. "Want me to get a ladder?"

Jordan was a little uncertain but otherwise mostly convinced that he was just imagining things. "Uh… I don't think we need to go that far. Yeah, I guess it was just my imagination." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Eh… Sorry for wasting your time. Are you working on your fanfic?"

Storm looked off to the side, turning a little pink as she thought about all the strange events that had begun to take place just a matter of hours ago. "Ummm… Yeah, sort of."

Jordan nodded and walked away, probably to resume practicing basketball. Then he whirled around with a grin plastered to his face. "Gimme the link to it someday, will ya?"

"Uh, suuuuuure…in about ten years or so…" _**(3)**_

When Jordan disappeared around the corner, Storm immediately went back inside her house. When she opened the door, a blue blur zoomed in before her and rammed into Snake. Storm slammed the door and found Snake on the ground, flattened by an agitated Mario and Sonic.

"Man, that was close," Sonic said, his eyes wide.

Mario just continued to give the hedgehog a poker face.

Snake said, "Hey, a little help here?"

Dark Link grasped the mercenary's hand and hauled him onto his feet. Mario and Sonic tumbled onto the ground, still looking frightened. Storm sighed in frustration.

"Sonic…you almost got caught. Come on, now. I don't wanna attract the media."

Primid 0001 helped the hedgehog sit up. Sonic wiped off the perspiration on his brow, still unsure of what to do or say. "…Uh. Sorry."

"Maybe taking a nap on the roof-a wasn't such a good idea," Mario surmised. "Helicopters can easily see us-a, too…"

"And birds…"

"And parachuters-a…"

"And hang gliders…"

"And planes-a…"

"And spy cameras…"

"And—what-a?"

"We've already had two close calls today," Storm interrupted, getting right to the point. "Let's just stay inside for the rest of the day and…oh, play some _Brawl_ or something. I also need to practice some piano and draw some stuff for Konami UK…"

"But-a what about-a shopping at Walmart-a?" questioned Mario.

"I'm leaving that for tomorrow morning. Today's been way too hectic for me… I don't want to go to Walmart, only to hear that a bunch of video game characters were discovered at my house." She glared shiftily at Sonic, who shrunk away in shame. "I also need to keep track of Aurastar…" She stopped and turned her head in the direction of the kitchen. "…Hm. He hasn't reported back for a pretty long time already. What's with him?"

"Ehhh," said Neku, waving off her concern. "I'm pretty sure he's got everything under control. The Smashers back home have a _lot_ to learn, y'know."

-ooo-

Contrary to what Neku believed and to what Storm would have preferred, things at the Smash Mansion were going quite awfully.

"He just…disappeared…" Link whispered repeatedly. "Just like…like _that_…"

Zelda, Mega Man, and Klonoa went to the distraught Hylian Smasher to calm him down. Meanwhile, Luigi, Yoshi, Shadow the Hedgehog, Gantz, Chipple, and the Wii Fit Trainer formed a small circle and huddled together.

"Is this all just a really bad dream, or did you see what I just saw?" whispered Gantz.

Chipple nodded feverishly. "Yeah… Pikachu disappeared right before our eyes!"

"But-a did you see _how_ he disappeared-a?" asked Luigi, trembling violently.

Yoshi looked terrified. "It was like a giant eraser was…"

Shadow held up a hand, silencing the dinosaur. "Yoshi…say no more. We all saw it. Now we all know that Pikachu's as good as…" He shut his red eyes as he said the final, ugly-sounding word. "…dead."

Aurastar was the only one who knew exactly what had just happened. "No… He suffered a fate worse than death," he said in a hushed voice. "Pikachu's been…"

"Erased, yes."

A boy sauntered into the room as though he had not a care for the world. He ran his hand through his messy white hair and looked straight at Aurastar with his pale blue eyes.

"Hello, there, Storm Aurastar—or Aurastar, as you prefer to be called now." He grinned spitefully. "How did you like my new trick? Poor Pikachu is just a mere ghost of the past now…"

Aurastar gaped at him for a moment. Then he came back to his senses and whipped out his holographic keyboard. "Star Aurastorm!" he spat in disgust, one hand hovering over the keyboard in case he had to type up something to throw at his alter ego's head. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Star just shrugged. "Here for a visit. Your friend Taki the Piplup gave me a _very_ good tour of the mansion. He even showed me some Metal Gear blueprints and things." He held up all his fingers. "I give you ten stars out of five."

"You mean…you were here the whole time? Just…_hiding_?"

All the Smashers who had either witnessed or taken part in what would have become the Halloween ExFEARience exactly eleven chapters ago drew whatever weapon they had or went into a battle stance.

"Star, ya _bastard_!" yelled Falco, the Blaster in his hand not trembling once. "How can you have the guts to show up here again after the would-be ExFEARience? You're _sicker_ than sick, I tell ya!"

The other, non-canon Smashers were confused. Cloud Strife turned his head toward Aurastar. "Hey, Aurastar, who's the twin over there?"

"A guy who wants nothing better than seeing all of you dead," the Author's avatar growled lividly, his eyes watching the white-haired boy. "How should I put it? Oh, yeah. If you have a gun with only one bullet and Tabuu, AntiSora, James McCloud, and Star Aurastorm are standing in front of you, shoot Star—in his _face_."

"Ah, that helps." The ex-SOLDIER brought out his Fusion Sword and held it before myself. "If you're as bad as Storm says you are, Star, then you don't deserve to be alive! _Die!_"

He charged at the boy, roaring in outrage. Star smiled and withdrew a pencil from his pocket. It looked like any other No. 2 pencil in the world, but Storm knew that there was much more to it.

"CLOUD! _STOP!_"

Just as Cloud began to unleash a single, powerful Climhazzard attack, Star scribbled something in the air. White, smoke-like graphite trailed out of the tip of the pencil to form a single word in rough-edged, cursive script: _FREEZE._

Suddenly, Cloud found himself unable to move, the Fusion Sword poised above his head in mid-strike position. He attempted to free himself, but to no avail. Star smirked at him scornfully.

"Cloud Strife… Still rushing blindly into battle, it seems. I guess those fights with Sephiroth never taught you anything." He rapped the ex-SOLDIER's forehead with his pencil, much to the latter's fury and vexation. "When will your brain be able to process anything new?"

"…Shut…up," Cloud grunted. "You are _so_ dead."

Star gave him a look of false surprise. "Oh, _really_, now! I just Erased your poor friend Pikachu. The little rat couldn't even fight back. Aww, poor guy." He smiled eerily at Cloud. "And yet you say _I'm_ dead?"

The Smasher was shaken by the boy's words. "…Ngh…"

Star nodded approvingly. "That's right. _I'm_ not dead. _You_ are." He raised his voice slightly to ensure that everyone in the library could hear him. "_All of you_ are. 'The pen is mightier than the sword'… Whoever said that quote is a genius. It's never been more true."

"Buuuuut…you're using a _pencil_," Aurastar pointed out.

Star shot him a dirty look. "…You can't be serious."

"But I _am_ serious."

The other boy just rolled his eyes. Then he raised his pencil and wrote another word: _FREE_.

Cloud fell to the ground in a heap. Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, and Klonoa ran over to help him stand up. Star's blue eyes swept across the room and stopped at a tall, blonde-haired man wearing a trench coat who was standing toward the back.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Liquid Snake!"

Liquid's cold blue eyes narrowed as he gripped his rifle. "…Who are you?"

Instead of answering him, Star skipped over to him with an enthusiastic expression. Liquid immediately trained his FAMAS on the white-haired boy, who stopped and raised a brow.

"You really aren't planning on shooting me after seeing what happened to Pikachu just now, are you?" he asked.

Liquid did not move. "How do you know my name?"

"Oh, please. How would I not? I know about _everyone_, just like Aurastar here. I know all about your secrets. I even know your _real_ name." Star flashed a smile at him. "How does it feel to be alive, E—"

There was a sharp _BANG_, and bullet embedded itself in the floor right between Star's feet. "Don't you _dare_," Liquid snarled, still holding the smoking FAMAS, "say my name."

"Oh, yeah… That reminds me of something. How did it go again? 'We have no past, no future. And even if we did, it wouldn't be truly ours.'" Star stuck his hands in his pockets and tilted his head. "Those were your exact words, weren't they?"

Liquid remained silent.

"Again…how does it feel to be alive, Liquid?" In a stereotypical Japanese accent, Star asked mockingly, "Did you rike it?"

"Thank you very much for your concern, _boy_. But I'm afraid you have no need to know how _I_ feel."

Star frowned. "Aww, too bad. I asked you pretty nicely. I even referenced Hideo Kojima, for God's sake…"

"…I'm sorry?"

Aurastar stepped in. "Look, I've just about had enough with your stupid chitchat, Star," he said impatiently. "Just tell me why a bastard like _you_ had to go so far as to _Erase_ a vital character from this fanfic!"

"Oh, that's easy." Star twirled his pencil between his fingers expertly. "I'm going to wipe you all out… I'm going to pick you off, one by one, until there is no one—_nothing_—left. And then I will take this fanfic from you, Storm Aurastar, and become the new Author…with a capital _A_, as you like to put it." His eyes gleamed. "Can you hear me, Storm? I will make life at the mansion equivalent to life in the fiery pits of _hell_ where all of you can just burn away." He leered at the revolted look on Aurastar's face. "Oh, _now_ you're worried, huh? Don't worry. I'm saving you for last."

The Author's avatar gritted his teeth. "Not if I can help it!"

His fingers were suddenly a blur of movement. Cyan-colored letters appeared above the keyboard: _CTRL+A_.

A layer of pale blue enveloped Star from head to toe. "Select all?" he said. "That's not going to do anything!" Before Aurastar could finish typing the next command, Star had already written another two words—_DESELECT ALL_—making the blue disappear.

_BACKSPACE,_ read the text floating above Aurastar's keyboard. Star narrowly avoided the black line that tried to erase him.

"Stop moving and let me attack you, god dammit!" Aurastar raged.

"Ha! No way!" White graphite flew out of Star's pencil and formed a sentence—or at least only part of it.

_AURASTAR'S HOLOGRAPHIC KE_

"Huh?" Star glanced at the tip of his pencil. "…Ah. Looks like my pencil just ran out of lead. That erasing move must've cut more than three-fourths of the pencil's supply. I _did_ have to write a long-ass paragraph… I guess that's my cue to go offstage." Before Aurastar could do anything, his doppelgänger had already darted through the hole in the wall that the Author's avatar had made earlier and into the cold, wintry air outside. Aurastar swiped aside his holographic keyboard, which seemed to be glowing with a much dimmer light than before, and followed Star in pursuit.

"Get back here, you bastard!"

"Me? _I'm_ the bastard?" Star came to a halt and jabbed an accusing finger at Aurastar, who stopped running to listen to what his alter ego had to say. "I say _you're_ the true bastard here!" he shouted. For the first time since he revealed himself to the Smash Mansion residents, he was actually showing signs of vehemence. "You're _worse_ than that! You completely _forgot about_ me!" _**(4)**_

Aurastar blinked in surprise. "…What are you saying?"

"You heard me," growled Star. "Don't you remember? Three years ago, you discovered the glorious w—"

Two-dimensional fried fish rained down on him and cut him off. R.O.B., with Mr. Game & Watch clinging to his left arm with a frying pan in hand, flew out of the mansion, his Robo Burners alight to keep him in the air. "You're not going anywhere, Star!" he declared. _"Eat lasers!"_

A bright red laser shot down from the red light on his head, instantly evaporating the snow around Star. The white-haired boy backflipped and dodged the laser, which rapidly ran out of power.

Mr. Game & Watch smacked the side of R.O.B.'s head with his frying pan, which did nothing but dent the bottom of the pan. "Oh, for Flat Zone's sake, R.O.B.! That thing barely lasted a second! Get an upgrade already!"

Just then, R.O.B.'s Robo Burners began to sputter.

"…Yes, it appears that I am in need of an immediate upgrade," he said matter-of-factly.

"_GOOD!_ YOU _FINALLY_ AGREED WITH ME!"

As the robot gradually floated back down to the snow-covered earth, Mr. Game & Watch flipped more fried fish from his pan. Star evaded these as well, and he threw Aurastar one last look of deep loathing.

"I'll be back, Storm Aurastar," he murmured before abruptly vanishing.

R.O.B. touched down next to Aurastar, and Mr. Game & Watch quickly hopped off and ran to the avatar's side. "Aurastar?" he asked, tugging on the boy's shirt. "You look really pale. Is something wrong?"

Aurastar did not immediately respond. When he did, his voice was low and shaky.

"…N-nothing's wrong," he muttered, half to himself and half to the puzzled Smashers. "Absolutely nothing at all…"

He paused, just as a Lucario appeared on the horizon.

"…Everything's wrong."

-ooo-

Sora sprinted across the barren plain, his right hand firmly gripping his trusty Keyblade. He felt a little queasy at how there were no signs of life around him. Besides Ridley, he still had not encountered anything that was alive. Each time his shoes made contact with the ground, they made loud echoes, the kind one would make when walking across a stage in a large, empty concert hall. Sora found this rather strange, since there was nothing but open space around him.

Eventually, he came upon a chasm. He sucked in his breath when he peeked over the edge and got an eyeful of the pitch-black darkness. He chose not to imagine how long it would take a rock to hit the bottom, if there even _was_ a bottom.

_Okay,_ he thought, _here's a bottomless pit. There's gotta be a way to cross it, right?_

That was when he spotted a large pink switch on the ground near the edge of the chasm. He ran over to it and examined it.

"In _The Subspace Emissary_, there were stages in which you had to hit a switch to make a set of hidden stairs or platforms appear." Sora knelt down and stared at the glowing switch. "This thing looks exactly like the switches in the game… Hey, I bet hitting it would make a bridge appear!"

He punched the button.

A line of floating, see-through platforms slowly came into existence, forming a path that led from Sora's side of the chasm to the opposite side. Sora grinned to himself. "Okay, here goes!" He prepared to jump onto the first platform.

_"Sora, _no_! It's a trap!"_

The Smasher leaped in surprise at Data-Sora's shrill cry and lost his balance. His arms flailed wildly but did nothing to help him regain his footing. He reached for the closest platform—and missed. Screaming, he fell off the ledge…

…and landed on smooth, solid ground.

_"Whew! Thank goodness you didn't try to land on the fake platforms!"_

Sora rubbed his head, wondering why he wasn't falling. Then he looked down.

"AHHHH!" he yelped, zipping back to visible ground. "What just happened?! Why didn't I fall?!"

_"It's a trap, Sora!"_ A hologram of Data-Sora popped out of the device on the Smasher's wrist. _"It's a trick totally ripped off from _Kid Icarus: Uprising_!"_

"…Huh?"

_"In a few chapters of the game, there are stages with invisible paths and platforms,"_ Sora's digital counterpart explained. _"The invisible platforms are indicated by flashing lights, but in order to see the invisible paths, you have to shoot projectiles downward to make the path light up."_

Sora aimed his Keyblade at the chasm and shot a Blizzaga at it. His eyes widened when the ball of ice, rather than falling into the chasm, shattered against an invisible surface, briefly causing an invisible surface to appear. At the same time, the "platforms" disappeared, revealing that they were actually square-shaped holes.

"…Wow," he said. "That is…"

_"A total rip-off?"_

"I was gonna say 'really freaky,' but yeah, I guess that works, too." Sora cautiously stuck one foot over the ledge and set it down, feeling a surface. He gulped and brought his other foot to the invisible ground. "I'm standing over a bottomless pit. This is seriously scary."

_"It's okay, Sora,"_ Data-Sora reassured him. _"You know how the that song in _Finding Nemo_ goes, right? 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…'"_

"…I'm _walking_."

_"Close enough. Let's go!"_

Tentatively, Sora tiptoed across the unseeable floor, fearing that just one stomp would cause the entire floor to break apart and lead to his doom. Each footstep made hollow sounds against the ground. "Don't look down," he muttered repetitively. "Don't look down. Don't look down."

_"Instead, just keep on swimming, swimming, swimming,"_ Data-Sora chanted.

When the Smasher reached the middle of the chasm, the fake platforms faded away.

"Eep…"

_"It's perfectly fine, Sora. Just shoot projectiles at your feet to make the floor light up."_

Sora did so, firing Firaga spells at the invisible floor and illuminating it. He gulped as he passed a hole just three feet away from him and took great caution not to accidentally step too hard.

_"Hmm…"_ said Data-Sora. _"Is it just me, or is there a pair of red lights down there?"_

Sora stopped again, sweating. "Are you trying to make me look down?"

_"No, no, no! I'm serious… _Whoa!_ There's something coming up—and it's really fast! Watch out, Sora!"_

The Smasher dived forward, just as a blue blur came up from below, zooming through the invisible floor.

_CRASH!_

Data-Sora's eyes widened. _"Eek! Sora, the floor's collapsing! Run like there's a stampede of Heartless chasing you!"_

"No need to tell me twice!" Sora replied, already on the run. He threw his Keyblade backwards for a Strike Raid attack.

They all missed.

"You gotta be kidding me!" he exclaimed as the Keyblade flew back to his hand. "How fast is that guy?"

The blue blur slammed into his stomach. He flew through the air and didn't stop until he had almost reached the other side of the chasm. Staggering upright, the Smasher barely avoided a bolt of lightning and leaped as far as he could, reaching visible ground.

_"Well,"_ said Data-Sora cheerily, _"the good news is that the other guy shortened your trip across the crevasse by a _lot_…"_

"Oh, shut up, Data-Sora! Your optimism won't get me anywhere!"

_"The_ bad_ news is that your enemy is__ Metal Sonic!"_

"…Metal Sonic? As in the robotic hedgehog who can go as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog?"

_"Uh-huh."_

Sora was seething. "I haven't heard any word of him for more than ten chapters! And then he just _has_ to pop up now! This is just great! How do I fight him?"

_"Here's how: DON'T! JUST DODGE AND RUN! THE DOOR I TALKED ABOUT EARLIER CAN BE REACHED WITHIN TWO MINUTES IF YOU JUST KEEP SWI—I MEAN,_ RUNNING_!"_

The Smasher heeded his digital companion's wise advice and sprinted across the ground, his feet barely touching the floor. He used Aeroga spells in all directions, hoping that at least one of them would catch his pursuer by surprise and stall him. Metal Sonic flitted past each attack, gracefully dodging them and occasionally flying right through one using V. Maximum Overdrive Attack. Then he flew headlong into one of the Aeroga spells and was momentarily hindered by the sudden onslaught of wind. Sora took the opportunity to run faster than ever toward the steel door that was gradually coming into view.

_"__YEAHHHHHHH!"_ he and Data-Sora screamed in unison.

The Smasher practically flew through the door, which shut right before Metal Sonic could enter. Sora took a few minutes to catch his breath and listened to Metal Sonic bang away at the door, attempting to get in. Finally, the hedgehog gave up and left, bringing back the eerie peace and quiet.

"…Hey. We're in that really big room you mentioned earlier, right?" asked Sora.

Data-Sora did not reply. Instead, he continued staring upwards. The Smasher, confused, followed his gaze.

His Keyblade slipped out of his hand and clattered noisily onto the ground.

A giant, seventy-foot-tall machine stood in the center of the room, its shadow completely eclipsing the Smasher. Sora then began to have a déjà vu experience as his eyes swept over each part of the machine.

"Funny… This thing reminds me of those robot things that sometimes pop up on the Shadow Moses Island stage on the Brawl System back home—Metal Gear. Could it be a Metal Gear…?"

"Yes. That's exactly right."

AntiSora, his yellow eyes shining with menacing delight at Sora's arrival, emerged from behind the machine. His black Keyblade hung on the side of his shorts.

"Long time no see, Sora." He gestured to the machine, now identified as a Metal Gear, towering above him. "You're the first person to see what Project MGZ has led to, my friend. You should feel proud."

Sora swore that two lights near the top of the Metal Gear glowed red for a split second. It was like the machine was _alive_…

_What should I do? There's no way I can take this thing on alone. Even with Data-Sora's advice, I couldn't possibly do any serious damage to it. I mean, it's a _Metal Gear_! The ones in the Brawl System looked bad enough!_

_I'd like to shove my Keyblade into AntiSora's face, but there's no telling what _he_ could do. He beat me soundly when we met at the Smash Mansion. He's _way_ different than the AntiSora I fought in the Dive to the Heart._

_Aargh… What should I do? What should I do?_

AntiSora looked thrilled at the Smasher's indecisiveness. "Can't make up your mind, eh? That's okay. Soon, you'll have no need to make up your mind."

Sora looked at him sharply. AntiSora patted one of the Metal Gear's two enormous legs.

"Meet Metal Gear ZERO…created to change the number of Smashers from sixty-seven…"

Data-Sora shrank back in apprehension, not wanting to hear the second number.

"…to _zero_."

-ooo-

In hardly any time at all, Ferron reached the Smash Mansion. Aurastar was already waiting for him.

"You're here," he flatly said to the Lucario. "How did you know where to go?"

"I followed an aura trail," Ferron replied just as unenthusiastically. "It led me to this place. I believe a person here has something to return to the Subspace Army."

"Oh, you must be talking about Liquid Snake. Why do you even need that thing?"

"We cannot allow you to gain the upper hand. We _will_ not allow you to win."

"Huh, is that so? You might have a hard time doing that, you know."

As Aurastar was speaking, he stealthily motioned toward Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B. They watched as he pulled out his holographic keyboard behind his back and one-handedly typed a message.

_"__Get the Miis, the Pokémon Smashers, and Mewtwo,"_ it read. _"Tell everyone else to stay put and make sure that Fox stays out of the way. Don't let Liquid Snake go out because he has the blueprint. KEEP THE BLUEPRINT AWAY FROM FERRON AT ALL COSTS."_

Mr. Game & Watch nudged R.O.B. "I'll get them," he whispered. "You stay here with Aurastar and see where the conversation goes."

The robot silently nodded, and the two-dimensional Smasher sneaked back inside the Smash Mansion's library through the hole. The moment he entered, the Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and guests broke out with a flood of questions.

"What's going on?"

"Where's Star Aurastorm? I wanna punch his face!"

"Well, _I_ wanna stick a fork into his eyes!"

"_Ewwwww!_ That's just _nasty_!"

"Where's Aurastar?"

"Who's Aurastar talking to? He sounds familiar."

"Can we all go outside right now? It's stuffy in here."

_"__SHHHHH!"_ Mr. Game & Watch hissed loudly. "Okay, here's the thing. Star is gone, so you'll have to save the face-punching for later, Little Mac. Wolf, I hope I'll never see you stick a fork in _anyone's_ eyes. Aurastar is outside, buying me some time by having a chat with Ferr—Lucario."

Red gave a start. "_Lucario_ is outside?!"

"Remember, he's not the Lucario we know! Not anymore!" Mr. Game & Watch reminded him. "He's an enemy…a member of the Subspace Army. Anyway, Aurastar wants the Mii Fighters, the Pokémon Smashers, and Mewtwo to come outside. I think we're gonna fight Ferron."

"If Mewtwo gets to go, then I'm coming along!" said Darkrai, preparing to jump down the bookshelf to follow the Genetic Pokémon, who had just switched back to his Pokémon form.

"Uhh, that's not a good idea," said Mr. Game & Watch. "You're Dark-type and he's Fighting-type. You have a severe type disadvantage!"

The Pitch-Black Pokémon just grumbled something under his breath before lying flat on the top of the bookshelf.

"Hey, then why not _all_ of us?" called out Tetra. "Lucario can't possibly take on forty-plus Smashers and all the Assist Trophies and background characters!"

"That might be too chaotic. We'll end up decimating the mansion if everyone tries to fight _one_ Pokémon. C'mon, follow me before Ferron tries to stab Aurastar with a paw spike or something!"

Outside in the cold and the snow, Aurastar finally noticed the colorful stone embedded in the maroon armband strapped around Ferron's left wrist.

"That thing on your arm," he said, pointing at it. "What is it?"

The Lucario glanced at it. He grinned at the avatar, baring his fangs.

"A trump card," he said.

Aurastar's eyes widened in horror. Ferron slammed his paw on top of the Mega Stone embedded in the armband. The spherical stone flashed brightly and sent out a stream of light that surrounded the Lucario.

Mr. Game & Watch reemerged from the Smash Mansion with the Pokémon Smashers, the Mii Fighters, and Mewtwo. They were all shocked to see the unfamiliar—yet recognizable—Pokémon standing before Aurastar.

Ferron now had more black markings, tan fur, and steel spikes, as well as some previously absent red markings. The appendages on the back of his head had grown three times as long as they previously were, waving behind his head. He raised his right, red-colored paw, which now had two spikes instead of one, and clenched it into a fist.

"Numbers won't work now, Smashers."

He stepped to his left and vanished, then reappeared just as quickly in front of Mr. Game & Watch. The flat Smasher didn't even have enough time to blink before Ferron kicked him with so much strength that the Smasher crashed through the wall and ended up on the fourth floor of the Smash Mansion.

The blood drained from Aurastar's face. "Crap. Crap, crap, _crap_. Who gave him the Lucarionite?"

R.O.B. looked at him. "The what?"

"Lucarionite. It's a type of Mega Stone… Mega Stones were recently discovered in the Kalos Region. They contain a dangerously high amount of energy that only certain Pokémon can use to undergo Mega Evolution."

"What's Mega—"

Ben the Mii Brawler let out a shrill cry. "R.O.B., look out!"

The robot glanced to his left—only to receive a powerful punch to the face that sent him flying into a snowdrift.

"Be careful!" Aurastar shouted. "Ferron's strength, defense, stamina, and speed have increased at least tenfold thanks to that Mega Stone! He's not just a Lucario now. He's a _Mega_ Lucario!" He brought his keyboard out and began to type something. "But remember—he's still Lucario! Don't kill or try to kill him—"

"Yeah, try telling that to _him_!" yelled Amber the Mii Gunner as she attempted to pelt Ferron with energy balls. "Oh, c'mon, stop hopping around and sit _still_—"

Amber aimed expertly at the Mega Lucario, only for him to disappear each time she did. Carl the Mii Swordfighter decided to lend a hand. He ran behind Ferron sheared off a tuft of fur from the Pokémon's bushy tail with his sword, briefly distracting him. "Schießen Sie ihn jetzt, Amber!" he shouted.

"Sí, señor!" the Mii Gunner acknowledged before pointing her arm cannon at Ferron and firing a Charge Blast at him. The energy sphere crashed into his chest and exploded, making him trip and fall. Carl quickly threw a Shuriken at Light at the Pokémon. Ferron recovered much faster than the Swordfighter had anticipated and jumped away, causing the bladed projectile to miss by a mile. Ben appeared before the Mega Lucario and threw a punch that Ferron blocked with his own fist.

Red stood with his three Pokémon. "Okay, guys. Charizard here is the only one with a type advantage, so I think it'd be a good idea to save him for last."

Ivysaur and Squirtle nodded in complete understanding. "We won't let you down, Red," Squirtle reassured his Trainer. "We'll take Ferron down before he takes _us_ down!"

"He may not be Lucario anymore, but his fighting strategy can't be all that different," added Ivysaur. "And we've all seen Lucario fight, so it shouldn't be that hard to figure out how Ferron fights."

Red smiled at the Pokémon. "Good luck."

No sooner had he said these two words than Ferron swooped in and knocked out both Ivysaur and Squirtle with a single Power-Up Punch. The Trainer's jaw dropped at the sight of the two Pokémon lying unconscious on the snow. Charizard snarled a challenge to Ferron, to which the Mega Lucario gladly accepted.

"You're _sick_!" the Flame Pokémon growled. "Do you not know how to fight fairly?"

"What's the point of fighting fairly?" answered the Mega Lucario.

Charizard let a Flamethrower erupt from his maw. Ferron ducked below the torrent of fire and aimed a Power-Up Punch at the Flame Pokémon's stomach. Charizard flapped his massive wings, lifting his body into the air while pushing the Mega Lucario away. Ferron calmly looked on as Charizard suddenly plummeted down with Flare Blitz. Instead of ramming into Ferron as intended, Charizard missed his target and ended up stuck headfirst in the snow. Mewtwo jumped in front of the temporarily incapacitated Flame Pokémon and threw a Shadow Ball at the Mega Lucario, who countered with a dark blue Aura Sphere that nullified the Shadow Ball. Ben joined the Legendary Pokémon and spin-kicked Ferron's behind. The Mega Lucario snarled, then zigzagged between Ben and Mewtwo using ExtremeSpeed.

"糟糕！" said Ben, disappointed. "他逃掉了！"

Charizard finally pulled his head out of the snow and used Flamethrower, singeing the tip of Ferron's tail. All of a sudden, Charizard came face to face with the enraged Pokémon, who punched him squarely in the jaw and knocked him out. Red cried out in horror at the sight of his fallen Pokémon.

Aurastar, in the meantime, was watching the scene unfold. He drew in a deep breath to ease himself before proceeding to type a paragraph on his holographic keyboard.

Mewtwo used Disable, but the attack missed its target. Amber sneaked behind Ferron and walloped the back of his head with her arm cannon. Seemingly unfazed, the Mega Lucario whirled around and grabbed the Gunner's left hand. She yelled in surprise and panic as Ferron began to spin her in wide circles over his head as though she were a lasso.

"¡Hey, déjame ir!" she snapped angrily.

"Amber, I don't think he understands Spanish," Carl called to her.

"¡Callate, Carl!"

"_Sie_ schloss oben!"

"吵死了！" Ben screeched exasperatedly. "别吵了！"

All at once, Ferron let go of Amber's hand, sending her flying into the same snowdrift that R.O.B was still stuck in. Then Ferron closed in on her and used a close-range Metal Claw that missed her arm by an inch thanks to Mewtwo's well-aimed tail whack. The Mega Lucario flipped through the air, landed on his feet, and rushed toward Amber again.

"What _is_ it with him and Amber?" Carl exclaimed, following the Pokémon.

Mewtwo head-butted Ferron out of Amber's way, then flew into the air. Ferron leaped up and clenched his teeth onto the tip of the Genetic Pokémon's tail. Mewtwo nearly swore with Arceus' name and tried to throw Ferron off, but the Mega Lucario then did something that no one expected: he used ExtremeSpeed upwards with Mewtwo's tail still in his mouth, shot up into the sky, and swung around and let Mewtwo go, launching the Legendary Pokémon down at a freakishly high speed and and straight into Red and Ben. All three of them were instantly knocked unconscious. Ferron landed on the snow-covered ground again and let out an unearthly roar, his flaming eyes seeing everything and nothing.

Carl was terrified. "Oh, no," he muttered. "His power is completely out of control… He can't restrain it. At this rate, he'll end up killing someone!"

Aurastar paused his typing to run a scan of Ferron's body. His eyes widened when he read the results. "Okay… This is seriously bad. His Mega Evolution is _permanent_!"

"…Ist das schlimm?"

"Of _course_ that's bad, dammit!" snapped the avatar. "Mega Evolution should be temporary! But Ferron's is permanent! Oh, wait," he then said, looking more closely at the scan's results. "…Oh. Never mind. It's not permanent. But…he'll stay as Mega Lucario until he completes his mission."

"Which is?"

"Retrieve the stolen blueprint, kill Fox, present the Smashers with as many casualties as possible, and…huh. Retrieve Liquid? What for?"

"Egal, dass!" said Carl. "He's going to Amber again!"

Aurastar closed his eyes for a moment. Then he smashed his hand onto two keys on his keyboard—_CTRL+A_. As Ferron sprinted toward Amber, who was trying to stop him with missiles fired from her arm cannon, a layer of blue covered his body.

Then Aurastar began to type a stream of nonsensical combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols.

_"fja$ hfkah duage15 4?&!%#sja fkksgs82]}_geh2"_

Carl stared at Aurastar with a baffled expression. "Was machst du?!"

"Overloading his actions to slow him down."

Just as the avatar said, Ferron began to move at a much more sluggish pace. Amber fired a missile at him that exploded on his chest.

"Amber, get away from him!" yelled Aurastar.

The Gunner pulled her left foot out of the deep snow and quickly crawled away, then joined the avatar and Carl. "Now what? We can't stop him!"

The light in Aurastar's eyes was gone. "I can."

He typed several paragraphs.

_"Lucario, the Aura Pokémon. His life was one full of great turmoil and drastic changes. To think that his life began as an innocent Riolu who was able to use Aura Sphere is almost unimaginable. He went from good to bad, then bad to good, and finally, good to bad once more. Twice he lost his memory and had to start over._

_"What are memories for? They define who you are. They are essential to your life. Without memories, what are you? _

_"You are not you. You are no one."_ With a pained look, he said, _"You might as well not be here."_

Amber and Carl gasped in horror.

Aurastar's hand was hovering over the Delete key.

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHARACTER PROFILE<span>**

**Name:** Pikachu

**Also known as:** Zane, rat/rodent (by AntiSora)

**Age:** 15

**Species:** Pikachu (Mouse Pokémon)

**World of origin:** _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ universe

**Video game(s):** _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky_ with Gen. V and VI Pokémon

**Occupation****:** Pikachu, also known as Zane, is the former leader of Team Alpha, a legendary exploration team that saved the Mystery Dungeon world not once, but twice. He is very outgoing personality and has an extremely infectious sense of humor. He is very protective of his friends and is willing to go great lengths to ensure their safety. Sometimes, this protectiveness drives him act rashly and jump to conclusions. He is very good friends with Taki, a Piplup he met and formed an exploration team with.

**Fun fact:** He is the Author's actual character in her _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness_ game.

**Current status:** _–Erased–_

* * *

><p><strong><span>NOTES<span>**

_**(1)**_ Why, yes, Snake. That's how I do math.

_**(2)**_ Jordan is modeled after an actual neighbor who likes to spend afternoons playing basketball. But he didn't want me to put his real name, so I replaced it with Jordan. I suppose it's also a little reference to Michael Jordan.

_**(3)**_ I swear everyone I know wants to read my fanfic. Two people know the link, but most others are still searching.

_**(4)**_ …More on this in future chapters.

* * *

><p><em><strong>…Hmm.<strong>_

_**See you next time in Chapter 45…and remember to review.**_


	45. BONUS — SonicBoom's Message

_**Someone has a message for you.**_

**DISCLAIMER:**** I still don't own anyone!**

* * *

><p><strong>BONUS <strong>**– ****Chapter 45: SonicBoom's Message**

* * *

><p>It's all quiet. You can clearly hear a pin drop.<p>

…But it's not quiet for long.

Someone in the distance yells exuberantly.

"…YeeeeaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A blue blur suddenly skids to an abrupt halt, nearly throwing off his green-clad passenger. The blue figure is a hedgehog with emerald-green eyes and red shoes with white straps and gold buckles. His companion is a cartoonish boy with large, cat-like eyes, elf-like ears, a green tunic, green hat, and a shield strapped to his back with the insignia of the Royal Family of Hyrule. He grins from ear to ear.

"Hiya!" he exclaims excitedly. "What's up?"

The blue hedgehog dumps him onto the ground. "Say your name first."

"Oh, right. Hiya!" the boy says to the reader again. "It's me, the one and only Toon Link! What's up?"

"And I'm the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog!" says the blue hedgehog, pointing at himself.

"And we're the one and only _Team SonicBoom_!" they yell together.

Then Toon Link pokes Sonic. "Hey, does the reader even know what Team SonicBoom is?"

"I'm pretty sure he or she knows it's one of the teams in Life at the Mansion's Easter chapter," Sonic reassures him. In a disappointed tone, he says, "SonicBoom got disqualified, all thanks to you. And your bombs."

"…H-hey…it's no biggie…right?"

Sonic then notices the bewildered expression on the readar's face and decides to stop straying off topic. "Okay. So! We have a message from the Author of this fanfic, Storm Aurastar. She has decided that every twentieth chapter will be a Q&A chapter, meaning that Chapter 66 will be the next Q&A chapter after this one, assuming that the fanfic will have that many chapters."

"As with Chapter 25, leave any questions regarding Life at the Mansion as reviews for _this_ chapter, Chapter 45," says Toon Link. "Your questions will be answered in Chapter 46."

"Storm believes the fanfic has taken a pretty confusing turn ever since my buddies and I got teleported to her house, so she figured it'd be the perfect time for some Q&A!" Sonic explains.

Toon Link pokes Sonic again. "Speaking of which, how is it possible for you to be with me right now? You're supposed to be stuck in the real world."

Sonic just shrugs. "Maybe Storm was somehow able to temporarily gather a bunch of Smashers in one spot, regardless of which world they're currently in." He looks clueless. "In other words, I have no idea…"

The cartoon Hylian waves him off. "Anyway, Mister or Miss Reader, please leave whatever questions you have regarding this fanfic as a review for this chapter! Want some sample questions? How about…" He clears his throat. "'What's Storm Aurastar's biggest pet peeve?' 'How long will Life at the Mansion be?' 'What is Amaterasu's favorite food?' 'What happened to Bowser, Donkey Kong, Tails, and the others?' 'Why does everyone call Star Aurastorm a bastard?'"

"Yeah, stuff like that," agrees Sonic, nodding. "But readers, please keep in mind that Storm does _NOT_ appreciate this question: 'Can you put so-and-so in your fanfic?'"

"That's RIGHT!" says Toon Link. "With _Super Smash Bros. U_ coming along and all, Storm already has enough characters to deal with." Quietly, he adds, "I heard she's even starting to regret adding the non-canon Smashers like Cloud Strife, Zoroark, Klonoa, and Lloyd Irving…"

"I figured as much," Sonic mutters. "There are so many newcomers. The Villager, Mega Man, the Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Rosalina, Greninja, Palutena, Pac-Man, Lucina, Robin, and three Mii Fighters. That's already twelve new Smashers. And who knows how many secret characters _SSBU_ will have?"

Toon Link throws a glance over his shoulder. "Oh, Sonic. We'd better get back now before the other Smashers think we were kidnapped or something." He climbs back onto Sonic's back and waves to the reader. "See you in the next chapter! Remember to ask those questions!"

With that, Sonic rushes away into the distance at the speed of sound. Toon Link yells exuberantly.

"YEEEEEAAAAaaahhhhhhhh…!"

A green hat tumbles in the breeze.

"Oh, no! My hat!"

"Who cares about your hat, Toon? We're gonna be late for the next chapter!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Now go ask those darn questions! The more the better!<strong>_


	46. BONUS — Questions and Answers, Round 2

_**First off, I'd like to say something. School is starting in a matter of **_**days_, meaning that I'll be updating this fanfic at a _much_ slower rate**_…maybe something like one chapter per three or four months or so._**_**

_**I successfully managed to answer all your questions! God, it took such a long time… This chapter is nearly twice as long as the previous Q&A chapter, in fact. Is the fanfic really **_**that_ confusing?_**

**_…Oh, yeah, and please, please, _PLEASE_ read all the way to the end. The ending sequence is the _best_!_**

**_By the way, check out the poll on my profile page._**

**_And kudos in advance to those who catch the _Mario Kart 8_ reference towards the end of this chapter._**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Super Smash Bros., nor do I own Thomas "TomSka" Ridgewell's extremely addicting song that stars a guy with a top hat, Ray-Ban sunglasses, two left feet, and an inclination to flopping face-first onto the ground.**

* * *

><p><strong>BONUS <strong>**– ****Chapter 46: Questions and Answers, Round 2**

* * *

><p>A green pipe pops up from the ground, and a green-clad plumber jumps out of it. He manages to land on both feet, but his green hat, emblazoned with an <em>L<em>, flops to his feet. "Oops-a," he says before picking it up. He fixes it back on his head, then waves to the reader. "Hello, everyone-a!" he says cheerfully. "It's-a me, Luigi! Mario had some errands-a to run today, so I'm-a here to answer any questions-a directed to him-a." He looks around the place, noticing that it is still empty. "Hmm, looks-a like everyone else is going to be a bit-a late…"

Just as he says this, a man wearing a bandana and gray Sneaking Suit leaps out of the pipe that Luigi had just come out of. The green plumber raises a confused brow.

"…Snake-a? What-a were you doing in that-a pipe?"

"The helicopter I usually use needed some repairs," Solid Snake explains as he dusts himself off. "I decided to take a shortcut."

"And-a that shortcut-a was…my pipe-a…?"

An orange, dragon-like Pokémon with a flame on the tip of his tail comes into view, his large wings flapping gracefully. He skims over the ground and drops off a boy and a fox. The boy is wearing a red vest, blue jeans, and red and white cap. The fox is wearing a white and gray vest, green pants, and red and gray boots and gloves, and a Reflector is strung to the left side of his pants while a gun holster, which is empty for some reason, hangs on the right. "Thanks for the ride, Charizard!" the boy yells before he turns around and nods to the reader. "Hey, there. I'm Red, the Pokémon Trainer!"

The fox crosses his arms. "Fox McCloud here, ready to—"

"—DO A BARREL ROLL!"

A blue hedgehog flies in to the scene, performing the said barrel roll. Instead of making a dramatic entrance as he had intended, he crashes into Red and knocks the Trainer down. As they both lay there, feeling a little dazed, a cartoony Hylian boy wearing a green tunic, brown belt and gloves, and green hat runs up to the hedgehog and slaps him.

"Sonic! It's dangerous to do a barrel roll alone! Take—"

A boy with a Keyblade appears and holds back the Hylian boy. "Calm down, Toon Link. There's no need to make references to _The Legend of Zelda_." Then he sees the reader and adds, "I'm Sora, by the way! Hi!"

Three people enter on the back of a brown horse with white hair and a white star between her eyes. The first is a young man wearing blue clothes and a blue cape with a red underside. Sitting behind him is a young woman dressed very similarly to him. A Hylian wearing clothes similar to Toon Link's is seated at the back of the horse. The blue-clothed man brings the horse to a halt and steps onto the ground, his sword dangling on his left side. The young woman follows him and stretches her arms. The Hylian jumps off and gives the horse a pat on the head. "Thanks, Epona."

Epona whinnies and gallops away. The Hylian waves to the reader. "Hello, I'm Link!"

The young woman flips several strands of her long, navy-blue hair out of her deep blue eyes. "I'm Lucina. Hello, there!"

The other man bows. "Greetings. My name is Marth Lowell."

Sonic, who has recovered from his unsuccessful barrel roll, snickers. "Always so formal…"

Three rotund Smashers drop from the sky and land heavily on the ground.

_Crash! Crash! CRASH!_

"Darn it, Meta Knight! Couldn't you have given us a more comfortable landing?!"

"I apologize, Your Majesty, but you can't possibly expect a comfortable landing when you're dropped off by the Halberd while it's two hundred feet in the air."

"Dedede, you should start using your brain! Wait, do you even _have_ one?"

"Ah, shut up, Kirby!"

"Make me!"

An iron frying pan hits the side of King Dedede's head. Then it falls on top of Kirby.

"Ow!" the penguin and puffball both cry. King Dedede rubs his left temple and demands, "What gives?"

A girl walks up to him and retrieves the frying pan before flinging it away to who knows where. She is wearing a black T-shirt with the green-colored logo of Video Games Live, as well as white shorts and red sneakers. She brushes her long black hair away from her brown eyes. "I'm kind of impressed at how the majority of you managed to enter the Q&A session without having any accidents," she says with satisfaction. She then turns to the reader and waves. "Hi, guys! I'm Storm Aurastar."

Sonic nudges her. "How is it possible for _you_ to be within the fanfic? I thought you always used your avatar for fanfic stuff."

Storm looks at herself and shrugs. "Y'know…I have absolutely no idea."

Luigi does a quick head count, then claps his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay! Now that everyone is-a here, _let's-a go_!"

Red digs a paper out of his pocket. He unfolds it and is shocked by the amount of text on it. "…Uh, wow. It looks like we have a _lot_ of questions to answer."

Toon Link peers at it. "Yeah, _wayyyyyy_ more than in Chapter 26!"

"Hmmm… Let's get started, anyway." The Pokémon Trainer clears his throat. "_Ahem!_ Okay, the first question is from _TongueTwisted_, who asked it in a review for Chapter 44 instead of Chapter 45. Oh, well, that doesn't matter. **'What happens to characters who get deleted? Are they sent to some sort of void?** **And you said you try your best to stick to the canon, and if someone who is supposed to be dead is revived, you have to kill them later, and vice versa. Does the same go for getting deleted?'**"

Storm jumps in with an answer. "A void? Yes…I guess you can put it like that. But what results from being Erased is way worse than the Erase itself. More information will be revealed in Chapter 47—"

"—which will probably come out, like, three months after _this_ chapter, right?" Sora finishes, deadpanning.

The Author shoots him an annoyed look. "Hey, none of _you_ guys have to deal with school. It's not my fault! And as for _TongueTwisted_'s second question…" She blushes sheepishly. "…You'll have to wait until the next chapter. Or chapters."

"I think _TongueTwisted_ is gonna be a little pissed at how Storm doesn't completely answer his questions," Sonic whispers to Marth, who nods in agreement.

"The next bunch of questions is from _Thanatos's Scribe,_" says Red. "First question. **'When will Pac-Man be implemented?'**"

"Hopefully in Chapter 47," answers Storm. "I've been meaning to add him somewhere for some time already, but don't worry. He'll appear soon. Definitely before Chapter 50."

"Second question. **'Will Data-Sora ever be able to materialize on the physical plane?'**"

This time, it is Fox who offers an answer. "I kind of doubt that. He's made of data. I'm not sure how a being who's completely made of digital stuff can exist in the real world without any kind of support. So I'd say he'll have to stick with virtuality for now."

"Third question… It's for Snake."

The mercenary motions for the Trainer to go on.

"**'****If you ever went back in time to your childhood, would you try to change Liquid Snake to be more of a hero?'**"

Snake steps forward and snatches the paper out of Red's hands. "Hold on!" he exclaims. "Let me see that!" His blue eyes skim across the paper and read the question several more times. Then he throws the paper back to Red. "Look here, _Thanatos's Scribe_," he snaps as he shakes his fist at the reader, "this is _Liquid Snake_ you're talking about. Liquid Snake? A _hero?_ Are you kidding me?"

"Snake—" Link begins to say, but is quickly interrupted by the mercenary.

"Here, let me make this a little more understandable." He raises his right hand and puts his thumb and index finger together, mimicking Boromir's meme-famous pose from _Lord of the Rings_, and states, "One does not simply say 'Liquid Snake' and 'hero' in the same sentence."

"Hey, I think Liquid's antagonistic nature is mostly thanks to his and Snake's dad, Big Boss," Storm cuts in. "If what Liquid told Snake was true, then I can safely say that Big Boss was a pretty bad parent."

"What did he do?" asks Lucina curiously.

"Well, you know how Snake and Liquid are clones of their father? One of them received the dominant genes, while the other received the recessive genes. Apparently, Big Boss told Liquid that he possessed the recessive genes and was the inferior one of the Twin Snakes, which isn't true. In fact, it's the other way around."

Snake nods slowly. "I have the recessive genes. Liquid has the dominant genes."

"Liquid was intentionally deceived in order to drive him to carry on with the Twin Snakes' father's legacy," explains Storm.

"If I actually were to travel back in time to help change Liquid to something along the lines of a hero," Snake says, "I'd have to prevent our father from telling him about the whole superior-versus-inferior thing. I wonder how well _that_ would go."

"In my opinion, I think it would be quite nice if Liquid emerged as a protagonist instead!" Storm says, grinning broadly. "To be honest, I think he's a pretty cool guy." Snake looks a little startled as she continues, "He's not really a villain… He's more like an antihero, guided by flawed ambitions."

The mercenary blinks a few times, then lets out a long, frustrated sigh. "It's hard to think like that, especially after all the crap he made me go through. _Siblings,_" he scoffs. "You either love 'em or hate 'em. For me, it's the latter."

Red coughs. "I guess that sort of answers the question. Let's move on. Here's a question for Mewtwo, who isn't here. I'll answer for him. **'Will Mewtwo be given a Mewtwonite to counter Mega Lucario?'**" The Trainer shrugs. "As much as we'd like to give him a Mewtwonite, we don't have any. You can't just look at the ground and find one at your feet. Mega Stones are rare stuff… I'm not sure what will happen. You'll have to wait for Chapter 47 to come out, _Thanatos's Scribe_." He glances at the paper. "That was his last question. Who's next?"

"I'll have a go!" Toon Link shouts and grabs the paper. "Here are three questions asked by an anonymous reviewer called _SonicSonic54321_! First up…**'Who are you most excited for in the new _Smash Bros._?'**"

"I'm really happy with all the newcomers so far," replies Storm. "It's a little hard for me to decide on who I'm most excited for…but I'll just say the Mii Fighters. Being able to use customized characters will be something totally new and awesome. It's definitely going to be fun to play as them!"

"Second! **'Will Greninja and Pac-Man appear any time soon? We haven't seen them yet.'** Hey, don't worry, everyone!" Toon Link reassures the reader. "They'll come sooner or later."

"Before Chapter 50, that's for sure," adds Storm. "The same goes for Rosalina."

"Oh, yeah, Rosalina!" exclaims King Dedede. "I almost forgot she's part of the roster, too!"

Lucina is incredulous. "You almost _forgot_?!"

"Perhaps it's because she isn't as popular as the other newcomers," Meta Knight suggests. "Or maybe it's because she was introduced more than half a year ago, causing many people to forget and instead be excited for the more recent newcomers like Lucina, Robin, and the Mii Fighters, or the more popular newcomers such as Mega Man and the meme-famous Wii Fit Trainer."

"The next and last question reads, **'Will Ferron and Silver be restored to their former selves?'**"

"YES!" Kirby blurts out before anyone else can answer. "They'll be restored—somehow, someday!"

"…What he said," Storm mutters, poking the pink puffball.

Toon Link folds the paper into a paper airplane and launches it forward. Sora jumps up and catches it. "I'll go now!" He unfolds the paper and reads the following reviewer's name. "Hmm… This reviewer called _PikaLoverNYA_ asked a bunch of questions for certain characters. The first one is for Red. **'Do you ****_secretly_**** have a "nice" call with Blue while having free time?'**"

Red's face immediately turns into the color of his name. "Uh—um—er—c-come again?!"

"Oooooh!" says Sonic teasingly while Toon Link and Sora laugh in the background. "Red has a _girlfr_—"

"Blue is _not_ my girlfriend!" the Pokémon Trainer yells hotly, though his flushed appearance seems to suggest otherwise. "We're just friends since childhood, that's all! It's like me and Green, Ethan, Dawn, Lucas, and everyone else. We're all just a big, happy bunch of friends, okay?!"

"If that's-a true, then-a why are you still blushing-a?" questions Luigi with a grin.

"Just… _Aarghhhhh!_ Stop it, will you?!"

Sora snorts loudly. "_Pfffft._ I think that's enough." He looks back to the paper. "The second question is for Sora. Hey, that's me! **'Why do you hate teleportation when it is the best way to escape alive?'** Oh, right," he says, lowering the paper. "Teleportation is really uncomfortable. And it always seems to catch me by surprise! Plus, it always seems like I'm attacked by someone right after a teleportation trip." He shudders. "_Ugh!_ I've seen lots of surprises before and I've been attacked who knows how many times, but…teleportation just doesn't call out to me."

"It's true that teleportation serves as one of the best ways to escape," says Fox, "but many things can go wrong during teleportation. For example, you may end up in the incorrect destination, and that is _not_ fun."

"Yeah, especially when your destination is the _Isle of the Ancients_!" Sora yells crossly.

"Speaking of which," Toon Link says, "what's it like there?"

"…You know what? I'll leave that for later. Next question! It's for Storm. **'Before they came…did you stay alone in your home?'**"

"Before the Smashers decided to crash my house, you mean?" the Author says with a funny look.

Snake and Sonic make sounds of indignation. "We didn't have a choice!" Sonic protests. "Blame it on Crazy Hand!"

"Blame _everything_ bad on Crazy Hand!" Snake corrects him.

"To answer _PikaLoverNYA_'s question—yes, I was alone and I'll be alone for a while," says Storm. "My parents are on a trip and my sister is at a friend's sleepover. I have the house all to myself, which is _extremely_ fortunate, considering the current circumstances…" She winks at Snake and Sonic.

Sora reads the next question. "This one's for Marth. **'What did you think after you met Lucina, your descendant?'**"

Marth looks at Lucina, who nervously brushes back her hair. "Well, to be fairly honest, I was already expecting her."

The navy-haired woman is surprised. "Is that so?"

"It was partly because of how successful _Fire Emblem: Awakening_ turned out to be," the Altean prince explains. "There just _had_ to be some representation in the new _Super Smash Bros._ game. And it was also because of the originally tiny number of characters from _Fire Emblem_. In _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_, there were only two Smashers—me and Ike—and one Assist Trophy."

"I see," Lucina says with a nod.

"I'm a little surprised at how calmly I took it in," Marth admits. "That was the first time I met her in person, and yet I remained composed, as did Lucina." He strides toward her and puts a hand on the swordswoman's shoulder, making her feel a little tense. "I did _not_ expect my descendant to look _this_ similar to me, however."

Lucina just chuckles into the palm of her hand.

"The fifth question is for Fox," announces Sora. "**'Did you forget Krystal? If not, what is your relationship with her?'**"

Fox blinks in astonishment. "Huh? Of course I didn't forget about her! And, uh…my relationship? …H-huh." He scratches the back of his head, his green eyes quickly averting from the other Smashers around him. "…Well, we're…good friends."

"Liar!" Sonic shouts. "Krystal is _definitely_ your girlfr—"

"Nooooooooo!" Fox dives on top of the hedgehog and flattens him. "Stop! She's a _friend_ who's a _girl_! Not a girlfriend! She's a _girl_…_friend_! Can't you understand the difference?!"

"Hey, Foxy-boy!" Snake calls out. "DI'd you know that the more you deny that a friend is a girlfriend or boyfriend, the more obvious it is that she or he _is_ your girlfriend or boyfriend?"

"Ughhh! I hate you all _so_ much!"

"The next question is for Mario…who isn't here."

"But his-a brother is-a!" Luigi pipes up. "I'll answer for him-a."

"Okay, that's cool! **'Did you forget that there are others who are ****_still_**** missing after the incident at the Olympics?'**"

The green plumber is shocked. "Mama mia, of-a course not-a! We're all fully aware that-a they're still out-a there somewhere!"

"It's mostly my fault," Storm interrupts. "I didn't mention them for more than twenty chapters. But please rest assured! They'll appear in Chapter 47."

Luigi breathes a sigh of relief. "_Whew…_ That's-a good to know."

"The last question is for Sonic!" Sora coughs loudly. "Ugh, my throat hurts from all the talking… **'I've heard that you have a new design for the upcoming ****_Sonic Boom_****, so what was your reaction?'**"

Sonic's ears twitch at the sound of the title of the new game. "Oh, yeah! _Sonic Boom_!" He taps his foot rapidly on the ground. "Yeah, I saw the character designs. I'm pretty cool with mine…but I think they stretched my legs quite a bit."

"Doesn't SEGA do that with practically every new game?" says Link. "Just look at how tall you've grown since the original _Sonic the Hedgehog_ released in 1991."

"True," Sonic agrees. "Also, I like the brown scarf and the sports tape—though I think they kinda overdid it with the tape. Maybe I should start wearing a scarf so I won't only wear shoes…" His eyes widen for a second. "Oh, and before I forget, I wanna talk about Knuckles' design in _Sonic Boom_." He jabs a finger at the puzzled reader. "_Yo!_ He may look a lot more beefed up, but that doesn't mean you can make him the subject of your unrelenting ridicule! Leave him alone, will ya? I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you do!"

"Wow, I'm _really_ glad I'm your friend," says King Dedede with a hearty laugh. "I wouldn't want to be the victim of your passionate, friend-related speeches."

"Well, I'm _really_ hoping that wasn't sarcasm, Triple-D."

Sora collapses and drops the paper. "Ughhh… We have _sooooo_ many questions this time…"

"Yep, and it'll definitely take us a while to finish them." Storm bends down and picks up the paper. "Here's a question from _Anthony627AA_…" She peers at the review. "…who apparently is very confused by the plot but believes it's still gripping. Don't worry, _Anthony627AA_! I'll make sure things are cleared up soon. So… Your question. **'How long will ****Life at the Mansion**** be, anyway?'**" The author folds her arms, thinking. "…Honestly…I'm not sure. There will _definitely_ be more than fifty chapters…and I think it'll go beyond sixty as well. I don't know if I can get it to a hundred chapters, which is something I'd like to do."

"Storm, your FanFiction profile says you're planning on writing a sequel," Lucina reminds her.

"Yeah, I know. Now I'm just wondering—should I start the sequel in the same fanfic, or should I start the sequel as an entirely new fanfic?"

"I prefer the latter," says Red. "Some people don't like incredibly long fanfics."

Kirby raises a stubby hand. "Hey, I wanna read the next question!"

Storm complies and gives the paper to him. The pink puffball takes it and reads the paper. "The next set of questions is from an anonymous reviewer called _Ckbrothers_. The first question reads, **'Which chapter was the one with the ExFEARispence or whatever?'**"

"Halloween _ExFEARience_," says Storm. "Chapter 33 and Chapter 34. The list of chapters says so, you know!"

"Second question reads, **'What's your favorite Smasher, both canon and non-canon and ones that you put in?'**"

"All non-canon Smashers are the ones I put in," says Storm with a wry smile. "Anyway…which Smasher is my favorite? Um…"

Snake's hand immediately shoots into the air.

"…Yeah. Snake. And Lucario. But he's not here."

"And he's still Ferron!" yells King Dedede.

"And he's about to kill us all!" Toon Link shrieks.

"And he's about to be deleted!" finishes Sonic.

Storm has a pained expression. "…Can we please move on to the next question?"

"Yes!" Kirby says, eager to change the subject. "**'What caused you to add in James McCloud?'**"

"Hmm, why did I add him…" Storm muses. Then she remembers something. "Oh, yeah! Before I added him, I was a bit of a _Star Fox_ fan. And when I'm a fan of some franchise, I tend to start adding characters from that franchise to this fanfic. Thus, I added James. But let me emphasize this." She stares at the reader, who nervously backs away. "I did _not_ plan to make James a villain. What originally started as a friendly family reunion later became a tangle of plot twists and betrayal, courtesy of that _stupid editor who keeps screwing around with my stuff_!" She finishes her sentence with an infuriated yell.

Kirby throws a glance at her, then hops a little farther from her. "I, uh…I think I'll just continue with the next question. **'Will you change N's Castle due to it becoming an actual stage, with Milotic instead of Kyurem?'**"

"Wait… N's Castle is an actual stage?!"

Luigi gives Storm a bored look. "…It's-a been known since-a July 31."

"…H-huh. Well. In that case…" Storm digs her iPhone out of her pocket and types something. "…Hmm. Life at the Mansion's version of N's Castle is the castle's interior, while the official stage is the _outside_ of the castle. Okay, then." She puts the phone away. "I'll change the stage, of course, but unless Sakurai-san reveals a Kyurem Poké Ball or an official Pokémon stage with Kyurem posing as a background character or stage hazard, I'm keeping Kyurem on the stage. If Reshiram and Zekrom appear, then why not give Kyurem a cameo as well? He _is_ part of their trio."

"That's pretty logical," says Sora in agreement.

"Next up. **'Will you have a new category for characters that appear only in Final Smashes, such as the other Mega Men and Chrom?'**"

"Very likely," Storm replies. "I'm thinking about adding a new category called Smasher Assistants or just Assistants or something like that, created solely for characters who appear only in a Smasher's Final Smash. It's gonna be a pretty tiny category, but…" She shrugs. "…oh, well."

"And that was _Ckbrothers_' last question." Kirby hands the paper to Lucina. "Here, you can have a turn."

"Thank you, Kirby." Lucina looks at the paper. "This set of questions was asked by _Naynay101_. The first question, which is for Link and Toon Link, reads, **'How would you react if Link (from the new _The Legend of Zelda Wii U_) were a girl?'**"

The two Hylians look at each other.

"Some people thought the Link in that trailer was female, right?" asks Toon Link.

Link nods. "Probably because of that ponytail and the slightly feminine appearance."

"If that Link had actually turned out to be a girl, I'd be kinda surprised!" Toon Link giggles loudly. "I've never thought about what would happen if one of the first Hero of Time's descendants was a _girl_!"

"Same here," says Link. "The thought of a female Hero of Time has never crossed my mind even once. I believe it would be a nice twist, though. Imagine a game with a female Link…"

"Oh, oh, oh, and instead of Princess Zelda, there's…uh…um…uh…" Toon Link racks his brain for a good name. "…Prince…Z…Z…" He gives up. "Some name that starts with a _Z_."

Link chuckles at the cartoon Hylian's failed attempts at finding a male name for the Princess of Hyrule. "Let's not think about that, Toon. What's the next question, Lucina?"

"This one is for…huh. Me. **'Just to let you know, my friend cannot pronounce your name.'**" Lucina smiles kindly. "Let me help you with that, _Naynay101_'s friend. Say it in three parts—loo-see-nuh. Now say it a little faster. Something like…Looseenuh. That's how you pronounce my name."

"Well, that was easy," Red remarks.

"The third question is for Snake. **'Is there something going on between you and Samus?'**"

As though Snake has already been expecting this inevitable question, he just sighs. "No," he answers.

Storm looks at him.

"…Not yet."

She facepalms.

Lucina senses the increasing awkwardness and quickly reads the next question. "The fourth question is for Snake and Sonic. **'Did you know hedgehogs eat snakes?'**"

Snake and Sonic exchange a look before the mercenary takes a giant step away from the hedgehog.

"I'm fully aware of that," he says, raising a brow in Sonic's direction.

The hedgehog waves his hands around, obviously panicked. "H-hey, I'm no ordinary hedgehog! I eat chili dogs, not snakes! And besides, you aren't a _real_ snake, so what's there to worry about?!"

"Hey, Snake," says Storm, "did you say, 'Something about that hedgehog rubs me the wrong way' to Colonel Campbell during that Codec conversation because you were thinking about how Sonic was a hedgehog and your code name was Snake?"

"That, and because he's from SEGA," the mercenary replies.

"Yo, watch it!" Sonic snaps. "SEGA rules!"

"I prefer Konami."

"That's 'cause you're, like, a Konami guy!"

"And _you_ like SEGA because you're a _SEGA_ guy."

"Well, I dunno about-a you guys-a, but I like-a Nintendo!" Luigi chimes in.

"Square Enix is the _coolest_!" brags Sora.

A robotic boy in a blue suit runs by and yells, "Capcom for the win!"

A yellow, spherical creature with a gaping mouth dashes past the Smashers in the opposite direction and counters, "Namco is better!"

There is a bout of silence.

"…That was Pac-Man just now, wasn't it?" Kirby asks timidly.

"I guess that confirms that he's gonna appear in this fanfic," says King Dedede contentedly.

Lucina glances at the paper. "The following question is for Storm… **'****If you could put _any_ character (anime, cartoon, etc.) in _Super Smash Bros._, who would you put?'**"

All of a sudden, Toon Link lets out a snort.

"Cartoon characters?" he exclaims. "So, like…characters like Bugs Bunny?"

"Ohhhhh, imagine if he were in _SSB_," Kirby joins in. "Standard special attack—throw a carrot?"

"Side special…Bunny Kick? Bunny Bash? Hm?"

"I dunno, but I know what his taunt is gonna be."

"What is it?"

"He pulls out a carrot, starts eating it, and says, 'What's up, doc?'"

The two Smashers burst into laughter. Storm just smiles and shakes her head at the sheer ridiculousness of having Bugs Bunny in a _Super Smash Bros._ game.

"In all seriousness, though," Fox says, "which character would you choose, Storm?"

Storm just stands there, pondering the strange question. "Hmm… Throwing an anime or cartoon character into _SSB_ just doesn't work. Let's face it—there is no way in heck that an anime or cartoon character will ever be implemented into an _SSB_ game…but if I really have to have an answer, I think I'd pick Eren Jaeger from _Attack on Titan_ or _Shingeki no Kyojin_ or whatever you guys want to call it. I've already seen fan-made announcement pictures of him that say things like 'Eren Jaeger Attacks on Smash!'"

"That is _so_ obviously a play on the title of the anime," says Sora, laughing.

"Most of his attacks would probably involve using his 3D Maneuver Gear. For his Final Smash, he'd turn into his Titan form…" Storm pauses for a moment. "…and because his Titan form is stark naked from head to toe, he'll never appear in an _SSB_ game. And he's an anime character, anyway."

"That was _Naynay101_'s last question," Lucina says. "Who's next?"

Luigi takes the paper. "Oh, me. Thanks-a. Here are seven questions asked-a by _Destiny Willowleaf_. First-a question regards-a the Olympian Smashers-a… **'Did we ever find out what happened to Olympic Smashers and characters?'**"

Storm and the Smashers exchange glances. Then Storm speaks.

"They're at the Isle of the Ancients," she says.

Everyone is shocked at how calmly she states this.

"S-S-Storm!" stammers Marth. "You're just giving away the information like that?!"

"What's the point of keeping quiet?" the Author asks. "I'm pretty sure some readers would've figured it out by now. Fox found Silver in the Isle of the Ancients in Chapter 38. It'd only make sense if all the other Olympians were there, too. After all, the Subspace Army currently has only one area of operation."

"What about the virtual Subspace inside the Brawl System at the Smash Mansion?" asks Fox.

"I haven't heard anything about that recently, you know," says Meta Knight. "Storm, was it fixed somehow?"

Storm is unsure. "That I can't say. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. You'll have to see for yourself."

The Smashers all groan in unison.

"Why do Authors always have to be so vague?" Sora complains.

"Uhhh…next-a question. **'****Do any of the ****Pokémon** find it odd that there are Legendary Pokémon **that aren't part of a duo/trio/leader of a duo and/or trio?'**"

King Dedede lifts a hand. "Hold up. Can you repeat that? You lost me at 'trio.'"

Luigi repeats the question, this time speaking a little more slowly.

"But there aren't any Pokémon here," Toon Link points out. "How can we answer that question?"

Storm's eyes brighten, and she takes out her iPhone again. "Let me try something." She types something, her thumbs moving rapidly. Right after she taps, the Enter key, a large, glowing figure appears before her. The light quickly fades away to reveal a black, canid Pokémon with red hair and claws and cyan eyes.

"Hey, it worked!" Storm cries triumphantly.

"Ahhh," says Snake with a dramatic sigh. "The perks of being an Author."

Fox punches him to shut him up.

"Hi, Zoroark," Storm greets the Illusion Pokémon. "I summoned you here because an Author named _Destiny Willowleaf_ has a question regarding the Pokémon."

Zoroark nods understandingly. "Fire away."

Luigi reads _Destiny Willowleaf_'s question to him.

"No, that's not odd at all," says Zoroark. "On the contrary, it's perfectly normal. There are many independent Legends who do things on their own and have no relation to other Legends, like Shaymin, Victini, and Diancie." His eyes shift to the side. "Strangely enough, all the independent Legends are…_cute_…"

A Hyper Beam fires down on him. He sidesteps it and it hits Kirby instead.

_"Kyahhhhhhh!"_ he screams as he flies away into the distance.

Zoroark looks up to a red and blue Pokémon with two pairs of tentacles and a very irritated look on his face hovering above him. "I didn't mean _you_, Deoxys."

Deoxys sounds annoyed as he says telepathically, _"You said _all_ the independent Legends were __cute."_

"I meant to say 'most.'"

_"It's far too late for that, isn't it?"_

Another Pokémon appears next to the DNA Pokémon. This one has a armored, purple-colored body, bulging red eyes, and a cannon on his back.

_"We don't look all that cute now, do we?"_ says Genesect, looking at Deoxys.

_"I'd rather we not look cute,"_ the other Legend replies.

"I think you guys are badass, okay?" Red calls from down below. "Zoroark made an honest mistake."

A third Pokémon that looks like a white dog with a green mohawk and paws and two red petals on his neck lands on Genesect's head. _"C'mon, guys,"_ whines Shaymin. _"We need to let them finish their Q&A!"_

All three Legendary Pokémon immediately vanish. Luigi blinks, shrugs, and reads the next question.

"Okay, here's-a the next one-a. It's-a for Storm-a. **'If you could pick any unconfirmed character to appear/reappear in _Smash 4_, who would it be (even if the character has a 0% chance of getting in)?'**"

Snake's hand shoots up again.

"Exactly," Storm confirms.

"I don't get it," Snake grumbles as he lowers his hand. "So far, _SSBU_ has characters from Nintendo, SEGA, Capcom, and Namco. What happened to Konami?"

"Maybe Kojima-san is too busy to work with Sakurai-san at the moment because he's got _MGSV: The Phantom Pain_ to work on," suggests Storm. "You know how big and important that game is."

"Mmm. Sure. But still…it's a bit _odd_, don't you think? Sakurai-san hasn't said _anything_ about Konami things in _SSBU_. Hell, even _Ubisoft_ gets a cameo!"

"Oh, right, the Rayman trophy," Zoroark remembers.

"As for new characters," Storm says, turning back to the reader, "I'd really like it if Tetra from _The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker_ or Vaati from _The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap_. _SSB_ needs more cartoony characters… Toon Link just isn't enough. Why not add Tetra? Or Vaati? Or _both_?"

"You _do_ realize that the _SSBU_ roster would have _seven_ characters from _The Legend of Zelda_ if that were to happen, do you?" asks Sora.

"I do. That's why Tetra and Vaati have _extremely_ tiny chances of becoming Smashers. At most, they'd become Assist Trophies."

"Ah."

"I think Shulk from _Xenoblade Chronicles_ would work very well, too," Storm continues. "He just seems like the type of fighter who'd fit into the environment of _SSB_."

"I heard he's in high demand," says Red. "You can find people asking for Shulk to be added just about anywhere."

"Oh, and Ness and Lucas!" Storm clenches her fist. "Bring back some _Mother_ stuff! I know nothing about Ness and Lucas' game series, but they're a couple of really cool Smashers. There are even more people asking Sakurai-san to bring them back to the fourth game." She takes a deep breath. "Okay, that's good enough. Luigi, what's the next question?"

"Umm…this-a one's for the Pop Star Smashers-a. It's-a not really a question-a; it's more like a…message or something-a."

Kirby, who has mysteriously returned to this chapter after being blasted away by Deoxys' Hyper Beam, instantly gets excited. "Ooooh! Read it! Read it! What is it?!"

"…You might-a not like it-a."

"Read it anyway!"

"Uhhh…okay… **'Surprise! Nightmare is now in _Smash 4_ as an Assist Trophy!'**"

The three Pop Star Smashers are silent.

Then there is an explosion.

_"WHAAAAAAAAT?!"_ Kirby shrieks so loudly that the reader's computer screen nearly shatters. "NIGHTMARE? _THE_ NIGHTMARE?! MASAHIRO SAKURAI, HOW COULD YOUUUUUU?!"

"I told you that you wouldn't like it," mutters Luigi.

"Sakurai's the creator of the _SSB_ franchise as well as the _Kirby_ series!" King Dedede yells angrily, bringing out his giant hammer and swinging it wildly. "And yet he made our biggest enemy an _Assist Trophy_! He's outta his mind, I tell ya!"

Meta Knight just puts his hand over his mask.

Snake and Red quickly step forward and escort Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede out of the reader's sight to avoid causing a scene. Luigi just shrugs nonchalantly and reads the next question.

"**'As of now, how many times has Darkrai said "You're excused"?'**"

"He said it six times successfully," Storm immediately answers, "five times halfway, and didn't get a chance to say it at all four times."

The Smashers are shocked.

"How do you know?!" yells Fox.

"Control F."

"…Excuse me?"

Darkrai pops out of nowhere and opens his mouth. Storm stares at him with intense brown eyes.

"How about _no_," she tells him quietly but firmly.

The Legend gives her a look of irritation that says something along the lines of either "you're no fun" or "I am going to kill you in your sleep" before exiting the area.

"And that makes it five times unable to say 'you're excused' at all," the Author says with a grin.

"Mm-hmm!" Luigi says, chuckling. "Okay, next-a. Huh? Here's a tip for…Peach-a."

"Oh, no," mutters Marth. "She's still missing, isn't she?"

"At the Isle of the Ancients," confirms Storm. "We'll rescue her sooner or later."

As Snake, Red, Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede make their way back to the stage, Luigi stammers, "…A-anyway-a…this thing says, **'If you're sick of Kirby eating up all the pies, then bake Belly Buster's pies! He'd _never_ eat those!'**" The green plumber is baffled. "Belly Buster? Who's that?"

Storm recognizes the name after a moment of thought. "Oh, right! He's an enemy character from _Kirby: Right Back At Ya!_, which is an anime series based on the _Kirby_ video games. Belly Buster is a pie monster—"

Toon Link, Sonic, and Sora crack up.

"—who attacks his enemies by launching really disgusting pies at them. They taste so bad that even _Kirby_ couldn't handle them!" Storm laughs. "That episode was the only episode in which Meta Knight gets hit by something and makes it look funny."

Meta Knight feels a little miffed at this. "Is that so…"

Kirby waves his stubby arms. "I'll just remember to avoid Peach's pies, then!"

"She could just bake any other pastry using Belly Buster's, uh, methods of baking," Storm points out.

"Ha! Then I'll just avoid _everything_!"

"I'd like to see how long you can do _that_," King Dedede says with a loud snicker.

"_Destiny Willowleaf_ has one last request," Luigi announces.

Storm looks over his shoulder and reads the seventh sentence.

"Hmm… How about we save that for the end, Luigi?" she says with a grin.

The green plumber nods. "Yeah, that would-a probably work out-a better. Onward!" He gives the paper to Meta Knight.

"Thanks, Luigi." The masked knight clears his throat several times. "Here are two questions from a reviewer called _SakuraDreamerz_. Her first question reads, **'Does anyone know when Pikachu may return?'**"

"That's a mystery," answers Storm.

Zoroark is peeved. "Isn't _everything_ a mystery?"

"Unless you're an Author, then yes."

The Pokémon facepalms.

"The second question is, **'If the twelve new Smashers were stuck in an anime world of their choosing, what would it be?'**"

Everyone turns to face Lucina, who is the only newcomer present at the moment. She puts a hand on her chin.

"I would probably choose _Sword Art Online_," she says. "I'm sorry if I'm biased toward animes with swords, but it _is_ a good place."

"I like _SAO_, too," Storm says approvingly. "The first season was really cool. The second season… Eh, I'm not sure. I haven't started on the third season yet."

"The next review is from an anonymous reader called _Guest_, but it's signed _AceTrainerLiz_, so I'll just assume that's the name she uses when reviewing," says Meta Knight. He looks at the review—and bursts out laughing.

"Oh, what now?" Marth demands.

"The question is…**'Do you watch _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_?'**"

Storm stands there, unmoving. Then she slowly raises her hands in a "are you kidding me" manner.

_"What?"_ is all she says.

"**'If you do, who is your favorite pony?'**"

"…Well…" Storm shoots several glares at the reader and Smashers, who are not doing a very good job at hiding their smiles and giggles. "…I don't watch the show, but I like whatshername the best. The tomboyish one. Rainbow Dash, I think her name was." She puts her hands over her face. "Oh, God. Meta Knight, just…get on with it, will ya?!"

"Gladly." The knight chuckles several more times before continuing with _AceTrainerLiz_'s next question. "**'Any plans for turning Lucario back to normal?'**"

"As stated previously," Kirby yells, "_yes_, he'll be restored—somehow, someday!"

"What he said!" Storm adds.

"Going on. It's the last reviewer. Who's next?"

Snake takes the paper. "…Oh? Hey. It's _TongueTwisted_ again."

"Maybe the review for Chapter 44 _wasn't_ intended to be his submission for the Q&A!" says Toon Link.

"Well, that doesn't really matter. Let's get on with it. **'Who the****…**'" Snake makes a face and holds up a sign that says "CENSORED" in bright red letters before tossing it aside and going on, "**'****…is Star Aurastorm? Like****…origin? Backstory stuff?****'**"

"To be revealed in Chapter 47!" Zoroark proclaims.

"Actually, not in Chapter 47," Storm corrects him. "But it'll be revealed sometime."

"**'Is Pikachu/Zane going to be gone for the rest of the fanfic?'**"

"I hope not," Storm says simply.

The Smashers wait for more. But the Author says nothing.

"…Gee, that's helpful," King Dedede mumbles.

"**'Is Storm (the Author with a capital _A_)****—'**"

Storm smirks at this.

"**'****—stressed over all the new characters that have been announced?'**"

"Let's just say I didn't expect there to be _this_ many newcomers," she answers. "Now I kind of regret adding the non-canon Smashers…"

"The Smash Mansion _is_ starting to feel a bit stuffy," says Link, nodding.

"Speaking of non-canon characters," Snake says, "**'Are you going to add any more non-canon characters?'**"

"Definitely not! 'Nuff said!"

"There's your answer. **'Which new character to be introduced in _SSB4_ are you most excited for?'**"

"As I mentioned before, the Mii Fighters. I guess I'm also looking forward to Greninja and Palutena, too… Then again, I'm pretty excited for all the newcomers."

"Last question. **'How different is being deleted from death?'**"

"For starters, the deleting process is called Erasing, similar to what happens if you don't complete a mission in _The World Ends With You_," says Storm. "Okay… As you all know, Pikachu was Erased by Star. Now he's gone. When you die, you're gone, right?"

"Uh-huh," Sonic says.

"But here's the thing… When you die, you're not _really_ gone. But when you're Erased, you are."

"…Huh?"

"More information will be revealed in Chapter 47 or 48," Storm concludes hurriedly.

"There's one more question. This one is from _13DiamondPython13_, who apparently understands German. Or something like that. **'Do you like trains?'**"

Kirby leaps onto King Dedede's head and yells, _"I LIKE TRAINS!"_

A train whooshes by, nearly flattening the two Pop Star Smashers.

Storm grins. "We should do something about that song next time."

Kirby stops dancing on King Dedede's head and frowns. "Why next time?"

"Well, uh, we kind of already got a song request."

The pink puffball is crestfallen. "Oh… Okay."

Snake throws the paper in the air. "Yes! We're done!"

"Nope-a! We're not-a!"

Luigi picks up the paper, while Storm takes out her iPhone and goes on YouTube.

"Remember, we still have to do _Destiny Willowleaf_'s last request!" she exclaims. "And now…"

Luigi reads the last line of _Destiny Willowleaf_'s review for Chapter 45.

"**'EVERYBODY DO THE FLOP!'**" he yells.

He is met with blank stares.

"…The what?" asks Lucina.

At that moment, a white-colored guy wearing a white top hat and white Ray-Ban sunglasses zooms onto the stage.

_"EverybodydotheFlop!"_ he declares, speaking so fast that the words are slurred. Then he falls on his face.

Kirby, King Dedede, Sonic, and Toon Link suddenly realize what is about to happen. Storm turns up the volume on her phone and plays a song. Fast-paced, rhythmical rock music explodes from the phone, and the guy with the top hat and sunglasses gets back up and begins to sing.

_"The Do the Flop guy liked to dance all the time  
>"But he couldn't do it right no matter how hard he tried<br>"He had two left feet from an accident at birth  
>And every time he danced he always flopped face-first!"<em>

The DTF guy does exactly what the last line states.

_"But then one day as he jumped in the air  
>"Everybody turned and looked and they pointed at they stared<br>"He had a bright idea right before he hit the floor  
>"He shouted<em>_—"  
><em>

_"'Everybody do the Flop!'"_ holler Luigi, King Dedede, and Toon Link.

_"A new dance craze was born!"_ Kirby, Sonic, and Storm cheer. Then they fall onto their faces.

The DTF guy, Luigi, King Dedede, Toon Link, Kirby Sonic, and Storm wave their hands around.

_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
>"Do, do, do the Flop!<br>"Everybody do the Flooop!"_

Zoroark grins and pushes Fox onto the stage, and they dance with the DTF guy, Luigi, King Dedede, Toon Link, Kirby, Sonic, and Storm.

_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
>"Do, do, do the Flop!<br>"Everybody do__—__the__—Floooop!"_

They land on the ground face-first.

_WHOMP._

Turning to Link, Meta Knight, Marth, and Lucina, Snake asks, "What the hell is going on?"

"…I have absolutely no idea," Link weakly replies.

Meta Knight is faintly interested.

Marth continues to stare at the scene.

Lucina tries not to giggle.

The reader just looks amused as the DTF guy begins to sing again.

_"The Do the Flop guy was a viral sensation  
>"Everybody did the Flop across the whole nation<br>"He was front page news with his new dance move  
>"Everyone wanted to be in his new dance crew."<em>

Sonic flops onto the ground, just as Fox starts singing.

_"But then one day, things started going wrong  
>"When a Flop concert was interrupted by a bomb!"<em>

As if on cue, a bomb slips out of one of Toon Link's invisible infinite pockets and explodes in Zoroark's face.

_"He said, 'Please stop,' but no matter what he tried  
>"There was no stopping now for the Do the Flop guy!"<em>

Kirby falls flat on his face.

Sora taps his foot to the catchy beat. Before he even knows what has happened, Red has already dragged him onto the stage.

_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
><em>_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
><em>_"Everybody do the Floooop!"_

Toon Link wiggles his arms, screaming the chorus with everyone else.

_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
>"Do, do, do the Flop!<br>"Everybody do__—__the__—Floooop!"_

_WHOMP._

"C'mon, what're you waiting for?!" King Dedede bellows to Link, Marth, Lucina, Meta Knight, and Snake.

Link is starting to smile. Snake adjusts his bandana.

_"The Do the Flop guy had to start a new trend  
>"'Cause the Flop might cause the whole world to end<br>"He had to stop people from flopping on their faces  
>"He tried to invent a new dance sensation."<em>

The DTF guy steps forward.

_"Everybody do the Don't Fall Down!"_ he commands.

Storm and the Smashers stare at him.

_"Everybody do the Stay In Place!"_

Kirby gives him a poker face.

_"Everybody do the Standing Up!"_

Luigi gives him a Luigi Death Stare.

_"Everybody _don't_ do the Floooop!"_

The Smashers look at each other.

_"Everybody do the Don't Fall Down!"_

The DTF guy points at Storm's feet as King Dedede cries, _"Keep your feet on the ground!"_

_"Everybody do the Stay In Place!"_

The DTF guy shows everyone a Before-and-After poster of the results of doing the Flop. Meanwhile, Zoroark sings, _"Please don't break your face!"_

_"Everybody do the Standing Up!"_

The DTF guy pops up in Red's face and orders, _"Don't even put your hands up!"_ Then he slides back to the center of the stage and announces:

_"Everybody _DON'T_ do the Floooop!"_

The Smashers look at each other again_—_and flop onto the ground.

_WHOMP._

Link and Snake step onto the stage and sing the next verses.

_"The Do the Flop guy couldn't make them all stop  
>"They didn't like the new moves as much as the Flop<br>"They tuned him out, and they all turned their backs  
>"Yeah, they left him behind and they called him a hack!"<em>

"HACK!" Toon Link shrieks at the forlorn DTF guy.

Storm opens her mouth.

_"The Do the Flop guy had nothing left to prove  
>"There was only one thing that he knew how to do<br>"It was in his blood, call it destiny or fate  
>"He shouted, 'Everybody do the Flop!' and the earth began to <em>shake_!"_

_WHOMP._

Before they even realize what they are doing, Marth, Lucina, and Meta Knight find themselves dancing and flopping with Storm, the other Smashers, and the DTF guy.

_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
><em>_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
><em>_"Everybody do the Floooop!"_

Everyone jiggles their arms with the DTF guy.

_"Do, do, do the Flop!  
>"Do, do, do the Flop!<br>"Everybody do__—__the__—Floooop!"_

_WHOMP._

_"Do, do, do the Flop!"_

Kirby, Sonic, and Sora leap into the air while chanting, _"Everybody do the Flop!"_

_"Do, do, do the Flop!"_

Storm, Marth, and Snake spring up after the other three Smashers, striking weirdly photogenic poses in midair and yelling, _"Everybody do the Flop!"_

_"Do, do, do the Flop!"_

A random train and airplane flop onto the ground, narrowly missing Luigi and Red, who sing, _"Everybody do the Flop!"_

_"EVERYBODY DO__—__THE__—_FLOOOOOOP_‼"_

Out of nowhere, Aurastar, Star Aurastorm, Liquid Snake, AntiSora, Tabuu, Primids 0001 and 0002, James McCloud, SilverEXE, Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Cloud Strife, Bowser, Metal Sonic, Jet the Hawk, Ridley, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Ike Greil, Yoshi, Arden the Villager, Mega Man, the Wii Fit Trainer, the Mii Fighters, Robin, Mr. Game & Watch, Rayquaza, Darkrai, Cresselia, Klonoa, Gantz, Amaterasu, Chibiterasu, Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and everyone else in Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace abruptly appear on the stage and flop down with Storm, Luigi, Kirby, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Fox, Red, Zoroark, Sora, Link, Toon Link, Sonic, Marth, Lucina, and the DTF guy, creating a miniature earthquake that shakes the reader's computer.

**_WHOMP_‼__**_  
><em>

The music blasting away on Storm's iPhone fades away. As two Waddle Dees draw the curtains to a close, Storm jumps back to her feet and waves to the reader.

"That's all for the Q&A chapter!" she shouts. "Thank you for all your questions, and thank you for reading this extremely hectic chapter! See you all later in Chapter 47, which may or may not come out after three months or so, and REMEMBER TO _LEAVE A DAMN __REVIEW_!"

Then she returns to the pile of Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, guests, newcomers, and villains and promptly flops onto the ground face-first.

_Whomp._


	47. SPECIAL — Hsamsville Halloween — Part I

**_…This chapter was supposed to be posted three days ago._**

**_And I wasn't lying when I said I'd be gone for three or four months._**

**_Anyway, it's that time of the year again—All Hallow E'en! …Also known as Halloween._**

**_Now let me make one thing clear: Because this is a SPECIAL chapter, the events that occur here will _NOT_ affect the plot of this fanfic, nor do they have _any_ relation with previous canon chapters! Events that take place in special chapters are _COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT_._**

**_Here, read this list:_**

**- Smashers such as Peach, Diddy Kong, Lucario, Pikachu _will_ appear in special chapters, even though they're trapped somewhere, stuck as a bad guy, or Erased as of the most recent plot-related chapter. This means things will go along as though Crazy Hand had never blasted some Smash Mansion residents into the Author of this fanfic's house.**

**- Non-canon Smashers like Cloud Strife, Sora, and Zoroark will _not_ appear in specials. This also applies to non-canon villains like AntiSora, James McCloud, and Liquid Snake…_UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED_. Like in this chapter.**

**- The only characters who _may_ appear in special chapters despite not being canon characters are Aurastar (the Author's avatar), Star Aurastorm, and old Smashers like Roy. Storm Aurastar herself may not appear as much because Aurastar often represents her—hence the term "avatar."**

**- In canon chapters, characters may mention events that occurred in special chapters. However, this won't affect the plot that much…_UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED_. Like in this chapter. Sort of.**

**_…And that's all there is to it._**

**Marth:** Hold on! I _clearly_ remember you telling the reader in Chapter 46 that you'd talk a bit more about being Erased in Chapter 47!

**_Well, I never expected Halloween to come so soon, so…you gotta wait until Chapter 49, I guess._**

**Marth:** _*disappointed*_ …Sheesh.

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything here!**

* * *

><p><strong><em>SPECIAL<em> — Chapter 47: Hsamsville Halloween – Part I**

* * *

><p><em>"Four villages, one unknown,<br>"Entrance to which mishap is prone.  
>"The more of you, the more the foe.<br>"As above, so below."_

-ooo-

There are many little towns spread throughout the world of those called Villagers—towns that vary vastly in both appearance and content. Most villages, like the renowned Animal Crossing from which the Villager named Arden hails, are simple but exciting places that host contests and holiday events every year. The Villagers spend each day fishing, catching bugs, chatting with each other, taking trips to the city, and struggling to find ways to pay off their looming mortgage.

However, there is also a handful of lesser known villages that harbor some dark secrets…

Aika Village—where a little girl had committed suicide after failing to gain the love of her mother, leaving behind nothing but a pair of shoes by the sea, scribbled-out drawings of her once happy family, and a doll with an axe.

Hitokui Village—a village whose seemingly pleasant environment easily lured in unsuspecting newcomers who, in the darkness of midnight, were quickly killed off and used for some rather…unusual dishes.

Shachipanda Village—the site of a gruesome mass murder in which the killer mercilessly decapitated each of his unfortunate victims and stashed the headless bodies away in the basement of an old, decrepit house.

Diablo Town—where a doll was said to have come to life one night and brutally murdered an artist, leaving his painting of a scene of a red-clothed girl in a dark forest forever incomplete.

And there is another town—one that, instead of echoing of stories of suicide, homicide, or other psychological horrors like the aforementioned four villages, contains the people whom the Super Smash Brothers fear most…

-ooo-

Arden the Villager and the Wii Fit Trainer were sitting on the front steps of the Smash Mansion.

_"Ahhhhh!"_ Arden sighed, raising his arms. "This wind is so crisp and refreshing! That's why fall is my favorite season."

"Mine, too," agreed Trainer. "The weather conditions in the fall are ideal for jogging. You won't feel too hot or too cold."

"Oh, of course. You're the only one here who'd associate seasons with _exercise_!"

Trainer laughed. "I'm a fitness freak. What did you expect?" She got onto her feet. "You know, I think I'll go out for a half-hour jog right now. Are you in?"

"Oh! Uh…" Arden made a face. "…I think I'll pass."

"Why? You think you already do a lot of running?"

"Sure, I do a lot of running." Arden paused, then grinned sheepishly. "…Running _errands_, that is."

Trainer scoffed at this. "Oh, please," she said. "Come on. If you come running with me, I'll let you take my Brawl spot tomorrow while I take yours scheduled for next week."

Arden's expression brightened considerably. "So…I get to beat up Mario? It's a deal!" he yelled, shaking Trainer's hand.

The brown-haired woman just smiled. "Okay. We're going to jog through Dusk Forest. Since it appears that Pit, Charizard, and Greninja haven't seen any funny things yet, I'm going to assume that everything has been normal so far."

After the ordeal with the Halloween ExFEARience last year, the Smashers decided to run things a bit differently this time. When October 29 rolled in, they asked the animals and wild Pokémon living in Dusk Forest to keep their eyes open for any unwanted visitors, particularly a boy whose first name started with an _S_ and ended with an _R_. At night on October 30, Lucario **_(1)_** and Shulk **_(2)_** went to the forest to do some overnight sentry duty; they returned to the Smash Mansion at seven in the morning with bags under their eyes and apparently had nothing to report because they fell asleep right then and there on the front porch. Today, Pit and Charizard took over, watching from above the forest, while Greninja utilized his ninja prowess to stealthily scout from the closely intertwined branches of the trees. So far, none of them had found anything paranormal, which Trainer took as a good sign.

"Let's not waste time," she said. "Okay, let's warm up with some lunges…"

Because today was Halloween, the Smashers were bustling around the Smash Mansion, setting up decorations, searching for candy, and—in Peach and Zelda's cases—baking multiple batches of cookies in case the mansion ran out of candy for the costumed kids who would start ringing the doorbell starting at around six PM. The kid Smashers, in the meantime, were talking about their costumes and boasting to each other how cool or creative his or hers was.

"I'm gonna be a train conductor! It's a reference to _The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks_!"

"Cool! Nana and I are going to be Shiro and Sora from _No Game No Life_!"

"That anime? …Aren't you guys a bit short for that?"

"HEY!"

"Ha, anime? _Borrrrring._ No one can beat _my_ costume! I'm dressing up as…a _samurai_!"

"…A Pikachu samurai?"

"Yeah! It's gonna be _great_! I'll be waving around a couple of daggers and wearing a furry orange jacket and this blue bandana with the symbol of the Leaf Clan and—"

"Pikachu, I think you're talking about _Naruto Shippuden_. It's about ninjas, not samurai."

"…Close enough?"

"No."

"Oh."

The adults who unknowingly took part in Star Aurastorm's plan last year were feeling a little paranoid about dressing up this time.

"I'm not being anything this year," announced Falco Lombardi. "No more Simon 'Ghost' Riley-ing for me this time!"

Fox McCloud nudged him. "But no one said Star would be coming around again. I think he learned his lesson."

"We can't rely on Storm Aurastar all the time," Wolf O'Donnell told the fox. "As usual, I'm not dressing up. And this time, I have a legitimate reason."

Fox looked disappointed. "Aw, c'mon, guys!" he cried. "At least we're prepared this time! We can show that bastard what we've got!"

"None of us knows the extent of his abilities," argued Wolf. "We already know he can change us into whatever we're dressed up on Halloween. What if he can make the costumes come to life and murder us in our sleep?"

"Like I said, Wolf…" Fox widened his eyes dramatically. "We. Are. _Prepared!_"

Falco was faintly irritated. "Calm down, Foxy."

"Hey!" snapped Fox. "Don't call me that!"

"What…Foxy? Something wrong with that?"

"It's the name of one of the animatronics in _Five Nights at Freddy's_. **_(3)_** Of _course_ there's something wrong with that! I _hate_ that game! It's chock-full of jump-scares and that sort of crap!"

Wolf slapped the panicking fox on his back. "Yo," he said placidly. "Calm yourself."

"Oh, sure, but—"

At that moment, a pelican with a mailbag slung over his shoulder appeared. He would have entered the living room if it hadn't been for the nearly invisible window.

_CRASH!_

"Hey, the window held!" exclaimed Fox, completely ignoring the pelican who lay on the ground outside, dazed by the collision.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I switched out the old window for a window made of reinforced glass!" Wolf added, disregarding the pelican as well.

Only Falco seemed to be aware that a pelican had just crashed into the window the window. He sighed at his friends' obliviousness and opened the window. "Hey, buddy!" he called. "You all right?"

The pelican shook his head several times and groped for his green cap. "I think so… Now where's my—ah!" Once he found the cap, he fixed it on his head and jumped onto his feet. After brushing off the dirt and dust on his green uniform, he saluted to Falco, who recognized him.

"Well, if it isn't good ol' Pete!" the avian Smasher said. "How are you?"

Pete was a pelican who came from Animal Crossing and was good friends with Arden the Villager. His job as a mailman—or, to be more precise, mailbird—was to fly from town to town, delivering mail. He was also very good friends with Pelly and Phyllis, two pelican sisters who ran the Animal Crossing postal office and town hall. Several people hinted that a romance was blooming between Pete and one of the sisters.

The Smashers knew that Pete usually didn't deliver mail to Smashville, as the job was covered by the town's legion of Koopa Troopas and Waddle Dees. Pete's presence could only mean that he had something extremely important for the Smashers.

"I'm fine, thanks. But I got some big news for you all," the pelican said, reaching for his mailbag, "and it sounds kinda bad. Check this out!" He pulled out a newspaper that appeared to have gone into a rainstorm and back, and he handed the wrinkled, fading paper to Falco. "Second page."

The Smasher flipped to the said page and found a headline near the bottom of the page.

_"SMASHVILLE DISAPPEARANCE,"_ it proclaimed. _"PRE-HALLOWEEN OMEN?"_

Falco felt a little worried. "A disappearance? Why didn't anyone hear of it?"

"I've no idea," answered Pete. "That's another thing I find pretty funny. How did the writer of this article find out about the disappearance before the Super Smash Brothers?"

Unable to answer the pelican's question, Falco decided aloud to read the short article.

_"Two hours ago, a Smashvillian mysteriously vanished from his home in Smashville. No one knows how or why he disappeared. An informant who wishes to remain anonymous believes the Smashvillian was last seen entering Dusk Forest. If anyone has any information, please begin by informing the Super Smash Brothers. Then instruct them—all of them—to begin traveling to the center of Dusk Forest at once."_

Frowning, Falco handed the newspaper back to Pete. "If ya ask me, it sounds pretty suspicious. The disappearance occurred just 'two hours ago,' before this article was written? That's _ridonkulously_ fast. And the article tells people to tell _all_ the Smashers to go to the forest… It's like the writer knows everything already. Who _is_ the writer, anyway?"

"Anonymous," said Pete. "He didn't even leave some initials."

_I smell a rotten egg,_ thought Falco, narrowing his cerulean eyes. _And it stinks of a kid whose initials are _S_ and _A_…_

"I gotta get going now," Pete announced, throwing the wrinkled newspaper back into his mailbag. "I wish you best of luck in solving this mystery!" He flapped his wings, lifted into the air, and wheeled around the mansion and was gone.

Fox and Wolf were still admiring and discussing the strength of the new windows of reinforced glass. Falco threw an exasperated glance at them before turning away and staring up at the overcast sky.

_It's that time of the year again… Does _something_ bad always have to happen to us?_

-ooo-

Kirby reached for one of the cookies.

"Noooooo, Kirby! Those aren't for you!" Sonic zipped by and snatched the cookie jar off the table, and Kirby's cookie out of his stubby hands. "We're saving 'em up for the lil' creeps who're coming here at around six o'clock!"

The pink puffball, slightly startled to discover that his cookie had vanished, gave the blue hedgehog an annoyed look. "Peach and Zelda can always bake some more, can't they?"

"Let's not hassle them even more," said Sonic sensibly. The jar of cookies was tucked under his arm, while Kirby's cookie was in his right hand. "They were up all night making and baking stuff."

"But I'm so hungryyyyyy," Kirby whined petulantly.

"You always are. Deal with it the way Yoshi is dealing with it."

The said dinosaur crawled past the kitchen, holding his rumbling stomach. Kirby and Sonic stared after him.

"…You know, if you ask me, he looks like he's suffering a lot," Kirby spoke up.

"It'll be worth it," Sonic replied. "Man, I can't wait to see what's in store at night! Speaking of which, are you planning on dressing up for Halloween?"

"I'm a bit unsure…"

The hedgehog nodded in understanding. "Still feeling a bit iffy after the ExFEARience and all, yeah?"

"Of course," the pink puffball answered. "I don't want Star Aurastorm to do stupid things to us again."

Sonic set the cookie jar on the counter before heading over to the fridge to search for some Lon Lon Milk. He then remembered that the mansion had run out of the Milk yesterday because of Link and Toon Link, so he just sighed and walked back to Kirby—only to find that the puffball had vanished from the kitchen…

…along with the cookie jar.

_"KIRBY!"_

-ooo-

The sunlight that shone down on the single path that cut through Dusk Forest was just beginning to weaken. Trainer ran on, however, because she knew that she and Arden were getting close to the center of the dense forest.

"C'mon, Arden! We're nearly there!"

While Trainer had been effortlessly jogging the entire way, Arden was huffing and puffing as he tried to keep up with his companion.

"_Hahhh…_ _Hahhh…_ Please…slow down…!"

Trainer turned around and ran backwards so she could get a good look at the Villager. "Here's a tip, Arden," she called to him. "Don't inhale _and_ exhale through your mouth. Inhale through your nose, then exhale through your mouth. And try not to pant! If you do, you'll start feeling like you have to puke!"

Arden followed her instructions and sped up just a little so he could run alongside her. "_Hahh…_ _Hah…_ Hey… I think it helps!"

Trainer grinned. "Glad to know that! And hey…there's our destination."

She and the Villager ran into the clearing and slowed down before coming to a complete stop. Arden slumped onto the dirt and lay there face-up, his small chest heaving.

"…Wait," he said. He was just beginning to make out his surroundings. "Where's the rock?"

Dusk Forest's center was marked by a giant boulder with the words _DUSK FOREST CENTER_ carved onto its surface. For some odd reason, the stone was nowhere to be seen.

Trainer looked around nervously. "…That's strange," she said after a moment of hesitation. "How could a giant rock like that just vanish into midair?"

Arden sat up and pointed ahead, his eye wide. "Look at _that_!"

In the very middle of the clearing was a single gravestone. It was completely enveloped in shadow, giving it a rather creepy appearance. Arden watched as Trainer cautiously approached the gravestone and examined it.

"It looks pretty old," she remarked, observing the wears and cracks on the stone. "The funny thing is that today's Halloween. Coincidence?"

"Maybe someone removed the boulder so he could put this gravestone here," Arden suggested. "Nice Halloween decor, I gotta say. And look there!" He pointed at the gravestone's face. "What's it say here?"

"Read it out loud for both of us to hear," Trainer suggested.

Arden cleared his throat several times and read the inscription.

_"Four villages, one unknown,  
>"Entrance to which mishap is prone.<br>"The more of you, the more the foe.  
>"As above, so below."<em>

The Villager concluded this passage in a hushed voice. The moment he finished, an unsettling chill in the air seemed to fill the area. Arden gulped and shivered uncomfortably.

"'As above, so below'… Weird. And that poem was…pretty…scary."

Trainer thought so, too, but she refused to admit it. Instead, she simply said, "Let's go back."

She turned and ran from the gravestone and toward the beginning of the path—

_Crash!_

"Ow!" she shouted when an invisible force knocked her onto the ground. "What in the world…?!"

Arden raced past her. Within seconds, he found himself on the ground as well.

"There's some sort of force field in the way!" he exclaimed. "It wasn't there before!" He brought out his axe and, swinging wildly in all directions, attempted to chop down the unseen barrier. The axe glanced off the barrier and flew out of Arden's hands. "I can't even cut it down!"

Trainer got back onto her feet and jabbed forward. Her hand made contact with an invisible force and left her wincing in pain. Arden looked from her to the space before him, trembling.

"…This…is pretty bad."

-ooo-

Pit cut through the air as smoothly as a shark cuts through water, his wings folded behind his back and allowing him to fly at maximum speed. Small white feathers trailed behind him as he zoomed past a couple passing Fly Guys and nearly knocked them out of the air. Charizard saw the angel in the distance and grunted.

"Pit," he called out, "we're not here to play. We're supposed to be on the lookout for Star."

Pit just stuck his tongue at the Fire-type. "Why so serious, Charz?" he asked. "We haven't seen any sign of him for the entire day. I honestly doubt he's coming this year."

"Don't get your hopes too high," the Flame Pokémon said. "Just because we haven't seen anything _yet_ doesn't mean it's guaranteed that nothing will happen."

Something blue streaked through the foliage below. Then a frog-like Pokémon shot straight up into the air, arms folded as though he didn't have a care in the world.

"Hi, Greninja," Pit greeted the Water-type. "Everything good?"

The Ninja Pokémon silently nodded before gravity forced him to return to the trees below. Charizard joined Pit and stared after Greninja.

"He's an interesting fellow," remarked the Fire-type. "Always so reticent."

"What's there to expect? He's the _Ninja_ Pokémon, after all. Ninjas are never talkative."

"Stereotypically, yes. But how about in real life?"

"Eh, I dunno." Pit performed a backflip in midair and yawned. "It's so boring here. When should we go back home?"

"When Master Hand tells us to, I guess."

A loud voice rang in Pit's ears.

_"Hi, Pit, how's everything going?"_

"It's A-OK!" Pit confirmed, beaming widely. "No sign of any trouble!"

Charizard had a curious expression on his face. "Who're you talking to?"

"Lady Palutena. Duh."

"Ah."

Palutena could telepathically communicate with Pit, as could all other gods and goddesses from Pit's world. Because only Pit could hear and take part in the conversations, people sometimes thought he was jabbering to himself. After informing the other Smashers that _no_, he was most definitely not schizophrenic, everyone left him alone whenever he started chatting with an unseen entity.

_"That's good to know, Pit,"_ Palutena's voice said with satisfaction. _"By the way, Master Hand says that you, Charizard, and Greninja can return to the mansion now. Fox and Wolf will take over."_

"That's _great_!" said Pit enthusiastically. "All this guard duty is driving me nuts!"

Just then, Greninja appeared in his face.

"Whoaaaaa!" Pit flitted backwards in surprise. "What now?"

In response, the Pokémon grabbed his wrist—as well as Charizard's—and pulled them down toward the green foliage.

"There is trouble," he said. The tone of his voice seemed to suggest otherwise, but one look into his eyes confirmed his words. "We must hurry."

He and his companions landed noisily on the forest floor. Charizard was shocked to see a Villager and Wii Fit Trainer standing before them.

"Arden!" he said. "Trainer! What are you two doing here?"

He was about to take a step forward when Arden let out a shrill cry.

"Don't come any closer!"

The Fire-type stopped, bewildered.

"Between you and me is a barrier," explained Trainer. "You can walk through it, but you can't walk out of it!"

"It's closed us off on all sides," added Arden. He withdrew his slingshot from his pocket and shot a pebble straight upward. To Charizard and Pit's shock, the pebble ricocheted off an invisible surface and landed at Arden's feet. The Villager picked up the pebble and said, "See what I mean?"

Greninja nodded solemnly. "I must inform the others." He disappeared in a burst of water.

Pit shook the small droplets of water off his wings and faced Arden and Trainer. "Any idea how the heck you got trapped in there?"

"We just…walked in," Trainer said, shrugging. "But there _is_ something funny we found. You know how this place usually has a big boulder in the very middle? It's been replaced with…this."

Charizard's gaze landed on a crumbling gravestone standing in the center of the clearing. "That's funny, all right," he agreed.

Arden walked over to the gravestone and patted it. "This thing right here," he began. "I doubt this thing here is your typical Halloween decor. It's too…" He struggled to find a fitting word. "…real. And eerie. It can't just be a coincidence that an invisible force field is out up when the boulder is gone and the gravestone is sitting in its place." He stepped away from the stone…

…or tried to.

"Huh?" Arden whipped around and tugged at his hand. "What the—?! My hand's stuck!"

"What?!" Trainer rushed over to him and grabbed his arm, then pulled.

"Ow!" yelled Arden. "Stop! It's not gonna work!"

Pit and Charizard looked at each other with fearful expressions.

"Something supernatural is _definitely_ going on," the Pokémon muttered.

The angel turned away from him and said, "Um, Palutena, are you there?"

_"Pit!"_ The goddess' voice sounded urgent. _"Are you okay?"_

"Yeah…so far. Um…did Greninja—"

_"Yes,"_ said Palutena, answering his unfinished question. _"Arden and Trainer are trapped within an invisible barrier, right? We're on our way."_

"…'We'?" Pit quoted.

_"Yes, about that… The moment Greninja told us the news, Falco sort of freaked out and said that all the Smashers should check it out."_

"_All_ the Smashers? Why?"

_"He didn't say. But we listened to him anyway. We'll be there in a few minutes."_

Just as Palutena said this, Kirby burst through the bushes.

"Is Sonic here?" he asked in a panic.

"No," Charizard replied. "Trying to outrun him?"

"Exactly!" Kirby dashed straight forward. Pit's eyes widened.

"Noooooo, Kirby!" he yelled.

"I'm not stopping this time!" shouted the puffball. "That's the second time I heard someone say that to me today!"

Desperately, Pit reached for Kirby and grabbed his foot. The speed at which the pink puffball was going was enough to send both Smashers catapulting into Trainer and Arden. At the same time, Greninja, followed by all the other Smashers, appeared.

Charizard groaned loudly. "Oh, Arceus… Kirby, what did you do?!"

As if things couldn't get any worse, a bright light flashed before the gravestone in the middle of the clearing, and a swirling portal opened up.

"I hate portals!" Ness squealed.

Mega Man glanced at him. "Isn't that someone else's line?"

Before the psychic boy could respond, all the Smashers were lifted off their feet, through the invisible barrier, and right into the portal.

"This is why I hate portals!"

"Like I said, isn't that someone else's line?!"

"NOW IS NOT THE BEST TIME FOR A DEBATE ON THAT TOPIC!"

Everybody screamed as they fell into the portal, which closed up right after the last Smasher had entered.

-ooo-

The demon turned around to face the man.

"Allow me to reiterate what you just told me," he said. "There's some place called Smashville…and then there's some place called—"

The man cut him off. "That's right. There are two towns. The Smashers believe they're the only ones sitting around here. But there's another town…one sitting right next to them."

"And we're sitting…_in_ it."

"Yes." The man stood up. "Normally, this town is sealed away from the rest of the world," he said. "But if certain requirements are met…"

The demon nodded. "For every good is an evil…" he mused. "That's the only rule of this place."

"The higher their number, the higher ours," the man said.

"The more their strength, the more ours," the demon continued.

"It's a direct reflection. It's all the same. As above, so below. There's no stopping nature, no matter how cruel or supernatural it can be."

The demon grinned. "Let them come!"

The man raised a brow in his direction. He inquired, "And then what? Kill them on the spot? Or are you planning to toy with them first?"

The demon cackled. "No, I'll just beat them within an inch of their lives." **_(4)_**

-ooo-

Meanwhile, in another world…

_"NOT AGAIIIIIIIN!"_ hollered Storm Aurastar.

In a rage, the Author stormed (pun not intended) to the shiny, brand-new MacBook Pro with Retina display sitting innocently on the dinner table.

"Come on!" she said furiously to the laptop. "I _just_ got this Mac! I thought a more up-to-date PC would result in better security… But _noooooo_," she ranted on. "Stuff still happens to the Smashers! Why can't they ever have a _normal_ holiday…?!"

She woke up the Mac from its Sleep status and typed in the password.

"God dammit," she said frustratedly as various thoughts ran through her mind. "This is really bad. _That_ town… That's probably the worst place for a Smasher to be—besides Subspace or the Isle of the Ancients, of course."

She clicked on the FanFiction icon on the desktop, opening an empty, Skype-like chat window.

"At this rate, I'd rather go to Aika…or maybe even Hitokui!" The Author shuddered. "The village of cannibals… _Cannibals_, of all things… Yeesh, what person in the right mind would go out and create a town like _that_? And in such a kid-friendly game as _Animal Crossing_, too…"

For several seconds, Storm stared blankly at the screen of the Mac. Then she shook her head.

"Okay. Time to get to work. No more dawdling!"

After flexing her fingers a couple times, she put her hands on the Mac's keyboard.

_"Aurastar,"_ she typed into the chat box, _"we have a bigger-than-Houston problem."_

-ooo-

Lucario was dreaming happy, colorful dreams of Poffins and Mega Evolution when his head hit the ground.

"MY POFFINS!" he shrieked, jerking awake.

After blinking several times, he finally realized that there were no Poffins or Mega Stones to be all worked up about, so he quickly calmed down again. But immediately after this minute of revelation, he noticed the unfamiliarity of his surroundings.

The Pokémon looked around. Expecting to wake up to a view of the Pokémon Smashers' room's ceiling, he was shocked to find a half moon hanging in the black, cloudy sky and several tall trees standing before him instead. Their jagged, leafless silhouettes gave Lucario a strong feeling of foreboding, one that he wasn't too fond of.

As always, the Smasher decided to get a preview of wherever he was before setting out to explore it. He closed his crimson eyes and felt the four aura sensors on the back of his head rise slightly. All of a sudden, he entered a world of different shades of green and blue. Strangely enough, he could not see any brighter, warmer colors—a sign that there was nothing alive nearby.

_So all these trees are…dead?_ he thought.

He probed further, extending his sight to an area beyond the barrier of trees. Here, too, had no life forms. Lucario swept his gaze around himself, not allowing his Aura Sight to miss anything. He saw more bare, lifeless trees, but besides that and several rocks, nothing else. The Pokémon deactivated the Aura Sight and reopened his eyes.

"Something tells me I'm not in Smashville anymore," he said aloud. "For starters, we all do our best to keep every single tree, flower, and blade of grass alive. But from what I can see, that doesn't apply here." He approached the nearest tree and kicked it several times. A portion of its outer layer of bark crumbled off the trunk and crumbled onto the bare ground.

"That's one hundred percent dead, all right," he confirmed grimly.

With a jerk, he abruptly remembered about the other Smashers. None of them were in sight.

"Oh, no," he muttered, angry at himself for forgetting about them. "If _I'm_ in some place that likely isn't where I want to be, then there's _got_ to be someone else with me…right?"

When he heard nothing but the weak sound of the cool breeze that blew through his fur, he sighed despondently.

"Well…if there's really nothing here," he said, "I suppose that means it's safe enough to investigate alone."

The Smasher took a step forward.

"Looking for something?"

Lucario froze in mid-step, his heartbeat suddenly accelerating.

"Or maybe…some_one_?"

The Pokémon snapped his eyes shut and reactivated Aura Sight, searching for a flare of aura.

Besides his own bright blue, green, and red aura, there was nothing. Growling, he opened his eyes again and surrounded his hands in blue-colored flames of aura. "Where are you?"

"_Where_ am I? It might be better to ask _who_ I am."

Lucario flung an Aura Sphere in the direction of the voice. The ball struck a tree branch, causing the branch to explode into a cloud of dust and splinters. But he still saw nothing.

"Who and where are you?" he shouted. "Stop being a coward and get out!"

The moment he said this, he felt someone's breath tickle his ear.

"Maybe _you_ should improve your eyesight first."

Lucario whirled around and threw a kick. A furred creature about his size backflipped through the air and avoided the attack, then landed gracefully on its feet with its arms crossed. Lucario used ExtremeSpeed and rushed forward, only for his adversary to sidestep the move and counter by tossing out a massive sphere of energy. Lucario's eyes widened when he recognized the energy as being aura when the sphere hit the ground as his feet and threw him into a tree.

_"Agh,"_ he groaned, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut in a fruitless attempt to block out the pain. "You… You can use Aura Sphere, too?"

The figure approached him and roughly hauled him onto his feet.

"Open your eyes."

Lucario exhaled slowly.

"Open your eyes!"

The Smasher did so.

A Lucario was facing him. A Lucario with red paws, more tan fur, more steel spikes, more black markings, longer aura sensors, and red eyes filled with a furious light.

A Mega Lucario.

"Y-you're…" Lucario stammered.

The other Lucario pushed him away.

"Not just any Lucario," he said. "I am _you_."

For the first time in a while, Lucario felt afraid. Very afraid.

"You are…"

"Ferron." The Pokémon's voice was low and coarse, devoid of any kindness. "That's your name, too."

Before Lucario could formulate either another question, the Lucario called Ferron had grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against a tree.

"You don't want to become what you see, do you?" the Mega Lucario snarled.

Lucario gasped and coughed as his air supply quickly began to deplete.

"You don't want to lose control, do you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, the Smasher saw a hazy shadow flit past another tree.

_"You don't want Ferron to return, do you?"_

Two humans burst out from behind the trees. One made a beeline for Lucario while the other slammed into Ferron's chest with a flying kick. The Mega Lucario dropped Lucario and let out a scream, while the Smasher thudded onto the ground, his eyesight blurry.

"Lucario…!"

Amidst the incoherent roars and yells, Lucario was faintly aware of Red the Pokémon Trainer's presence. The Trainer knelt at his side, concerned.

"Hey! Stay with me! We'll get out of this together."

With bleary eyes, Lucario stared at Red, who supported him by putting the Pokemon's right arm over his shoulders. "Are you okay?" the Trainer asked.

"…No…"

The cries of battle slowly dissipated. The person who had given Ferron a flying kick returned to Red and Lucario while hastily retying a bandana around his head.

"The furred freak is gone…for now."

Lucario's ears twitched when he heard the gravelly voice. "…Snake…?"

He felt the mercenary sling him over his shoulder and start running. Red was right at his heels.

"C'mon. Let's get the hell out of here."

-ooo-

_"Toon!"_

"What?!"

"You're sitting on Zelda'a chest."

Even in the darkness, Link could see the cartoon Hylian's face turn redder than a Maxim Tomato. "…_Awwwk_-ward," said Toon Link, laughing nervously as he quickly placed himself in a position ten feet away from Zelda. "…Um. So, uh…yeah, change of subject. How's everyone doing?"

"Ganondorf appears to have gotten himself stuck in a tree without any knowledge of how exactly he got himself stuck there," said Link, gesturing toward the Gerudo who was hanging precariously on a tree branch that looked way too thin to support his massive bulk. Then again, this wasn't the real world, so real-world physics didn't really apply. "Zelda is unconscious…and thank goodness for that," he muttered under his breath. He tried not to think about what the princess would do to Toon Link for sitting on her chest as he continued, "Do you have any idea where we are?"

Toon Link fixed his hat. "Not the Smash Mansion, that's for sure. It's too quiet."

Link flicked several strands of his golden-blonde hair out of his blue eyes, then crossed his legs, looking deep in thought. "This isn't even _Smashville_… I've lived in Smashville long enough to know how it feels like." He nodded to Toon Link. "Here, get on my shoulders and get a good look around."

Toon Link scrambled onto the Hylian Smasher's back and stood on his shoulders. He withdrew a telescope from the depths of one of his invisible infinite pockets and peered through the eyepiece. "Trees," he announced. "Lots of dead trees. And dead grass. And dead flowers. Wait, there are no flowers… And there's a bunch of rocks. And some guy wearing a red cape."

Link's ears flicked upward. "…Okay…?"

Just then, Toon Link let out a snort. "_Ha!_ What's with that guy and diamond patterns? Haha… His cape's underside has diamonds, his leggings have diamonds, there's a giant red diamond sitting on his right hip, and he's wearing a blue diamond earing…" He laughed again. "_Pffft_, his gloves even have diamond-shaped holes! Haha!"

With shaking hands, Link removed the cartoon Hylian from his shoulders, set him back on the ground, and stared into his large, cat-like eyes. "Are you telling me," he said hoarsely, "that you honestly _don't_ know who that guy is?"

Toon Link brandished his telescope as if it were a massive Wind Waker. "Now something's telling me he's a bad guy…"

"Of _course_ he's a bad guy!" Link yelled, exasperated by his cartoon counterpart's naiveness. "Don't tell me you've never heard of the Demon Lord _Ghirahim_!"

Upon hearing the name, Toon Link's face lit up, and he grinned.. "Oh! _That_ guy!" As quickly as the smile had come, it was replaced by a look of terror. "…Oh! _THAT_ guy!"

"Yes, that guy," said Link impatiently.

A handful of nagging thoughts remained in his mind.

_Ghirahim…_alive_? …Hm._

Ghirahim was one of Link's many nemeses—or rather, one of Link's _ancestor's_ many nemeses. Every Hylian knew how the Link of Skyloft had vanquished Ghirahim—as well as his master, the Demon King Demise—after a series of battles that only increased in difficulty. And yet, when Link took Toon Link's telescope and peeked through it, he saw the demon casually strolling along a dirt path like Little Red Riding Hood in the famous fable.

"What in Hyrule is _he_ doing here?" the Smasher grumbled.

"Is he really that bad?" Toon Link piped up.

The glower that his older counterpart gave him was enough to make his blood run cold. "Do you seriously _not_ know your Hyrule historia, Toon?!" **_(5)_**

_"Oho!"_ whooped the cartoon Hylian, jabbing a finger at Link. "A real world reference!"

_"Aha!"_ Link shot back. "A fourth wall breakage!"

"_Oho!_ Fourth wall awareness!"

"_Aha!_ …Why are we even doing this?"

The two Heroes of Time were so engaged in their childish bickering that they did not notice a lean figure wearing a straw hat emerge from the shadows of the trees behind them.

"Y'know, Link, I don't think it matters whether we're aware of the fourth wall anymore."

"Why is that?"

"We refer to it so often that we don't even hear it crashing down now. I guess that means we totally destroyed it!"

"I think that's a bad thing."

"No! That's the bestest thing in the world! Now no one can tell us to stop breaking the fourth wall because it's totally _gone_!"

"Toon, 'bestest' isn't a word."

"Ohhhhh…like _I_ give a Cucco about it!"

"Grammar is important, so you ought to."

"_Oho!_ Someone's being bossy!"

"_Aha!_ Someone's being disrespectful to his elder!"

"You are _not_ my elder!"

"Oh, yes, I am."

"But technically, we're the same person, so _neither_ of us is an elder of the other Link!"

"You sound like you're suggesting you could be my elder."

"Yes!" Toon Link paused. "…No! Wait, what?!"

Something crackled behind them.

"_Heeheehee…_ Two friends arguing over such trivial matters… I'm thoroughly amused by this entertainment."

Link and Toon Link turned to see a figure wearing straw clothes and a frayed straw hat emerge from the shadows. The mask he wore made Link turn pale with dread.

"…Oh, no…"

The mask was heart-shaped and decorated with ornate, colorful patterns. Ten yellow horns protruded from its sides, two on top and four on the left and right. Instead of having holes for the wearer to see through, the mask had a pair of eyes that glowed with three colors—orange, yellow, and green.

"Toon!" Link shouted. _"Run!"_

Toon Link, mesmerized by the mask, did not respond. In desperation, Link grabbed the boy's sleeve and, with as much strength as he could muster, threw him straight up into the air. Toon Link yelled with surprise as he sailed over Link and the stranger's heads.

"_Liiiiiiink!_ We have enough trouble on our hands already! We saw Ghirahim strolling around somewhere… Now _please_ don't tell me you're gonna fight some guy wearing _Majora's Mask_!"

-ooo-

Normally, Amber, Ben, and Carl wouldn't be too fazed by a face-to-face encounter with a bunch of ghosts and monsters. After all, they fought with them many times during their quest to rescue the Royal Family, known to some as the StreetPass Quest. **_(6)_**

What they _would_ be fazed by was a face-to-face encounter with a bunch of ghosts and monsters…_and_ the Ultimate Ghost itself.

"Oh, mein Gott!" exclaimed Carl upon seeing the large purple ghost with a pair of horns and many teeth. "It's the Ultimate Ghost!"

"The narrator already said that, you idiot!" Amber yelled at him.

"What?!"

She's right, you know.

_"Oi!"_

Uh… Anyway, the trio of Mii Fighters quickly ducked behind the closest tree, just as the Ultimate Ghost lunged for the Smashers and tried to grab them with its large, clawed hands. Ben let out a yelp of fright when the Ghost nearly slashed through the back of his shirt.

"哎呀！"

A Blue Slime squirmed up to Amber, who, in disgust, blasted it away with her arm cannon. She then kicked away a Yellow Slime that had been creeping toward her while she was pummeling the Blue Slime. Ben drove away a Blue Ghost that was about to land a sneak attack on Carl, who was still panicking about the presence of the Ultimate Ghost. The Mii Brawler just rolled his eyes and helped Amber take care of all the other Slimes and Ghosts. Carl eventually returned to his senses and jumped into the battle, plunging his sword into a Blood Ghost. Surprisingly, the Ghost took damage and let out a squeal so comical that Amber almost laughed.

"Did you see its _face_?!"

Putting aside the fact that he had just somehow stabbed a ghost, Carl slashed his way through a crowd of Slimes. In the meantime, Ben made several deep dents in an Armored Ghost's armor; the Ghost fled before he could make a dent in its body. Then he spin-kicked a Granite Golem into an Armored Fiend and took both of them out.

"That takes care of 'em!" he said with satisfaction.

Amber shot energy balls and plasma beams from her arm cannon in all directions, never missing any targets. Occasionally, she was able to obliterate a small group of enemies with a single charged shot or missile. If a foe came too close, she knocked it senseless with the arm cannon itself.

Carl charged at an Armored Fiend and slammed into it so hard that he made it drop its axe.

Before long, every Slime, Ghost, Golem, and Fiend had been eradicated from the battlefield. The Ultimate Ghost roared furiously as it watched Carl slice through the last Armored Ghost, quickly destroying it.

"Here it comes!" Ben warned.

The Ultimate Ghost reached for Amber, who shot its hand with a charged shot. As the Ghost reeled back in pain, Ben leaped forward and gave it an uppercut to the chin. While he was still airborne, Carl jumped up, used Ben's shoulders for leverage, and corkscrewed through the air while swinging his sword in all directions.

"SKYWARRRRRRRRD _SWORD_!"

"Oh, _please_!" shouted Amber, ignoring the Ultimate Ghost's ear-piercing wailing. "It's called _Skyward Slash Dash_, for goodness' sake!"

"Someone go tell Masahiro Sakurai that they should've named it Skyward Sword! It's a nice tribute to that game, after all!" **_(7)_**

Amber just huffed and shot a missile at the Ultimate Ghost. At the same time, Ben jabbed at its face and Carl carved up its hands. After letting out one final scream, the Ultimate Ghost froze and faded away into purple smoke.

"Aw, yeah!" Ben and Carl exchanged an enthusiastic high five. "We did it!"

The two Miis danced around in circles. Amber stared at them, giggling. Then she turned and felt her heart skip a beat.

"…Dios mío."

"怎麼了？" asked Ben.

The Mii Gunner simply pointed up Ben followed her gaze, and his jaws promptly dropped at the sight of the green, dragon-like ghost.

"…Oh, boy."

"It's the _Dark Lord_!" screamed Amber.

Carl looked at her. "…Voldemort?"

Amber hit him upside the head with her arm cannon. "No! Not _that_ Dark Lord! I mean the Dark Lord we literally bumped into during the StreetPass Quest!"

"Oh, yeah! That guy! Ben bumped into him, right? Huh. _That_ guy! …Wait." The Mii Swordfighter's eyes slowly widened in realization. "…_THAT_ guy?!"

Amber grabbed him by his sleeve. "C'mon! If we're going to fight him, we first have to recover some of our strength from the previous battle!"

Ben, however, was eager to fight the Dark Lord. "Oh, come on! That bump was an accident. And I can take this guy on any day! Watch this!" He dashed toward the Dark Lord, fist drawn back for a powerful punch. "Aaaaaaaand here we—"

The Dark Lord spread its wings, swooped down, and struck the Mii Brawler straight out of the battlefield with its fists.

_"—NOOOOOOOOooooooo…!"_

Amber and Carl watched their teammate fly across the sky and disappear beyond their line of sight, probably landing somewhere at a greater distance than the world record for the Home-Run Contest.

"…I think we should go now."

The next thing the Dark Lord knew, Amber and Carl were getting away from the battlefield as fast as their legs could take them.

-ooo-

Even the Duck Hunt Duo was having a difficult time.

Dog raced around in circles as an invisible huntsman shot at him and Duck, who was clinging onto Dog's back as tightly as he could. Duck did not dare leave his partner; doing so would increase his chances of getting killed.

Dog was used to getting shot at. He remembered how various huntsmen in the '70s **_(8)_** had attempted to blast his head off with their guns whenever he taunted them with a still-alive duck. That was the main reason several people absolutely loathed him. But it was his nature: he was a born mischief-maker. He was that one guy who would stand and laugh at a person who slipped on a banana peel or in some dog poop. Giving a hand usually wasn't in his mind.

But now, his best friend Duck was so close to being killed. Dog had no choice but to keep running.

"Stop movin' around and let me shoot ya!" a voice called out mockingly.

Neither Dog nor Duck had any idea why this particular huntsman was so intent on gunning down the Duck Hunt Duo. The only thing Dog did was point and laugh. What did he do that set off this huntsman so badly?

Duck quacked with fright when a bullet struck the ground just three inches from Dog's left hind paw, throwing up a small cloud of dust and dirt. Dog gnashed his teeth and sprinted away from the area, dodging past dead trees and zigzagging between rocks. The huntsman was still shooting at him.

"Get back here, mutt!"

Duck was still unable to figure out where exactly the huntsman was shooting at him and Dog from. The huntsman seemed to be shooting from all directions—left, right, above, below, here, there, everywhere. Duck couldn't possibly clear his mind in this hullaballoo of explosions, barking, quacking, raucous yelling, and gunfire. Then Dog came to an abrupt stop and scrambled into a tight nook beneath a flat rock. Duck slid off his partner's back to make room.

The huntsman was still shooting, even though the duo was clearly out of sight. Dog whimpered, wondering if the huntsman had decided to start firing at fellow Smashers—well, if they were stuck in the same hellhole as the Duck Hunt Duo.

While the canine silently tiptoed forward to see what was going on, Duck flattened himself as much as possible in case some other crazy person, animal, or unearthly creature decided to have roast duck for dinner. The thought of being shot and then plucked and cooked to be eaten scared the bird so badly that he swore he saw the dirt beneath him shift.

Dog yapped to catch Duck's attention. The bird looked at the canine, who pointed at the branches of a tree. A bulky mass was hidden within the branches, camouflaged so well that it was almost invisible. Duck nodded, relieved to know that Dog had managed to sniff out the huntsman. Fortunately for them, the huntsman's gun was aimed in the opposite direction of their hiding place.

"I may have lost the duo," they heard the huntsman say, "but that don't matter now. Ohoho! I see _you_, Princess Martha!"

_Bang!_ A bullet exploded from the gun. Duck covered his eyes with his wings and Dog tucked his tail between his legs.

"Huh! Such rashness!"

There was a flash of silver, and then a young man with blue hair jumped out from behind a tree.

"You may have better technology," Marth Lowell admonished, "but it appears that you lack the skill in using that technology."

As quickly as he had come, he was gone. Dog gaped at the sight of the prince climbing the tree in which the huntsman was hiding. The huntsman cursed and dropped out of the tree; the moment he hit the ground, he was off and running. For a fleeting second, Duck saw what appeared to be a NES Zapper in the huntsman's hands. **_(9)_**

Marth sprang back out of the tree and glanced toward the Duck Hunt Duo's hiding spot. "Stay behind me," he ordered. "I've already met Ike, Bowser Jr., Rosalina, Ness, and Mr. Game & Watch. We agreed to join up at the entrance of this town."

Dog's floppy ears raised slightly.

"Yes, this is a town," Marth told him calmly, answering his unsaid question. "As crazy and psychotic as its inhabitants may be, it's still a town. So, are we going or not?"

Dog and Duck crawled out from beneath the rock. The Altean prince gave them a reassuring smile before turning back around and hurrying away from the area with the duo.

-ooo-

"Hsamsville, eh?"

Rosalina gave the decrepit wooden sign several light pats, quickly stepping back when a small dust cloud arose from its surface. "Hsamsville. That's a funny name."

"That's the _whackiest_ name I've ever heard of," declared Bowser Jr. Because he had left his Junior Clown Car back at the Smash Mansion, Junior had claimed that he was completely defenseless and was now sitting on Ike's shoulders for safety…and a free piggyback ride. The swordsman refused to show his discomfort as the young Koopa fidgeted around. "So whatcha think of it? Could it mean somethin'?"

"All _I_ want to know is how the heck we got here!" Mr. Game & Watch shouted.

"It was that portal!" Ness piped up. "That's why I hate portals!"

Ike nudged Mr. Game & Watch and murmured, "Is it just me, or does that line sound rather familiar?"

"It's just you," replied the two-dimensional Smasher. Deep down, however, he agreed with Ike: the line did indeed sound oddly familiar.

Ike and Mr. Game & Watch were brought back to their senses by an instantly recognizable voice.

_"Heyyyyyy, guyyyyyyys!"_

"Well, I'll be!" exclaimed Ike. "It's Red!"

"And Snake and Lucario!" Rosalina added. Then, with a frown, she added, "Oh… Something must've happened to Lucario…"

The three Smashers skidded to a halt right before Ness. Snake quickly set Lucario on the ground. "I am _never_ going to carry a 119-pound weight on one shoulder while running for such a long time," he groaned, slumping onto the ground, "…_ever_ again…!"

Red tripped over a rock and crashed into Ike, knocking him and Junior down like a couple of bowling pins. "Sorry, sorry—"

"Well, _that_ took ya long enough!" Junior snapped rudely, picking himself off the floor and folding his short arms. "Where were you?"

"Dealing with and running from our archenemies," replied Snake, glaring at him. "What else?"

Rosalina gasped. "Wait… You also met your greatest enemy?!"

"Yeah!" said Red as he helped Ike stand up. "I found myself face to face with—"

He suddenly broke off and looked away from the other Smashers, face paling considerably.

"…Ethan," he mumbled. "But he wasn't Ethan. He was that guy from _Lost Silver_."

"You mean the creepypasta game based on _Pokémon Gold_ and _Silver_?" asked Ness.

"Right. The nameless Trainer with a Cyndaquil named HURRY and some Unown that spell out things like _LEAVE_ and…well…_I'M DEAD_. He used the Cyndaquil and I used Squirtle and…" Red shuddered, unable to say anything further.

"In the meantime, I met a load of fake Mr. Game & Watches!" said Mr. Game & Watch. He began to wave his arms in the air. "Yes! Clones! Just like in _The Subspace Emissary_! They nearly overwhelmed me, thanks to their ability to produce more copies of themselves from the material they secrete… A stolen ability!" He looked livid, even though it was impossible to tell from his blank face. "How dare they steal _my_ abilities, _my_ moves, _my_ appearance—"

"You wanna know who _I_ met?" Snake spoke up, cutting off the two-dimensional Smasher.

"Let me guess," said Ike, holding up a hand. "Liquid Snake."

"Yes." The mercenary looked surprised. "How did you know?"

"Well, seeing as how he's been a pretty major character in the most recent canon chapters of the fanfic we're in…" Ike shrugged, and Snake nodded.

"That's true. He _has_ been pretty major."

"And while you said hello to your dear brother, I met Ashnard. What fun."

"Ashnard? The mad king?" Rosalina made a face. "You should be glad you're in one piece."

"Me and Lucas met Porky," Ness said, jumping into the conversation. "We got separated while escaping from him." Worriedly, he went on, "I hope he's okay…"

Junior pointed ahead. "Look, there's Marth and the Duck Hunt Duo!"

The Altean prince, the dog, and the duck came huffing and puffing into view. "Hey, everyone," Marth panted, joining the group of fellow Smashers. "How are you all doing?"

"Fine so far," said Snake. "We managed to lose our enemies. And you?"

"Met Gharnef, fought him for a few minutes, and then he ran off. Then I heard gunfire and came upon a huntsman who was aiming at Dog and Duck and chased him off."

The Duck Hunt Duo gave him looks of appreciation. Marth smiled back and returned his gaze to his audience.

"I'm seeing a pattern here," he said seriously. "I fought Gharnef, Ike fought Ashnard, Snake had a skirmish with Liquid Snake, Ness had a run-in with Porky, Red met the nameless Trainer of _Lost Silver_ and…well, you know the rest.

"What I'm saying here is that each of us had an encounter with our greatest enemy—not necessarily the _greatest_ enemy, but just _some_ enemy or enemies—the moment we entered this town. What was its name again? Oh, right, Hsamsville. Isn't it strange? Why is it that we've met only a bunch of foes and no allies other than fellow Smashers? And we're in a _town_, for the goddesses' sakes. Don't you find it queer that this town we woke up in is inhabited by nothing but a bunch of villains?"

"That reminds me of something," said Snake, causing everyone to turn his or her attention to the mercenary. "After I fought with and escaped from Liquid, I met Red…and then we found Lucario. Who do you think he was fighting?"

"An evil Pokémon!" Ness wildly guessed. "Maybe a Shadow Pokémon! Or a Pokémon bad guy! Like Cyrus! Or Ghetsis! Or Jessie and James and Meowth! Hey, I'm just throwing out suggestions from the top of my head, okay?!" he yelled when Junior and Mr. Game & Watch gave him incredulous looks.

"Wrong for all of those," Snake said softly. "He was fighting himself."

Everyone let out a simultaneous gasp. _"Himself?"_

"Unless that furred freak was lying. But he sounded pretty serious. Lucario was fighting himself…another Lucario. A _Mega_ Lucario. The other Lucario was asking him these…questions. 'You don't want Ferron to return, do you?' he asked him."

"Ferron…" muttered Red under his breath, glancing at the unconscious Lucario.

"Lucario was totally defenseless, so Red and I jumped in. I chased off the other Lucario… He'll return in no time, though. That's pretty much given."

All this time, Marth had been staring in silent concentration at the signboard of Hsamsville. All of a sudden, he let out a triumphant cry.

"_Ha!_ I got it!"

He gestured excitedly to the sign. "Look! Read the town name."

"It says…Hsamsville," said Rosalina, confused. "Why?"

"Ignore the _ville_ part for now. Read the first half."

"…Okay… Hsams?"

"Good, good. Mix up the letters."

Rosalina quietly rearranged the letters in her head. Then she let out a quiet scream.

"Oh, my goodness!"

"Huh? I don't see any… _WHOA!_" yelped Mr. Game & Watch, leaping into the air as though he had just burned his foot. "It spells _Smash_! _Hsams_ is _smash_ spelled backwards!"

"Holy crap!"

"Wait, seriously?!"

"How could we have missed such an obvious detail?!"

Eventually, the Smashers calmed down about the mind-boggling discovery that should not have been so mind-boggling. Marth cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Now I know why we've been meeting all these enemies. Hsamsville… It's a town where the residents consist solely of the _opposites_ of the Smashers. So we have a bunch of…what…_Hsamsers_ in our hands?" He laughed nervously. "Ha… It's all making sense now."

"It makes even more sense after we tell you _this_!"

The Smashers turned away from the signboard and saw Arden the Villager and the Wii Fit Trainer running to then as fast as they could.

"Me and Trainer round this inscription on the gravestone in Dusk Forest that made us all land in this place!" said Arden. He seemed unable to hold back his excitement. "Tell them, Trainer, tell them!"

Trainer proceeded to recite a poem.

_"Four villages, one unknown—"_

"The four villages are Aika, Hitokui, Shachipanda, and Diablo," explained Arden. "'One unknown' refers to the town we're in."

_"Entrance to which mishap is prone."_

"We _did_ run into a lot of mishap," admitted Marth.

_"The more of you, the more the foe."_

"Yeah," said Red, nodding. "We all met our worst enemies."

"There's one more line," Trainer said, "and it's probably the most confusing—and most significant. It goes like thi—"

_"As above, so below."_

All the Smashers whirled around.

A man was sitting on the left post of the signboard. He was wearing a tan trench coat and nothing underneath, and a pair of cargo pants and combat boots. Strands of his long blonde hair waved in the breeze as his cold blue eyes stared down at the Smashers, Snake in particular.

Snake swore loudly and whipped out his gun from the holster he kept strapped on his right thigh. "Liquid—!"

Liquid Snake raised his hands. "Don't go aiming that thing all over the place, brother," he said coolly. "You still don't know many things."

There was the sound of a body being dragged across the ground. Arden turned and jumped with surprise at the sight of a masked being with a frayed straw hat dragging an unconscious Hylian wearing a green tunic and hat.

"It's Link! And…Skull Kid!"

Skull Kid tossed Link at Trainer's feet. The Wii Fit Trainer immediately went to him and shook his shoulders. "Link? Link!"

Dog growled menacingly when a man with a NES Zapper walked out of the trees, followed by a guy who looked like a chef wearing a bloody apron and wielding a bloodstained knife.

Arden's hand slipped into his pocket. "The chef of Hitokui…"

Two Miis, while carrying a third Mii, dashed out of the trees. A green, dragon-like ghost flew after them and stopped to stand alongside the other villains. Then a boy with empty black eyes and a dead-looking Cyndaquil stepped out from behind the ghost.

Red turned white with apprehension. "L-Lost Silver…"

"…Y'know, I think we're pretty screwed," said Ben the Mii Brawler matter-of-factly.

Amber the Mii Gunner snorted. "No, duh."

Carl the unconscious Mii Swordfighter remained unconscious.

A Mega Lucario leaped out of the woods and landed gracefully at the Dark Lord's side.

Snake nodded toward him. "There's Ferron."

Ferron saw Lucario lying on the ground next to Link and a terrified Junior. A fleeting look of sadness passed through his eyes before the furious red glow returned.

"Now we have a party of villains before us," whispered Mr. Game & Watch to Rosalina. "And we haven't found any of the other Smashers. How screwed are we?"

Rosalina surveyed the scene before her. Two Smashers were unconscious, and who knew how many others were lost. These villains seemed like they knew exactly what was going on, while the Smashers barely had any clues besides the fact that they had been transported to a town that seemed to be a reflection of Smashville. And no one knew how many more villains were roaming around out there…

With these thoughts in mind, Rosalina had just one word to say to the two-dimensional Smasher.

"Quite."

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

**_(1)_** For special chapters, we're going to assume that everything is happening normally and no Smashers are missing, under the Subspace Army's control, Erased, or…well, yeah.

**_(2)_** We're also going to assume that all the newcomer Smashers have already arrived at the Smash Mansion.

**_(3)_** Personally, I don't like _Five Nights at Freddy's_. It's a bit too scary for me… _*sweats nervously*_

**_(4)_** HINT, HINT!

**_(5)_** A reference to the real world! Gee, I want that book so badly…

**_(6)_** In the U.S., it's called _Find Mii_. In other places, _StreetPass Quest_. I'm from the U.S., but I'll call it the StreetPass Quest because it sounds pretty stupid when you say you went on the Find Mii Quest.

**_(7)_** I like that game, too. _The Legend of Zelda_ is an awesome series!

**_(8)_** I believe _Duck Hunt_ first came out in 1976.

**_(9)_** You play _Duck Hunt_ with a NES Zapper, right?

* * *

><p><strong><em>Oh, no! All the Smashers are stuck in a parallel universe with no idea of how to escape! And to make things worse, they have a bunch of villains on their tails! What's going to happen next?!<em>**

**_Find out next time in Chapter 48!_**

**_…Which will likely be delayed until who knows when. Oh, well. Thanks for reading, and remember to REVIEW!_**


	48. SPECIAL — Hsamsville Halloween — Part II

**Donkey Kong:** Yo, Storm, it's already Novem—

***punches Dunkey Kong in the face*_ So. What?!_**

**_…Well, in any case, here's the second part of the Halloween special! Sorry it's nine days late. Yes, _NINE_. Because it's so late, I had to cut this chapter short by**_…uh**_…a _**_**_****LOT****_**_**_. _**_**It's also_ extremely_ rushed because I'm deeply affected by that thing called writer's block. EXTREMELY. RUSHED. Please—no flames! I'll make sure Chapter 49 is a good one. Hopefully, my writer's block will die down by then…_**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything or anyone here.**

* * *

><p><strong><em>SPECIAL<em> — Chapter 48: Hsamsville Halloween – Part II**

* * *

><p>It was a well-known fact that Pac-Man's most annoying—and persistent—enemies were those four ghosts called Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. (Why the fourth one was called Clyde rather than something that ended with "inky," no one would ever know.)<p>

They were so persistent that they had been chasing after Pac-Man ever since 1980, and it didn't look like they were going to stop anytime soon.

Pac-Man dashed across the barren field as fast as he could. Next to him was Mega Man, dodging bolts of lightning as he ran.

While the ghosts remained in close pursuit of Pac-Man, Mega Man had to deal with Elec Man, an intelligent, sentient robot like himself. While the Blue Bomber could use an arsenal of skills he had acquired from the many Robot Masters he had faced in the past, ranging from Metal Man's Metal Blade to Wood Man's Leaf Shield, Elec Man relied solely on the power of electricity, like his name suggested. But he was an expert at wielding it, and everybody knew it—especially Mega Man, who had fought with Elec Man several times before and learned about the dangers of getting hit by a Thunder Beam…the hard way.

"How're you holding up?" Pac-Man yelled.

Mega Man gave him a thumbs-up. "Okay so far! You?"

"On the verge of exploding with annoyance, that's all!"

What Pac-Man said was perfectly understandable. After being chased by the same enemies for thirty-four years straight, anyone would be on the verge of exploding with annoyance. It was an amazement that Pac-Man hadn't done so already.

Mega Man yelped when a spark of lightning struck his left foot. "_Ouch!_ Hey, Elec Man! Cut it out, will you? You lost every battle we fought, so I think you oughta give up!"

"Me? Give up?" Elec Man snorted and threw another lightning bolt. "I don't think so, Mega Boy! I'm gonna finish you at _lightning speed_!"

"That's the second time you said that terrible pun!" **_(1)_**

Pac-Man pulled out a fire hydrant, then tossed it over his shoulder. It exploded on impact, indicating that he had just thrown a Dire Hydrant. The orange ghost called Clyde, who was the closest to the blast, was momentarily stunned and left behind in the dust.

Mega Man aimed his Mega Buster behind himself and fired several shots, most of which completely missed their target. Elec Man countered with a Thunder Beam that flew past Mega Man and nearly hit Pac-Man instead.

"Yo! Watch your aim!" the yellow ball snapped.

Mega Man stared at him incredulously. "So you _want_ him to hit me?"

"…Wait just a se—_whoa!_ That was not what I meant, I swear!"

"Gee, I didn't know the rivalry between Namco and Capcom was _that_ intense!" **_(2)_**

"Like I said, _that was NOT what I meant_!"

Mega Man ignored him and used Metal Blade. The circular saw wheeled around him and zoomed toward Elec Man, who agilely jumped over it and retaliated with a Thunder Beam. Pac-Man blocked the attack by using Bonus Fruit, and somehow, the 8-bit strawberry was able to completely nullify the lightning.

"Booyah!" said Pac-Man triumphantly. "Fruit beats electricity!"

Mega Man used Crash Bomber, and a bomb shot out from his Mega Buster. It latched itself onto the blue ghost called Inky's face and blew up.

"And bombs beat ghosts!" the Blue Bomber cheered.

At that moment, a boy wearing a green tunic and hat zipped by, riding on an arrow.

"_How_," Mega Man shouted, "is it even physically possible to ride on an _arrow_?!"

"Y'know, it's probably physically impossible for us two to even _exist_, so I suggest you shut up about it," Pac-Man told him.

In the distance, Toon Link screeched, _"Awwwww, yeeeaaaahhhhhhhhh!"_

In a way that the laws of physics would never be able to explain, the cartoon Hylian's arrow made a U-turn like a boomerang and flew back toward Pac-Man and Mega Man. The two Smashers quickly stepped off to the side, leaving Toon Link and his arrow to collide with the red ghost called Blinky, the pink ghost called Pinky, and Elec Man.

_KA-RASH!_

Pac-Man and Mega Man skidded to a stop. Behind them lay a heap that consisted of two ghosts, a Robot Master, a cartoon Hylian, and a broken arrow.

"…Um…" Mega Man was unsure of what to say. "…Er… Need some help there, Toon?"

Toon Link pulled himself out from the bottom of the pile and let out a tremendous yell.

_"WOW!"_ he exclaimed. "That was _EPIC_! I should do it again someday!"

"Yeah, uh…ride on an arrow and smash into a bunch of bad guys?" Pac-Man asked, folding his arms. "Count me out, please."

Mega Man decided to get right to the point. "So, Toon," he said. "Why the rush?"

"Two reasons," replied Toon Link. "One, I wanted to escape from Ghirahim. And two, I wanted to take out three bad guys at once in the most awesome way possible!"

"Wait, wait, wait," said Pac-Man. "Escape from who?"

"Ghirahim. He's a bad guy from my universe. Well, not exactly _my_ universe, but an ancestor's universe. A previous Link's universe. Oh—" Toon Link looked frustrated. "You know what I mean!"

"He's a bad guy. That's all I need to know." Mega Man pointed to the pile of ghosts and one Robot Master. "Is he like these guys?"

"Oh, no! He's _way_ worse! He's worse than these guys _combined_!" Toon Link paused. "…Well, at least that's what Link said…" Then he screamed. "_LINK!_ That's right! We got separated when Skull Kid came along! Oh, goddesses, this is bad, bad, _bad_—"

"Jeez, calm down, Toon!" Pac-Man said with a roll of his Pac-Man-shaped eyes. "We'll help you find him. Can you take us to where you last saw him?"

"It's back there…" Toon Link gestured to a forest of bare trees about a mile away. "…in the middle of those woods. We can get there quickly via arrow."

"Sounds great!" Mega Man commented. "…Wait. Via _what_?"

He never got an answer because Toon Link had already dragged him and Pac-Man onto an arrow, set the arrow in an elastic string, pulled back the arrow, and launched himself and the other two Smashers straight forward.

"How is this even physically possible?!"

"Because _absence of science_, that's how!"

_"AWWWWWW, YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"_

-ooo-

While some Smashers were about to have a face-off with their enemies who first appeared in Chapter 47 and three Smashers were defying the laws of physics by riding on an arrow, four other Smashers were hiding behind a rock and spying on a coffee shop.

At least it looked like a coffee shop. It was practically a carbon copy of The Roost, Brewster's shop in Smashville. The only difference was the signpost.

"'The Roast,'" read R.O.B., his eyes zoomed in on the two words. "Roast? So…do the people there roast their coffee or something?"

"People roast the _beans_ for coffee, not the coffee itself!" said Sonic with a short laugh. "Maybe that place doubles as a barbecue."

Lucina looked a little doubtful. "Something is rather suspicious about that place…"

Little Mac didn't believe so. "Nah," he said nonchalantly. "It just looks like any other coffee shop to me. Heck, I bet we'll find a bunch of other guys sitting in there, relaxing and drinking coffee and stuff."

"Then _please_ explain to me," Lucina said lividly, "why every person we encountered so far who wasn't a Smasher was a _villain_ of some sort!"

The boxer took a step back. "Hey, it could just be a freakish coincidence!"

"Well, it's got to be _quite_ freakish if it was all just a simple _coincidence_!"

R.O.B. glared at Little Mac and Lucina. "Quiet! Are you trying to give away our position?"

Sonic pointed ahead. "Look, someone's going into the place!"

The other three Smashers looked in the direction the hedgehog was pointing and caught a glimpse of a slim figure darting into the coffee shop called The Roast. Little Mac glanced to the other Smashers and asked, "You reckon we should follow him?"

"What tells you that person must be male?" inquired R.O.B.

"Ehh…"

The four Smashers cautiously stepped out from behind the rock and slunk down the hill. When they reached the door of The Roast, Sonic put his ear to the wall.

"…I can't hear a thing," he announced shortly after.

Lucina tried to find an opening that she could peek through. "No cracks, no eyeholes, no anything…"

The Smashers pressed themselves against the wall, pondering over what to do.

"…So," said R.O.B. "Should we make a noisy entrance, a casual entrance, or a sneaky entrance?"

"Noisy," Little Mac immediately said.

"Casual," answered Sonic.

"Sneaky," said Lucina.

They looked at each other with strange expressions.

"…Well, I'm kind of leaning toward casual," R.O.B. said after a moment of thought. "Who knows what a noisy entrance will lead to, and a sneaky entrance has a high risk of getting caught. None of us is as good as Snake, you know."

Little Mac and Lucina murmured to each other, then nodded.

"Casual it is, then," said Lucina.

Sonic grinned broadly. "Awesome! You guys stay behind me. I'll take the lead and demonstrate my superb skills at casual entrances. Watch the master do his stuff!"

And he grabbed the handle, threw open the door, and strolled right into The Roast. With pounding hearts—or gears, in R.O.B.'s case—Little Mac, Lucina, and R.O.B. followed him inside.

Sonic threw open his arms. _"Ahhhhhh!"_ he said with a dramatic sigh. "What a _lovely_ night this is, eh, ladies and gents? A nighttime coffee is perfect for a late-nighter like…"

His voice gradually trailed away when he suddenly realized just who was hanging around in the coffee shop and staring at him.

Magolor.

Black Shadow.

Nightmare.

Phosphora. **_(3)_**

Dimentio.

When Lucina saw Validar, her face visibly turned white.

When Little Mac saw Bald Bull, his eyebrow twitched.

When R.O.B. saw the Ancient Minister, he immediately short-circuited.

When Sonic saw SonicEXE, he let out a shriek.

_"HOLY—"_

But when the Smashers (minus the short-circuited R.O.B.) saw Storm Aurastar's avatar tied to a chair, they had second thoughts about running.

"Aurastar!" cried Lucina. "What _are_ you doing here?"

"I'd like to ask you the same thing," the avatar replied, acting as if he weren't tied to a chair and surrounded by a bunch of villains. "Why are _you_ here?"

"Well, uh…" Sonic looked sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head and admitted, "We thought this place was a coffee shop. Sorta like The Roost, y'know?"

"This isn't The Roost." Aurastar sounded frustrated. "It's The _Roast_. And no, they don't roast coffee or coffee beans here. Rather…"

He nodded toward the fireplace in the corner. Then he said, "And then there's me, so—"

Lucina instantly went into action. Before anyone could blink, she had already drawn her sword and slashed through the ropes that restricted Aurastar. The FanFiction avatar stood up and kicked the chair backwards, launching it straight into Nightmare's face.

"Let's all be kick-ass and kick some ass!" he wisely suggested.

Mayhem erupted inside the small building. Little Mac yelled a war cry and launched himself onto Bald Bull, using his small size to his advantage. When Validar started toward R.O.B., Lucina jumped in front of the incapacitated robot and lunged at the sorcerer to drive him off. Sonic dodged SonicEXE's punch and Spin Dashed into Magolor, quickly knocking him out. R.O.B. abruptly flickered back to life, and as the Ancient Minister prepared to fry him with a laser, the Smasher rushed forward and clobbered his foe with his metallic arms. Aurastar pulled out his holographic keyboard and showed it to the villains who were still up and fighting.

"Hurt any of us and I'll delete you for good!" he warned.

Then everyone heard a familiar voice.

_"Falcoooooooon…"_

Black Shadow let out a loud oath.

_"…KIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!"_

The wall exploded as an F-Zero racer wearing a red helmet with a golden falcon burst through, one foot stretched out and surrounded by flames. Captain Falcon's foot slammed into Black Shadow's chest and launched him straight through the other wall of the small building.

"Okay, guys!" Aurastar shouted. _"Run!"_

He led the five Smashers through the hole Captain Falcon had made. The remaining villains charged after them.

"Don't let them get away!" cried Phosphora, zipping through the air. "Oh, Dimentio, hurry up, will you?!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" the two-dimensional jester insisted as he flew after the Lightning Flash. "Calm down, dear!"

Phosphora groaned and turned into a bolt of lightning, then streaked across the sky at extreme speeds. Aurastar saw the lightning out of the corner of his eye and typed something into his keyboard. Just as Phosphora was closing in, the avatar and the Smashers vanished.

-ooo-

Meanwhile, back at the Smash Mansion…

Mewtwo opened up a folding chair and placed it near the oven. Mew, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses, positioned herself before the oven and put one paw on the handle. Then Mewtwo put on a pair of sunglasses and pulled out a trombone.

To no one in particular, he announced, "When the Smashers aren't home…"

And he promptly began to play a tune on the trombone.

_Blahhh-duh-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-duh-dah-dah-dah-duh-dahhh! Blahhh-duh-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-duh-dah-dah-dah-duh-dahhh!_

That was when Mew started headbanging while opening and closing the oven on beat with the trombone.

_Blahhh-duh-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-duh-dah-dah-dah-duh-dahhh!_

_SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK!_

_Blahhh-duh-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-duh-dah-dah-dah-duh-dahhh!_

_SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK!_

Darkrai was peeking through a crack in the kitchen door, ogling at the scene. **_(4)_**

_…I'll just pretend I'm not here…_ he thought, slowly backing away from the door and running off to Arceus knows where.

-ooo-

By now, five more Smashers—Robin, Samus, King Dedede, Olimar, and Falco—had made their way down to the entrance of the town called Hsamsville. They quickly joined the group of Smashers that was already standing around there.

"I'm so sick of this place!" yelled King Dedede. "It feels like last year all over again, but worse!"

Rosalina's Luma flew out of nowhere and whacked the penguin on the head. "Oh, _do_ stop whining!" snapped Rosalina as the Luma nodded.

Ike gave Falco a gentle pat on the back. "I'm so glad to see that you and the others are all right," he whispered.

Falco nodded stiffly but said nothing.

Marth prodded Ike's arm. "Hey," he muttered. "Do you think there's any way we can talk our way out of this? I'm not really in the mood for a fight."

"Who's the best orator here?" asked Mr. Game & Watch.

"Definitely not you."

"Was that an insult?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Let's see if I can do something."

The prince stepped away from the swordsman and sheathed Falchion before facing the band of villains before them. "Before we start fighting," he said, "I would like some questions answered."

"You're just trying to stall, aren't ya?" asked Skull Kid, laughing mischievously.

"All I want is you to clear a few things up," Marth replied calmly. "Firstly, what is Hsamsville and how were we transported here?"

"You're probably not supposed to know," said Liquid Snake, "but you'll likely end up finding out anyway, so I might as well just tell you now. Hsamsville is—"

The Hitokui chef cut him off by pointing his bloody knife at him. "それは言わないで。"

Surprised, the blonde-haired man glanced at him. "なぜ？" he asked.

"静かに" was the chef's curt answer.

Snake was amused. "Well. It looks like someone here wants to keep us all in the dark, eh?"

"The chef of Hitokui is just like that," Arden explained. "He's really quiet and secretive. That's why I didn't figure out the true story behind Hitokui Village until…well…" He shut his mouth and refused to say anything further.

Robin clutched his tome tightly in one hand while his other hand kept a firm grip on his Levin Sword. "If they refuse to say anything, we'll never understand," he said quietly. "All we know is that some portal sucked us into this place. But how and why did that happen?"

"I'm sure someone planned this," said Samus as she kept an eye on Dark Samus, who was standing about seven feet from her. "Call me crazy if this is all just a coincidence. I bet there's some guy out there who plotted everything out so there'd be no one in the way to stop him from doing whatever he wants to do."

"…The newspaper."

Falco spoke softly, but everyone heard him clearly. "The newspaper," he murmured again. "That one small section. It said there was a disappearance in Smashville that day, and yet no one knew about it. I didn't know until Pete came…"

"What the heck are you talking about?" asked Junior. **_(5)_**

"Earlier today, Fox and Wolf were talking about reinforced glass—"

"Wait, _what_?"

"—when Pete—you know, that pelican from Animal Crossing who delivers the mail—crashed into the window. He showed me an article with a headline that said a disappearance had occurred in Smashville. What made the thing suspicious was that there was no writer, and the article specifically instructed all the Smashers—yes, _all_ the Smashers—to head over to Dusk Forest. And stuff happened. To be more exact, we all were warped to Hsamsville."

"Does anyone else know about this article?" asked Olimar.

The Star Fox pilot shook his head.

Skull Kid shrugged. "There you go. There's your answer. Someone planned it all out, and now y'all are stuck here with us. Fun stuff, right?"

The Hitokui chef glared at him to silence him.

"…But wait," Ben the Mii Brawler suddenly said. "_Who_ planned it all out?"

He yelped when the Dark Lord answered him.

"The answer to that," the dragon-like ghost said in a deep voice that reverberated through the air, "will be told after you are lying on the ground at our feet."

"But you don't have feet," Amber pointed out.

"Oh, _hush_."

At that moment, there was a flash, and Aurastar, R.O.B., Sonic, Lucina, and Little Mac landed on the ghost's head.

"Gee, _what_ now?!" complained Ness.

Aurastar gave the Dark Lord a couple of kicks to the head. Little Mac pulled back his fist and punched the ghost so hard that he all but knocked him out.

"Free for all!" yelled Aurastar wildly.

Lucina drew her sword and, with a yell, dived on top of Lost Silver. Red returned to his senses and tossed out a Poké Ball that released Charizard. Lost Silver sent out his half-dead Cyndaquil, and while his Pokémon ran off to fight Charizard, he turned his attention back to Lucina.

_Bang!_

The Duck Hunt duo was off and running when the huntsman fired his NES Zapper. Dog brought out a can and threw it straight upwards; Duck flapped his wings and pecked at the can, making it fly in the huntsman's direction. It hit the huntsman and blew up.

The Wii Fit Trainer narrowly avoided an explosive attack that Skull Kid threw at her. She dashed behind him and made a grab for him. Skull Kid dodged her and levitated into the air.

"Who wants me to pull down the moon again?!"

A boomerang, a pebble, and a Luma flew into his face.

"Just you," said Link as he, Arden, and Rosalina watched Skull Kid obey the laws of gravity and fall back to the ground while the boomerang flew back to Link's hand.

Liquid pulled out a rifle and began to reload it with a fresh magazine. Then Captain Falcon sauntered up to him and pulled out a Walkman. He turned up the volume on the device and began to play a song on it.

_"Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier,"_ he sang, dancing along to the tune. The other Smashers and villains stopped fighting to turn and stare at him, while Trainer found that he had a surprisingly good singing voice. _"Ooh, child, things will get brighter. You listen to these words. Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier. Ooh, child, things'll get brighter. Then bring it down _hard_!"_ His movements became jerkier. _"Someday—"_

"What are you doing?" Liquid asked him incredulously.

Still dancing, Captain Falcon pointed at himself, then at him. "Dance-off. Me and you. Yea or nay?"

With a raised brow, the other man continued to watch him. Captain Falcon held out his hand for Trainer.

"Miss Trainer?"

The Wii Fit Trainer took a nervous step back and shook her head. The F-Zero racer just grinned.

"Subtle," he said as he withdrew his hand. "Take it back."

Again, Liquid asked, "_What_ are you _doing_?"

With an exasperated sigh, Captain Falcon finally decided to give Liquid a straight answer.

"I'm distracting you, ya big turd blossom!"

A furry blue ball sailed through the air and collided with the back of Liquid's head. The man dropped his rifle, then fell face-first to the ground and lay still. In midair, Sonic uncurled himself and landed on King Dedede's shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "Well?" he asked. "How was _that_?"

There was an abrupt burst of laughter. Captain Falcon turned his head and was very pleased to see Snake chuckling.

"That," the mercenary said with some difficulty, "is definitely the _best_ thing I've seen that's ever happened to my brother."

Captain Falcon beamed at him. "Gotta thank Marvel for that one." **_(6)_**

"It's a pity that this chapter isn't a canon one, though."

"Well, now all you gotta do is pray that Storm Aurastar will hear our prayers, Dave."

"Don't call me that."

-ooo-

Meanwhile, in the real world…

"Snake and Captain Falcon want me to do _what_?" exclaimed Storm Aurastar, her mouth falling open.

-ooo-

"Toooooooooon! We're gonna—"

_CRASH!_

Toon Link's arrow shattered into a thousand bits when it went hurtling into a tree. The cartoon Hylian, Pac-Man, and Mega Man jumped away from the destroyed arrow and grabbed the nearest tree branches.

"Well, so much for _that_!" Toon Link said with a huff, disappointed to see that this physics-defying arrow ride hadn't gone as well as the one that had taken out three villains at once. "We'll go on foot from here. Or would you like me to give you another arrow ride?"

"I think I've had my fill of physics-defying events today, Toon," Mega Man quickly said. "Maybe next time."

"Sure, that's okay, too!" Toon Link climbed onto the branch and sat on it. "Anyway…it doesn't look like Link's here anymore."

Pac-Man made his way to the trunk of the tree, and he shimmed his way down. "I see a drag mark," he said, gesturing to a long, shallow path in the dirt. "I bet Skull Kid dragged him off when he saw that you weren't there to interfere, Toon."

The cartoon Hylian groaned loudly while jumping onto the ground. "Great. That's just _great_! Link is gone, Skull Kid is with him, and there's a bunch of other villains out there to wreak havoc! Did I miss anything?"

"Only that we'll win," said Mega Man optimistically. "You were able to take out Elec Man, Blinky, and Pinky with one hit!"

"Yeah, but they couldn't possibly be the toughest baddies here. Remember, Link and I saw _Ghirahim_ strolling around."

"Well, at least we know three guys are down… Now we just need to know how many more we have to face."

A knife embedded itself in the wood next to Pac-Man's face. Slowly, he turned to give it a good look before screaming.

"KNIFE!"

"We can all see that, Captain Obvious!" shouted Toon Link. "…Wait a minute. A knife?"

He tugged the thing out of the tree trunk and examined it. It was black with white edges and a red diamond on either side.

"This isn't a knife! It's a _dagger_!"

"There's no difference!" Pac-man protested.

"Oh, yes, there is! This is _Ghirahim's_ dagger!"

Another dagger whisked by and skewered Toon Link's hat into the tree. Angrily, he shouted, "Oi! Nobody messes with my hat! Eat _this_!" He whipped out a bomb, waited for a couple seconds, and lobbed it forward. The moment it detonated, he grabbed Pac-Man and Mega Man and pulled them behind the tree. Then he took out his bow, set an arrow, and waited.

The smoke from the bomb's blast quickly dispersed. As it did, the Smashers saw a lean figure emerge, walking casually while twirling a dagger in one hand.

Toon Link sucked in his breath and let his arrow fly. The arrow zipped out and struck the dagger out of the figure's hand. Then, with a loud yell, he jumped away from the tree.

"Hi, Ghirahim!"

He raised his sword.

_"Die, Ghirahim!"_

The Demon Lord simply bent down and stopped Toon Link's sword with his bare hands. Then he grabbed the sword and lifted it into the air with the Smasher still clinging onto the hilt. Then he tossed everything, Toon Link and all, back to the tree that Mega Man and Pac-Man were still hiding behind.

_Crash!_

"Next time, I believe you should think before you speak!" Ghirahim called out cordially. "'Die, Ghirahim'? Don't you know that it took your ancestor _quite_ a while to defeat me?"

"He still defeated you in the end, though!" hollered Toon Link, rubbing his cheek as Mega Man and Pac-Man helped him off the ground. "He won it in the end! And you _didn't_!"

"Ah, yes. That's right. _That_ Link won." Ghirahim stuck his tongue out at Toon Link; Mega Man recoiled at its unusual length. _**(7)**_ "But what about…" The demon twirled a finger in a circle before pointing dramatically at Toon Link. "…_this_ Link here?"

The cartoon Hylian just bit his lip and narrowed his eyes.

At that exact moment, a boy appeared in the Smashers' midst.

"Hi," stated Aurastar as though nothing unusual had happened. "We need to talk."

Toon Link jabbed a finger toward Girahim and began to protest, "But he—"

"WHO CARES ABOUT HIM?" shrieked the FanFiction avatar. "NOW COME ALONG! I WAS SUPPOSED TO POST THIS CHAPTER ON OCTOBER 31 AND IT'S ALREADY FREAKING _NOVEMBER 9_!" _**(8)**_

Before Toon Link could protest any further or Pac-Man could mention that the fourth wall had just been smashed down, Aurastar typed a word on his holographic keyboard and teleported everyone to…

-ooo-

…the entrance of Hsamsville, where every other Smasher and respective enemy was already waiting.

"Jeez, what took y'all so long?" Wario demanded when Aurastar, Toon Link, Pac-Man, Mega Man, and Ghirahim appeared.

"Toon Link and his buddies were riding on an arrow in the wrong direction," answered Aurastar.

Toon Link looked shocked. "How in Hyrule did _you_ know—"

"Simple. I'm the avatar of this Author's fanfic." Aurastar strode into the center of the circle of various video game characters. "Okay, everyone. Please refrain from killing each other during this hopefully brief meeting."

Pseudo-Palutena gave Palutena an evil stare.

_"And I mean it,"_ said Aurastar dangerously.

Dry Bowser scooted a little closer to Bowser and opened his maw. Aurastar rolled his eyes and brought out his keyboard.

"Would you like me to Erase you right now?"

"You're bluffing, aren't you?" jeered Pigma Dengar. "Ya already know y'can't do that 'cause that'd make someone totally disappear and mess up everything in the games and stuff."

Aurastar turned toward him. Pigma flushed and shrank away, muttering things under his breath.

"…Thank you. Okay, guys." Aurastar swiped the keyboard aside and grinned. "I have some big news to tell you all. First of all, _Super Smash Bros._ for the 3DS was released during Storm Aurastar's absence."

"Absence?" asked Pikachu.

"The time that passed between Chapter 46 and Chapter 47," the avatar explained. "Anyway, _SSB4_ came with a whole lot of new Smashers and Assist Trophies, correct?"

"No wonder Greninja, the Duck Hunt Duo, Dark Pit, and all these other guys randomly appeared," noted Lucario, laughing a little. He was still slight shaken from his encounter with Ferron the Mega Lucario.

"Exactly," agreed Aurastar. "Now I need to tell you a bit about Hsamsville."

Almost immediately, all the Smashers leaned forward to hear what the avatar had to say.

"Hsamsville is located in a parallel universe to Smashville," said Aurastar. "It's populated only by people who're the total opposite of those people living in Smashville. It's only accessible to Smashers, and only on certain days such as October 31. You guys got the opportunity to experience that firsthand."

Snake threw a sideways glance at Liquid, who stood right next to him.

"I'm still praying that whatever Captain Falcon did to you will be canon."

"Ah. Would you like _me_ to punch you off the top of Metal Gear?" _**(9)**_

"REX is nothing but scrap metal now."

"Assume that it isn't."

"Fine. Anyway, if the fall didn't kill you, then I'm not worried, either. After all, our genetic code is identical."

"…Why are you saying _my_ lines?"

"Why do _you_ care?"

"And how does falling off a Metal Gear have any relation to _genetic codes_?"

"…Asks the guy who spent more than ten minutes straight ranting about genes and superiority and infer—"

"Shut up," snapped Aurastar. "Let _me_ talk, will ya? Okay, back to _my_ story. Now you Smashers may be wondering how you were transported to this place."

"Oh, _finally_ we get an answer!" cheered Lucas, who was still making sure Porky was standing nowhere near him.

"Pete the pelican gave Falco a newspaper with a short article about some disappearance."

The avian Smasher nodded.

"I'm sure all the Smashers suspect it was Star Aurastorm's doing."

All at once, the Smashers began to chatter.

"I _knew_ it!" yelled Wolf.

"Guess he didn't learn his lesson from last year, huh?!" Fox added, outraged. "_Damn_ it all!"

"Yo, Aurastar!" said Yoshi. "If _you're_ here in Hsamsville, shouldn't _your_ evil counterpart be here?"

"Actually, no," the avatar said. "I don't actually _live_ in Smashville, so there's no alternate version of me in Hsamsville. Like I said, the enemies of certain people _living_ onSmashville live in Hsamsville."

"Oh, _whew_!"

"Continuing. This actually isn't Star's fault. In fact, I don't think he even knows about this place."

The unison cry of _"WHAT?!"_ made Aurastar fall off the rock he was sitting on. He climbed back onto his makeshift seat, dusted his pants, and went on like he hadn't said anything totally mind-blowing. "I hate to admit it, but…_I_ orchestrated everything."

Once again, he fell off the rock when everyone hollered _"WHAAAAAT?!"_ again.

"Y'all need to stop knocking off my seat," he said accusingly as he placed himself on the rock again.

"Maybe _you_ should _start_ doing some explaining!" yelled Diddy Kong. "Why did you send us all here? Are you trying to kill us or something?!"

"Here's the thing!" Aurastar shouted over the din. "Storm Aurastar realized that with the addition of the new Assist Trophies in the new _Super Smash Bros._ game, she had to find a way to get those new Assist Trophy characters into the fanfic we're standing in right now. But she knew that simply having the Smashers encounter the Assist Trophy characters who happened to be antagonists could be considered suicide, so she came up with a genius idea: why not wait until Halloween, when she could write a couple non-canon chapters? That way, if something weird happened, it wouldn't affect the main plot of _Life at the Mansion_." With a sheepish grin, he added, "And, judging by the way you met up with your enemies, weird things definitely happened."

The Smashers just grumbled and muttered under their breaths as they listened to the FanFiction avatar's explanation. Then Samus came up with a question.

"So, Aurastar—who exactly are these new Assist Trophy characters?"

"Wait. Let me search it up." For a few moments, there was silence as Aurastar went the Super Smash Bros. wiki to read the list of Assist Trophies in _SSB4_. "…All right, I got it. Skull Kid, Ghirahim, the four ghosts from _Pac-Man_, Starman, Phosphora, Chain Chomp, Elec Man, Mother Brain and a bunch of Rinka things, Dark Samus, Nightmare…and I think that's all…"

Kirby made a face. "That's a lot of bad-guy Assist Trophies."

"If you have a complaint, you'd better tell Masahiro Sakurai." The FanFiction avatar flipped through the many pages on the wiki. "…Oh, here's something else." He pointed at Pac-Man. "_You_ will have to cooperate with the ghosts."

Pac-Man and the four ghosts blinked in surprise.

"Pac-Man's smash attacks will involve Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Side smash, down smash…"

The spherical yellow Smasher was incredulous. "What?! That's just downright cruel! These guys have been chasing me for thirty-four years already!"

"Hey, all these huntsmen have been after _their_ asses for thirty-_eight_ years already!" retorted Falco, waving his hand toward the Duck Hunt Duo. "Count yourself lucky!"

"Yeah, but—"

"Also, Mr. Huntsman-With-The-NES-Zapper will be assisting the Duck Hunt Duo."

Duck quacked loudly and fainted.

"You see, some moves that the Duck Hunt Duo uses involves an off-screen, fourth wall-breaking shooter—the standard special attack and Final Smash, for example."

Rosalina began, "But what if he—"

"He _won't_ shoot either Dog or Duck," Aurastar reassured her. "At least I hope he won't. Right?" He glanced at the huntsman meaningfully. The huntsman just grunted and spun his NES Zapper in one hand. "Okay, that's cool." He then swiped the holographic screen out of his face and cleared his throat loudly. "Aaaaand that's all I have to say."

He paused.

"Wait, no. I have one more thing."

Aurastar turned to Lucario.

"Beware of Ferron."

The Aura Pokémon just looked confused.

"And _that's_ all I have to say," concluded Aurastar.

-ooo-

When the Smashers blinked again, they were back in foyer of the Smash Mansion.

"…The heck just happened?" Wolf asked bewilderedly.

Little Mac was faintly amused. "Sudden ending much?"

-ooo-

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen…

After Mewtwo and Mew had finished their little performance of _When the Smashers aren't home…_, Mewtwo had packed up his trombone and Mew had gone off to raid the sugar supply in the basement. Now Mewtwo was lying on one of the tables in the kitchen, taking a catnap (pun unintended).

_"…Mewwwww…"_

His ears twitched.

_"…twooooOOOOOO!"_

A black blur shot right through the wall and collided with the Genetic Pokémon. Spluttering, Mewtwo leaped back to his feet. "Darkrai! What's wrong with you? What happened?"

Darkrai lay flat on the ground with an elated expression upon his face. "Mewtwo!" he cried enthusiastically while waving his arms. "We got _promoted_!"

Mewtwo stared at him. "…Promoted how?"

"I just talked to Master Hand. He said he's changing a few things because of the recent-ish release of _Super Smash Bros. 4_. Besides the addition of various Smashers and Assist Trophies, a bunch of new Pokémon will join as Poké Ball Pokémon and background characters or stage hazards…

"…except for one particular Pokémon."

The Genetic Pokémon kicked at Darkrai. "Cut out the mysteriousness," he ordered snappishly, "and cut to the chase. _What—happened?_"

"Oh, nothing, really," the Pitch-Black Pokémon replied, his excited behavior suddenly evaporating. "It's just that I'm now a Poké Ball Pokémon instead of just a trophy Pokémon, which will allow me to beat up all the Smashers I don't like—"

"What move will you be using? Dark Pulse?"

Darkrai made a face. "_That_ little move? Of course not. I'll be using my signature move, Dark Void."_  
><em>

"Ah, I see. And as for that 'one particular Pokémon'…?"

"Oh, yes, that." The Dark-type Pokémon pointed at the Psychic-type. "It's you."

"…And?"

"Your promotion is definitely worth all the jealousy." Darkrai chuckled. "Welcome back to the Super Smash Bros."

At first, Mewtwo thought he heard wrong. But as he went over Darkrai's words several more times in his head, his heart began to pound faster.

"…Super Smash Bros., you said…?"

Darkrai nodded and smiled. "Welcome back. They're waiting for you at the—oh, crap—"

After escaping from the area, he had to report the extensive damage done to the kitchen, second floor, third floor, and fourth floor, caused by an ecstatic Mewtwo blasting off straight out of the Smash Mansion and into the sky because of the good news.

-ooo-

Meanwhile, in an unknown location…

"I just _knew_ he'd react the same way the fans did when we announced the news!" said Masahiro Sakurai to himself in Japanese.

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

**_(1)_** The first time Elec Man said that terrible pun was in _Mega Man Powered Up_.

**_(2)_** It's a reference to _Namco vs. Capcom_!

**_(3)_** I know Phosphora helps you out later in _Kid Icarus: Uprising_, but she kind of starts out as an antagonist like Viridi, right?

**_(4)_** This is a reference to a short video that I stumbled upon a couple days ago. It's called _When Mom isn't home…_.

**_(5) _**For convenience's sake, Bowser Jr. will be called Junior in this fanfic.

**_(6)_** If you're still wondering what the heck just happened, what Captain Falcon did to Liquid Snake is a reference to what Peter Quill—also known as Star-Lord—did to Ronan in that one great movie called _Guardians of the Galaxy_. And _Ooh, Child_ belongs to The Five Stairsteps.

**_(7)_** I would recoil for sure!

**_(8)_** Once again, sorry for the massive delay.

_**(9)**_ Snake punched Liquid off the top of Metal Gear REX in _Metal Gear Solid_. It was a sixty-foot fall, and yet Liquid survived. Jeez. (Did I mention this before?)

* * *

><p><strong><em>*…coughs loudly*<em>**

**Captain Falcon:** _*angrily*_ What took you so long?!

_**…I had school—**_

**Palutena:** I've heard that excuse _way_ too many times._  
><em>

_**But you don't understand! None of you can understand just how intense my school is!**_

**Everyone:** _*silent*_

_**…I'm sorry?**_

**Everyone:** _*silent*_

_**…Uh, anyway, Chapter 49 will definitely take quite some time to write, so…hasta la vista, amigos! **_***runs away as fast as possible***


	49. Continue?

**_Uh, yeah… "Hasta la vista," indeed. It's been two months since Chapter 48, and more than five (or was it six?) months since the last canon chapter. Whew._**

**_Anyway, here's Chapter 49! I tried to write this as quickly as possible because Chapter 48 was absolutely _DISASTROUS_ (oh, come on, guys. It _was_ horrible. Believe me!)__, and I needed to write something to __compensate. Writing a fanfic when you're suffering from a lack of inspiration and a plethora of schoolwork is definitely _not_ a good idea… I'll definitely rewrite Chapter 48 at some point._**

**_Now let's get a quick recap of what happened last time! I'm sure most of you forgot many parts of it, if not all. (Even _****I_ did, so don't worry.)_**

**Sonic:** _GASP!_ The author of this fanfic forgot her own stuff?!

**_Hey! That's _****Author_ with a capital _A_! _*kicks Sonic out of the introduction***

**_So! Last time in the canon portions of _****Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace_…_**

**- The Smashers gained a lead in the Project MGZ mystery when Liquid Snake revealed that he had one page of the top-secret blueprints! (I hope you know who he is by now!)**

**- Some Smashers were still stuck in Storm Aurastar's world and forced to hide themselves because if they were seen, bad things would happen! Publicity isn't always a good thing!**

**- Sora popped up in the Isle of the Ancients (alone) and fought a bunch of Primids (alone) and Ridley (alone) before realizing that he wasn't alone because Data-Sora was with him all along!**

**- Star Aurastorm popped up at the Smash Mansion and Erased Pikachu! Then he and Aurastar had a battle before he ran away! Aurastar stated that being Erased is much worse than being killed, but he didn't explain why—yet!**

**- Ferron (that guy who used to be the Smasher called Lucario) popped up at the Smash Mansion to retrieve what Liquid had stolen! Then he used a Mega Stone and some Smashers—as well as Mewtwo—were forced to battle him! (And they got a good pounding in the process…)**

**- Later, Sora and Data-Sora popped up in some Subspacey place and encountered the end product of Project MGZ—Metal Gear ZERO—and also met AntiSora! **

**- In the meantime, the battle with Ferron resulted in Aurastar thinking about Deleting the Pokémon from this fanfic! What will happen next?!**

**_…That is all._**

**_And, uh…this chapter might not be as good as previous ones because I'm _****_still suffering from writer's block. But hey, at least winter break is coming!_**

**_…Lots of game-themed terms in here. They were lots of fun to write. Heck, just look at the chapter title._**

**DISCLAIMER: Everything here belongs to Nintendo, SEGA, Konami, NAMCO, Capcom, Square Enix, and whatever other game company I missed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 49: Continue?<strong>

* * *

><p>Primid 0003 was quite pleased when he saw the motley crew of Mushroom Kingdom humans, Koopa Troopers, Mobian animals, and two Donkey Kong Islanders sitting in their jail cells, alone and despondent.<p>

A few months ago, he had heard from another Primid that a large group Smashers was en route to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics—which seemed like _such_ a long time ago **_(1)_**—and that some members of the Subspace Army were sent to intercept them. The Army's brief mission was successful, and the Smashers were captured. Then six of them escaped, leaving fifteen of the twenty-one. No matter; the number was good enough.

He later heard that the fox called James McCloud had turned the white hedgehog into something called SilverEXE, and after picking up a few snatches of conversation regarding SilverEXE, Primid 0003 immediately knew that he ought not to cross paths with the hedgehog.

_"Blood drips from his empty eyes…"_

_"You can't talk to him. He just keeps asking unanswerable questions about life and existence and stuff. Don't try to form answers… It's impossible."_

_"I passed him by the other day. He was mumbling something that sounded like, 'Let's play a game'… Creepy as heck, if ya ask me."_

_"'It's no use.' Man, that line pisses me off so much now."_

His superiors had instructed him to stand guard at the cell that held the massive gorilla. Primid 0003 paced around before the cell, aimlessly swinging his green Beam Sword in circles, unsure of what to do…and how to put his plan into action.

Primid 0001 had told him that he was going to escape from the Isle of the Ancients and meet the Super Smash Brothers at the Smash Mansion. He had managed to get away, though not without arousing the suspicious of AntiSora.

Right after the first Primid had made his getaway, Primid 0002 informed Primid 0003 that he was going to join the small division of Primids at what used to be King Dedede's castle, which currently served as a disguise for an underground base in which the Subspace Army held Sora and Taki the Piplup hostage. Primid 0002 had said that he would help the Smashers by providing them passwords that would be practically impossible to obtain without help from the enemy side.

Primid 0003 was quite certain that by now, Tabuu was well aware that two members of his forces had betrayed their master.

But even if that were so, he wanted to see that number change to three.

Carefully, the Primid set his sword on the cold floor, rendering himself weaponless. Then he approached the sturdy steel door of the small jail cell. The door had absolutely no openings besides the narrow slot near the too deter. The gorilla called Donkey Kong, who was sitting cross-legged near the door, stirred from his nap when he heard Primid 0003's feet dragging across the floor.

Through the door, he asked flatly, "Whaddya want?"

Clearly, no one had informed the Olympian Smashers that there were supporters of the Super Smash Brothers among the enemies. Primid 0003 cleared his throat. "I need to explain—"

"Oh, _great_." Donkey Kong laughed humorlessly. "First it's Primids, and now it's talking Primids. What's next—flying Primids?" He chuckled again, more to himself than to the Primid. "Jeez. This place is total bananas, I tell ya."

_"Hush,"_ whispered Primid 0003 urgently. His ring-shaped blue eyes **_(2)_** darted from side to side, searching for any passersby. "All right, I don't have much time. Are you going to listen to me or not?"

Donkey Kong snorted. "Pffft, like _I'll_ listen to a _Primid_. I've had enough encounters with you guys to know what it's like."

Primid 0003 huffed angrily. "Look here, you ass—"

"Hey, you making fun of my name, pal?" **_(3)_**

"—if you don't want to listen to what I've got to say, then I might as well just leave you and your friends stuck in this place!"

Donkey Kong paused. "…What?"

"I've been with the Subspace Army for a while now," mumbled the Primid, "and I absolutely hate it. It's horrible. I refuse to take part in the Army's horrendous activities anymore!"

"…You…" Donkey Kong hesitated. "…You're just acting, right?"

Letting out a long sigh, Primid 0003 shook his head. "It's a…very long story…"

Metallic footsteps echoed down the narrow corridor. Primid 0003 whirled around and grabbed his Beam Sword. He then stood at the side of the jail cell and tried to make himself look as authoritative as possible, just as a chrome-colored Primid rounded the corner.

_"Primid 0003!"_

Primid 0003's blue eyes narrowed slightly. "…Yes?"

The Metal Primid jabbed a steel finger at the steel door that Donkey Kong sat behind. "You were having a conversation with the prisoner just now, weren't you?" it said accusingly, its voice an unpleasant grating sound to Donkey Kong's sensitive ears.

Primid 0003 spun his sword around in his hand. "Yes, I was," he confidently answered.

The Metal Primid looked suspicious. "And what was it about?"

"Oh, nothing much," the Sword Primid replied. "I was just reminding him how nice it would feel to escape from his cell."

The Metal Primid swung a fist at Primid 0003's head. The Sword Primid quickly dodged it, and the Metal Primid's clenched hand left a crumbling dent into the wall.

"You _dolt_!" it hissed. "He is one of the _enemy_! You can't just have a little conversation with him!"

"But I never said anything of much importance to him." said Primid 0003 calmly. "It's impossible to escape from here, anyway."

"Are you _dense_? Only a few hours ago, Fox McCloud helped Silver the Hedgehog escape from his cell! If it hadn't been for James, they _both_ would've run off! It's a good thing James had that SilverEXE thing in mind… Otherwise, we would've lost _two_ important subjects—"

"Hold up," interrupted Primid 0003. "SilverEXE? _Good?_" He snorted derisively. "Oh, please. He may be on the Subspace Army's side, but I don't trust that furred freak one bit."

"True, he _is_ a bit…unpredictable," admitted the Metal Primid. "But even so, he's clearly on our side."

"Ah. Really."

"Yes, really. Now come along." The Metal Primid turned away from Primid 0003. "We need to discuss what to do with the prisoners with Master Tabuu." It walked away, its feet clanking loudly against the hard floor.

Primid 0003 did not move.

The Metal Primid looked over its shoulder. "Well? Are you coming or not?"

Primid 0003 slowly lifted his sword.

"Master Tabuu? _Master_ Tabuu?"

He scoffed.

"Who ever said Tabuu was _my_ master?"

Before the Metal Primid could react, Primid 0003 had already lunged forward and stabbed through his former comrade's back with his sword. The Metal Primid let out a terrifying, metallic screech as the blade of green-colored energy carved through its body.

"You…_backstabber_…literally—!" it managed to gasp out right before its body completely dissolved into a quivering pile of shadow bugs.

The sound of someone pounding on a steel door filled the air. "Hey!" shouted Donkey Kong. "What's going on out there?!"

In response, Primid 0003 used his sword to slash right through the fingerprint scanner on the door that kept the door locked. The scanner, now in two pieces, clattered onto the floor, and the Sword Primid kicked open the door. Donkey Kong leaped back in shock as Primid 0003 strode in and extended a hand.

"My name is Primid 0003," he said congenially, "and I'm going to help you and your friends get out of here." The gorilla gaped at him as he continued, "Two of my friends are already helping the rest of the Smashers. In fact, one of them is currently hanging around at the Smash Mansion."

"…But…" Donkey Kong was at a loss for words. "…But…aren't you—"

"_Yeeees_, I'm a Primid!" said Primid 0003 impatiently. "But a few of us _know_ the truth—the _actual_ truth. We know what will happen if you lose. So we're going to help you _win_, even if it costs us our lives."

The gorilla was silent. Then he muttered, "…Wow…"

He didn't say anything else as he followed Primid 0003 through the doorway and out the tiny jail cell. When they approached the heap of shadow bugs that used to be a Metal Primid, Primid 0003 stopped.

"Primid 0013," he said without a hint of sympathy. "You poor, poor bastard."

-ooo-

If her parents were at home and not on their own little vacation, they would unquestionably say no to a request of hanging out on the roof.

But, because they were _not_ at home, Storm Aurastar was hanging out on the roof, lying flat on the rooftop with her iPhone 4S in one hand and earphones plugged into her ears. The radio station she was tuned in to was currently playing "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic.

_"Lately, I been, I been losing sleep  
>"Dreaming about the things that we could be<br>"But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard  
>"Said no more counting dollars<br>"We'll be co—"_

"EARTH TO STORM!"

The Author yelped and rolled off the edge of the rooftop. She would have landed on the ground and met an untimely demise if Pit and Neku had not reached through her bedroom window and grab her by her ankles. They yanked her inside and quickly drew the curtains, darkening the room considerably. Storm, slightly dazed, was speechless.

"…Y'know, Pit," Neku said nervously, "I'm starting to think that yelling wasn't the best thing you could've done."

The angel's face was pallid as he managed to squeak a feeble "yeah" in response.

Interestingly enough, Storm hadn't let go of her iPhone during her tumble. It was still clutched within her left hand, "Counting Stars" blasting through the earphones and into her ears.

_"And I don't think the world is sold  
>"I'm just doing what we're told—"<em>

Neku cleared his throat and removed his own headphones from his ears, draping them around his neck. "Uh, Storm… Are you okay?"

The Author slowly turned her face toward him. "'Are you okay?'" she repeated as she slowly removed her earphones. "Is that all you can say? Did you not see how close to death I was just a few seconds ago?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Think before you speak, all right? You could cut down the number of deaths per day if you did so."

"_Yeah_, but—"

"And it would be a pretty bad thing if _I_ died, you know! You wouldn't know how your story ends if that were to happen!" Storm paused for a moment, then raised a brow and noted, "Gee, this is starting to sound like something from _Into the Woods_—" **_(4)_**

"But it's not like _you_ know how it ends," Sonic the Hedgehog pointed out as he entered the room. "You're the type of author who comes up with plots as you write, correct?"

"Exactly. And it's _Author_ with a capital _A_, by the way!"

"…How can you even tell?" asked the hedgehog, astounded.

"It's one of the many perks of being an Author"—Storm smiled at him—"with a capital _A_."

"Uh…Storm," said Pit, speaking for the first time since Storm's near-death experience, "sorry about before. But I just wanted to let you know that a UPS truck just passed by and dropped off a package."

The Author's eyes lit up. "_Awesome!_ It's finally here!" She plugged the earphones back in her ears, slid her phone into her pocket, and charged out of the room and down the stairs, singing along the way.

_"I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie  
>"Everything that kills me makes me feel alive."<em>

Neku heard Mario yelp and Dark Link curse and Storm frantically apologize to Mario for accidentally stepping on him and interrupt his and Dark Link's reading of Rick Riordan's _The Blood of Olympus_.

Sonic glanced at Pit. "_What's_ finally here that makes her so excited?"

The Smashers heard the door swing open and Storm cry out in delight. Then the door shut and something that sounded like a small cardboard box landed on the ground.

"Hey!" snapped Snake's voice. "Be careful with that box!"

"I'd much rather be careful with what's _inside_ the box, thank you very much!" Storm's voice responded.

Neku, Pit, and Sonic glanced at each other before exiting the bedroom and walking down the stairs, where they were joined by the rest of the Smash Mansion residents. Storm was enthusiastically tearing open a cardboard box about the size of a laptop. The Smashers immediately understood the Author's excitement when she pulled a MacBook Pro out of the box.

"Better technology is always good!" she said happily. "Maybe it'll also provide better safeguarding against certain individuals who want to hack my FanFiction account or story. Ahem." She coughed meaningfully before roughly kicking aside the box (Snake couldn't help but glare at her for abusing one of his favorite life-saving items) and sitting down on the bottom step of the stairs. "I'm just going to set up this thing right now…"

"Are you gonna put your real name or your FanFiction name?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Real. I don't want anyone to ask me why I'm signing in to the account for Storm Aurastar. Besides, I don't want any of my friends to know what my FanFiction name is and start stalking my profile and fanfics." When a text box asking for a username appeared, Storm turned the Mac's screen away from the Smash Mansion residents so she could enter her real name without letting anyone know what it was.

Amaterasu groaned. "Oh, please. Why do you insist that your real name remain a secret?"

"I really don't want to show it to the world. It's personal info."

"You _could_-a just tell us your _first_ name-a…" Mario grumbled.

"Ahhh… I'd rather not. Not now."

Storm went through the setup process quickly, an obvious sign that she had Apple savvy. The screen then displayed an empty desktop with absolutely no icons except for the apps that lined the bottom of the screen.

"Oh, my gosh," Storm gushed. "Look at how darn _clear_ the screen is! It's so much better than that obsolete thing I've used till now."

Dark Link rolled his eyes, tired of watching the Author behave like a little kid on Christmas Day. "Ohhhh…_really_."

Ignoring him, Storm declared, "And now, let's begin the process of setting up all my accounts!" She put a finger on the large trackpad and moved the cursor to the Mail icon. "Okay. First, I'll do the Gmail—"

Snake coughed politely. The Author looked at him and said, "Yes?"

"Is there a reason for having multiple e-mails?" the mercenary asked.

"Many reasons. It's helpful for separating this type of mail from that type of mail."

"Hmm… Makes you easier to track down via the internet, if you ask me."

Storm appeared to have not heard him. "Okay, Gmail is done! Now I need to do my other Gmail and my two Yahoo accounts—"

"Just _how_ many e-mail accounts do you have, Storm?!" yelled Jigglypuff with larger-than-normal eyes.

"How many? Not enough!" Storm laughed, much to the Balloon Pokémon's frustration, and proceeded to set up her second Gmail account. "Okay. Here's the username, here's the password, and voilà."

Primid 0001 nudged Palutena. "Oi," he murmured. "How long has it been since Aurastar's last message?"

Palutena, after realizing that she had not seen the FanFiction avatar for a while, simply shrugged. "He must be very busy explaining everything to everybody. It's a lot of information to take in."

"…and here goes my other Yahoo…" Storm was saying.

The Primid looked concerned. "…Then why can't I get rid of this nagging feeling that tells me something bad has happened at the Smash Mansion?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Palutena replied. "I may be a goddess, but I'm not _that_ psychic. And besides, I've never even _seen_ the mansion yet." With a frown, she said, "I would be there right now if it hadn't been for that crazy hand."

"…and here's the iCloud account…"

"Huh… That is precisely his name," said Primid 0001, chuckling. "Crazy Hand…"

"The name fits perfectly. I don't like it."

"…and the iTunes account…"

The screen of the Dell laptop suddenly flickered to life. Storm's FanFiction avatar was standing in the center of the single window on the screen.

"Holy crap, he's back!" yelled Neku.

Storm took no notice as she continued, "…and the App Store…"

Snake growled, reached over her shoulder, and slammed the Mac's lid shut. Storm jumped back, surprised and annoyed.

"What?! It's not my fault I have so many—"

"Hey, kid—right now, I don't give a damn about your accounts, got it? Look at the Dell laptop." When Storm paused, he barked, _"Now!"_

Storm stuck her tongue out at him and turned to the Dell laptop.

_"Whoa!"_ she shrieked. "Aurastar!" She grabbed the Dell laptop and pulled it toward her, them began to type rapidly. _"Hey, slowpoke! What took you so long? How did everything go?"_

Aurastar's face was unreadable. A text bubble appeared above his head.

_"I'm sorry."_

-ooo-

"Metal Gear ZERO was created to make the Super Smash Brothers go from all…to none. None of you could even hope to stand against this weapon!"

AntiSora grinned broadly. Sora's unsureness of the hulking Metal Gear ZERO that stood before him only fueled the Heartless' excitement.

"Best if you take it all in right now, Sora. This place will be your deathbed if you're considering fighting ZERO!"

Sora swallowed nervously. His mouth was completely dry. "…I don't understand," he whispered.

AntiSora's smile faltered. "…What?"

"Why do you want to do this to us? What did we do to you that forces you to…well, eliminate us?"

The Heartless before him appeared to be stunned for a moment. Then he rapidly regained his composure and laughed.

"You're thicker than I thought," he exclaimed with a snort. "What did you do to us? Hmph. You really don't know? You've been a nuisance to the Subspace Army for _years_. Everything we did or tried to do was stopped by some Super Smash Brothers-related individual—"

"But when did _you_ jump onto the Subspace bandwagon?" Sora cut in. "None of the original Smashers—save for a few—ever saw or even heard of you."

AntiSora just shrugged. "Some people worked backstage back then," he said simply.

"And then you all got a giant promotion because the original Subspace bosses had either run away or gotten blown up, yeah?"

"Well, we _did_ manage to retrieve or revive a few of them—like Ridley, whom you fought not too long ago. But yes, you're mostly correct. All right, that's enough dawdling and chitchat!" AntiSora stepped away from the shadows, exposing himself. He removed the black Keyblade from the side of his shorts and pointed it at Sora, the chain that dangled from the bottom of the hilt clinking noisily. Sora quickly held his own Keyblade in a defensive position and expected his nemesis' weapon to spew out a torrent of fire or ice or some other element at him at any moment.

It never came.

Confused, the Smasher watched as AntiSora lowered his Keyblade, examined it, and reattached it to his shorts. The Heartless had that thrilled look in his yellow eyes again.

"Let's play a game," he said eagerly.

Sora groaned loudly. "If it involves getting me beaten up—"

"Oh, _pshhhhh_, it's nothing like that. Besides, it's _your_ fault if you do get beaten up. What you're about to do is far better. And now…"

The Smasher raised a brow. AntiSora leaped forward and lightly tapped Sora's shoulder.

"…you're _it_."

He was already off and running before Sora realized what was going on. "Oh, no _way_," he said incredulously. "You mean to tell me that you dragged me all the way into this mess on for a game of _Tag_?!"

He then saw that AntiSora was dashing straight up the left leg of the massive Metal Gear ZERO. With a yell, Sora raced after him and shot a Blizzaga out of his Keyblade. AntiSora saw the ball of ice in the corner of his eye and picked up his pace, causing the Blizzaga to miss its intended target and hit ZERO's leg instead. A large patch of ice formed on the metal surface upon impact.

Seeing the ice gave Sora an idea. He paused for a couple seconds to see where AntiSora was running toward, then aimed carefully and fired two Blizzaga spells at the area that the Heartless was approaching. The two ice spheres struck ZERO's leg again and froze over a section. Sora almost laughed when AntiSora slid across the ice and fell.

"You little _git_!" he shouted as he saved himself by using his Glide ability. "What did you do _that_ for?!"

"Well…" said Sora slyly, "you _did_ say I was _it_…"

AntiSora glared at him and rushed away again. Sora charged after him, blasting Firaga spells as he did. Now AntiSora began to make his way up ZERO's right leg, and Sora, refusing to let his enemy get away, followed him closely.

Just then, the Smasher started feeling that this game of Tag was getting a little ridiculous. "Okay, Anti," he yelled. "Just what are you up to?"

AntiSora turned around, now running backwards at a fifty-degree angle. "I'm playing a game with you," he answered, his voice matter-of-fact.

Sora gnashed his teeth. "I can see that. But what _exactly_ are you doing?!"

The smirk that the Heartless gave him did not help. The response only made everything worse.

"I'm distracting you." _**(5)**_

A low, ominous rumble filled the air. Sora lost his footing on the steep surface of Metal Gear ZERO's right leg and was forced to return to the ground. AntiSora, in the meantime, took a flying leap into the air and grabbed a piece of metal that jutted out slightly from the side of what could be called ZERO's right thigh. As he jumped his way up to the mech's monstrous head, another tremor shook the large room.

For the first time in a long while, Data-Sora spoke up. _"I don't think I'm liking this rumbling sound very much!"_ he said nervously.

"You don't say…" Sora muttered.

_"No, that's not what I meant,"_ said his digital companion with an impatient look. _"What I'm saying is that I think Metal Gear ZERO is _activating_!"_

The two lights at the top of the mech glowed brighter than ever, and ZERO emitted a low rumble that sounded eerily like a beastly growl.

_Jeez!_ Sora thought as he stood his ground and held his Keyblade before himself. _They even outfitted the thing with sound effects!_

AntiSora's voice filled the room. He was sitting within the Metal Gear's cockpit. _"Thanks for playing with me, Sora,"_ he said, his voice amplified thanks to a hidden loudspeaker within ZERO. _"You arrived here sooner than I had expected. But you gave ZERO all the time it needed to boot up by playing Tag with me. Poor fool,"_ he mocked the Smasher derisively. _"Always all alone. Always fighting alone. Theres no one here to save you now."_

The hologram of Data-Sora seemed to brighten considerably as the digital Keyblade wielder angrily scowled and shouted, _"Well, _I'm_ here for him!"_

_"Huh? Did I hear a voice?"_ AntiSora chuckled when Data-Sora made sounds of frustration. _"It's useless, Sora! Unless you have some sort of plan that could miraculously save you, you might as well start running now!"_

The moment he finished saying this, a firecracker flew out of nowhere, whistled through the air, and crashed onto ZERO's left foot. AntiSora let out a yell and ZERO let out a screech that reminded Sora of rusty metal being twisted. While the Metal Gear stumbled about and tried to regain its balance, a large gorilla and a Sword Primid entered the room through a trapdoor on the floor that Sora would never have noticed until something came out of it. He recognized the gorilla almost immediately.

"Donkey Kong!" he cried ecstatically, and he rushed toward him. Donkey Kong saw the Keyblade wielder and grinned.

"Hey, Sora! This ain't the best place for a friendly meet up, but in any case, it's real good to see ya!"

Sora stopped before the fellow Smasher. "You have _no_ idea how happy I am right now," he gushed. "You've been gone for so long—_too_ long, actually! This is almost too good to be true! And your timing couldn't have been any—_where the heck did you get that?_"

Tucked under the gorilla's right arm was a cracker launcher, not unlike those used in the Smashers' brawls but slightly bigger than normal. "Oh, this?" he said, nodding toward it. "Primid 0003 lent it to me."

"Oh, that's cool!" Sora stopped. "…Wait. Did you say 'Primid' just now?"

"…That would be me."

Sora turned to see the Sword Primid that had accompanied Donkey Kong on the way into massive room that housed Metal Gear ZERO. "Hello," the Primid said calmly, ignoring Sora's look of pure shock. "I'm Primid 0003 and—"

"Fighting now, intros later!" exclaimed Donkey Kong when he saw ZERO slowly turning toward him and his friends. "We gotta move or that thing's gonna squash us!"

Everyone sprinted away from the Metal Gear, which was starting to lift its right foot. Sora wondered how it was possible for such an enormous mech to balance on one leg for three seconds, let alone more than ten.

"So what's the plan?" he asked Donkey Kong as they ran.

"No idea!" the gorilla replied. "I wish I could use the cracker launcher again, but that blast you saw was the last missile."

_"No wonder it was so big,"_ remarked Data-Sora _**(6)**_. _"But why didn't you save a few more?"_

"We ran into some Shaydas on the way here," replied Primid 0003, keeping a tight grip on his precious sword. "We didn't have a choice but to use the launcher for a quick battle."

"Ah! That's bad! We don't have anything effective to use on ZERO!"

"To use on _what_?" said Donkey Kong.

"Metal Gear ZERO. That's its name! According to AntiSora, the Subspace Army created it to wipe out all the Smashers!"

"…Thus bringing the number of Smashers to zero." Primid 0003 nodded. "Right."

AntiSora's voice and the small earthquake that Metal Gear ZERO made when it set down its foot nearly made them trip. _"Where do you think you're going?!"_ the Heartless demanded. _"I won't let you escape! Especially _you_, Primid 0003!"_

Metal Gear ZERO screeched again and unleashed a barrage of missiles that homed in on the fleeing Smashers and Primid.

_"Scatter!"_ shouted Data-Sora.

The group immediately split up, with Sora going left and Donkey Kong going right. Primid 0003 thought quickly and made a tight hairpin turn, luring several of the missiles that ZERO had shot at him and the Smashers to follow him.

_"Primid 0003!"_ roared Donkey Kong as he lobbed the empty cracker launcher at the two missiles that were trailing after them, blowing them up. "What the bananas are you _doing_?!"

The Sword Primid continued to run as fast as he could. He could feel the missiles starting to gain on him.

"Oh, come _on_," he urged himself. "Faster. Faster!"

As he approached Metal Gear ZERO, AntiSora called out again. _"Oh, what a _marvelous_ hero you are!"_ he taunted. _"What a noble thing to do when your two friends are about to die with you! Are you trying to commit suicide and help this world get rid of yet another useless life?"_

Primid 0003 said nothing. The missiles screamed behind him, and Sora and Donkey Kong screamed at him. ZERO raised a massive foot and prepared to stomp on the Primid. He barely managed to avoid being crushed, and the metal appendage slammed onto the ground. The large room shook as if an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 had struck. At the same time, the missiles that were following Primid 0003 instead flew into ZERO's right leg. As though in pain, the Metal Gear bellowed, and AntiSora let loose a stream of curses.

"Oho! Nice one!" Donkey Kong called when he discovered what Primid 0003 had been planning.

The Sword Primid left Metal Gear ZERO to stumble about and regrouped with the gorilla and Sora in a small alcove cut into the left wall of the room. He hoped it would shield them from whatever the Metal Gear was armed with, if only for a moment. "Okay, you two," he whispered. He was still sweating from his close encounter with a giant metal foot that nearly turned him into a shadow bug pancake. "I think it's best if we retreat for now."

"What?! Retreat?!" Donkey Kong hated the word. After all, retreating was a sign of cowardice. "Imagine all the ridicule we'll get if we do!" he protested.

"But our lives are more important," Primid 0003 argued. "Wouldn't it be better to—er, cliché saying coming up—lose the battle but win the war?"

"But—"

Data-Sora squealed, interrupting the debate. _"Watch out!"_

Something long and flexible cracked overhead. Sora leaped back in fright when a large portion of the alcove that he and his friends were hiding in was suddenly smashed off. Donkey Kong dared to poke his head past the crumbling wall, and he gasped when he saw a long, metallic tail waving in the air behind Metal Gear ZERO.

_"Come on out!"_ AntiSora challenged. _"Don't think I can't see you!"_

The threesome looked at each other before making a mad dash for the other side of the room. AntiSora attempted to stop them by having ZERO blast a laser at them. The high-power laser cut a deep, steaming trench into the ground, slicing through the floor as if the floor were made of butter rather than cold, hard metal. Primid 0003 used the trench to his advantage and leaped into it, then lay prone on the ground and crawled forward.

"This should provide us some cover," he said.

Sora and Donkey Kong promptly joined him and followed suit.

ZERO continued to blast its laser wildly around the room. At one point, AntiSora directed the mech to look up to the ceiling and launch a missile. The rocket exploded on the roof, causing large pieces of heavy debris to fall toward the floor.

"…I take back my earlier words," stated Primid 0003.

He and the two Smashers jumped back out of the trench before running in circles and figure-eights to avoid being crushed by the wreckage. Of course, the ceiling rubble was like confetti to ZERO.

"_Now_ what's the plan?" Sora yelled to Data-Sora.

_"Well, given that it's completely impossible to fight Metal Gear ZERO under the current circumstances,"_ his digital counterpart answered, _"the only thing you can do right now is get out of here!"_

"Easier said than done! Where can we go?"

"And how do we fight a Metal Gear, anyway?" added Donkey Kong, looking panicked.

_"You need firepower. Lots and lots of it. Just ask Solid Snake! But we can't contact him right now, and we don't have any firepower at hand."_

"As for where to go, just follow me." Primid 0003 whirled around and expertly sliced a flying piece of rock in half with his green Beam Sword, then ran toward the right-side wall of the room. Donkey Kong said, "Oh, yeah! The trapdoor!" and went after him with Sora right at his heels. They reached the trapdoor in no time, and Primid 0003 was quick to lift the well-disguised panel and usher the two Smashers in before entering himself and shutting the door, throwing him and his companions into total darkness. Data-Sora's hologram brightened to make their seeing their escape route a little easier.

"Now go," he said as they ran, this time at a slower pace. As they continued, the sounds of Metal Gear ZERO tearing up the room above their heads began to fade away. "This corridor will lead us to a room with a red door. It should transport you away from the Isle of Ancients and to a location near Smashville."

When the Smashers heard the name of their hometown, their eyes brightened. "Smashville, huh?! That's great!" said Sora cheerily.

"But what about you, Primid 0003?" asked Donkey Kong.

"Me? Ah…" The Sword Primid's blue eyes turned away from the gorilla. "…I'll stay here, of course."

"_What?!_ But you're in the most danger! Now the Subspace Army _clearly_ knows you're a traitor!"

"Even if they don't know anything right now, they'll find out later. The Army always finds out. In fact, Tabuu is already well aware of two other moles. It's no use hiding…because there is _no place to hide_. And besides…" Primid 0003 winked at the gorilla and Sora. "…_someone_ needs to relay info on Metal Gear ZERO back to the Smashers, right?"

He was met with silent stares. He stared back.

"…You," Sora finally said when he thought the silence was beginning to get overly awkward, "are absolutely suicidal."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Primid 0003 replied with a look. "Tabuu is not my master, and I have no intention of aiding him in any way. I am going to help you win."

"Even if it costs you your life?" said Donkey Kong quietly, quoting the Sword Primid's earlier words.

The group of three continued to run through the pitch-black darkness. Their instincts were their only guides.

"…Yes" was the eventual answer. "Even if it costs me my life."

-ooo-

Ferron was dying.

No… That was not accurate.

He was disappearing. Being Deleted.

The Mega Lucario watched, appalled, as his body began to turn transparent with agonizingly slow speed. Amber the Mii Gunner screamed at Aurastar.

"WHAT…DID YOU _DO_?!"

The avatar was standing perfectly still. Ferron knew it wasn't because of the cold.

"…I'm sorry…" he whispered numbly.

He had said those two words again and again and again after he had pressed the Delete key, the key that had sealed Ferron's fate.

"Why did you do it?!" Amber shrieked, her eyes livid. "You could've done something else! Something besides Deletion!"

"I had no choice…"

"Oh, yes, you did," the Mii Gunner shot back. "You could have at least _kept_ him restrained like you did for—what? Three minutes? Five minutes? What drove you to do such a horrible thing?! You just about _murdered_ someone! We can't reverse the Deletion process, can we?"

Somewhere, a person laughed.

"Ahhhh…if only." Star Aurastorm emerged from the trees, arms crossed and pale blue eyes shining. "But unfortunately for you, reversing it is impossible. Once it begins, there's no going back." With a tilt of his head, he said, "Deleting makes quite a good tool for suicide, if you ask me. Better than any firearm, blade, fall, fire, poison, hanging, drowning…because it's impossible to go back."

Carl the Mii Swordfighter spun toward him in a fit of rage and flung a Shuriken of Light at Aurastar's counterpart. Star merely laughed and sidestepped to avoid the weapon, which embedded itself in a tree trunk. Amber yelled furiously and used Flame Pillar. Once again, Star dodged the projectile and allowed it to erupt into a column of fire that evaporated all the snow in the place it struck.

"Hm? Why so serious?" Star laughed at the two Miis' outraged glares. "And where's the third Mii?"

"…Ben got knocked out by Ferron," Carl admitted reluctantly.

"Ah, I see," said Star with a nod. "I guess you aren't so powerful as you believe."

In response, Amber fired a Gunner Missile from her arm cannon. To her surprise, the missile actually connected, and it exploded in the white-haired boy's face.

"That was _not_ funny," he snarled once the smoke had cleared. His smug grin was gone now.

"Well, something I think would be _really_ funny to see is seeing you _dead_!" Amber snapped savagely.

Carl sneaked behind Star and walloped the back of his head with the flat of his sword. Somehow, Aurastar's alter ego was able to take the blow and stay on his feet, though he did wince in pain.

_"Geh zur Hölle!"_ seethed the Mii Swordsman. "I'll _never_ forgive you for what you did to Pikachu!"

"…Hmmm, _funny_," said Star with a creepy grin while rubbing the back of his head. "It's like you're his best friend."

"We could have been! But because of _you_, we'll never get to know each other! Hell, we didn't even get a chance to _talk_ to one another!"

"Oh, what misfortune," Star lamented tauntingly. "It's too bad isn't it? It's too late to save Zane…or Pikachu, or whatever you want to call him now. And you can't help poor Ferron, either."

"…That…is not my name."

Everyone was shocked to see the Mega Lucario standing upright. His entire body was semitransparent and almost ghost-like by now.

_How fitting,_ thought Carl cynically.

Aurastar blinked several times, unable to comprehend anything. Then, slowly and quietly, he asked, "…What is your name?"

"Not Ferron. Not anymore." The Mega Lucario said nothing else for a moment.

"Then…what _is_ your name?"

"I don't know." The Pokémon spoke rather candidly. "I've had too many. I don't remember."

"You have _no name_." Star's tone was that of contempt. "Do you hear me? _You have no name._ You've lived so many lives now that it's safe to say that you don't have a true identity." He glanced back to Aurastar. "Don't you agree?"

The FanFiction avatar's face was expressionless. Then, in an almost inaudible voice, he murmured:

"Names…are like memories."

Red, who had been kneeling next to the unconscious Charizard all this time, turned to face Aurastar, who continued to speak.

"Names, like memories, define who you are. An individual has his own unique name. In the same way, an individual has his own unique memories. But Ferron…or Lucario… What should we call him? Ferron? Lucario? Another name? No. Choosing to go by another name would be like starting over—again. He has started over enough times." He held up three fingers. "Three times."

"Too many times," said Star with a sneer. "Why let the game continue if you've had too many _Game Over_s?"

Red narrowed his eyes. "In a game," he said through gritted teeth, "you can have as many _Continue_s and _Game Over_s as you want. The only thing is that each time you continue, you start off with fewer of what you had earned up until that point."

Star pointed at him. "Exactly. _You start off worse._ So why even bother to live again?"

Aurastar was at his side in a flash. He roughly grabbed Star's arm and almost twisted it the wrong way, making him holler in pain.

"You're done here," the FanFiction avatar hissed into his ear, "and I am, too. If you want to fight, we're not doing it here." With his free hand, he brought out his holographic keyboard and pressed two keys—_Fn_ and _Esc_. Before anyone could blink, Aurastar and Star were gone.

"…Hmm."

The Mega Lucario's feet were starting to dissolve into hundreds of pixels.

"I guess it's _Game Over_ for me, huh?" he commented.

Amber was flabbergasted. "How—_how_ are you even able to keep a straight face after all the crap that's happened to you…?"

"I knew it was coming. It would come sooner or later."

Someone groaned. Carl looked over his shoulder and saw a bedraggled Mewtwo staggering onto his feet.

_"I… I heard everything,"_ he said, breathing heavily. Glancing up to the Mega Lucario, he asked, _"So…you know what's going __to happen to you? Are you ready for it?"_

The Mega Lucario looked grimly satisfied. "Yes."

_"Do you remember anything…"_ Mewtwo paused, trying to put his thoughts into words. _"…from your life as Lucario…the Super Smash Brother?"_

The other Pokémon's legs were gone now.

"…It's all very strange," he remarked. "I can see snatches of my past lives. My life as a Riolu called Ferron. My life as a Riolu called Ferron who was subjected to forced evolution. My life as a Lucario who was a Smasher known only by the name of his species. My life as a Lucario called Ferron who is fading away from existence as we speak."

_"They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die."_ Mewtwo's telepathic voice echoed quietly in everyone's heads. _"You see things in your life—the important moments, the moments that tested you, the moments that made you who you are."_ _**(7)**_

"But _who_ exactly am I?" asked the Mega Lucario. His torso was now turning into pixels that flew away with the wintry breeze. "I've had too many moments in too many lifetimes. One life is enough. But _four_—"

"—is too many, yeah." Red stood next to the Pokémon and attempted to put his hand on his shoulder, only for his hand to fall right through. He stared at his hand, then looked at the Mega Lucario.

"I think I should tell you something" he said. "Before all this happened, you were really good friends with another Smasher. The best of best friends, in fact."

"…Is that so?"

The Pokémon Trainer nodded. "We hardly saw you two away from each other. The only times you were was when one of you had to go on a mission that Master Hand assigned you. No one knew what was up with that powerful bond between you two, but we chose not to ask about it."

"Now that you mention it…I think I'm starting to remember." The Mega Lucario gazed up at the sky. Small flakes of snow were starting to fall. "Yes. That's it. I had a very close friend. We had saved each other's lives several times at one point. And I had made a promise to him… I said that I would protect him to the very end, no matter how battered I was.

"His name was Snake. Solid Snake."

Red smiled kindly. "Go on."

"There was…" The Aura Pokémon struggled to remember as his body continued to disappear. "…There was a fight. Fighters from all over the universe joined to battle a single enemy. His name was not a pleasant one."

"That's right. He's called Tabuu."

"Ah, yes. Tabuu."

_"You were brainwashed into following him,"_ Mewtwo said.

"Until now."

_"Yes. Until now."_

"And…I was with my friend, the one I had made the promise to. Snake. I saved his life. He told me his…real name."

Red nodded.

"You know…when we first me, he told me that names had no meaning on the battlefield. So he refused to tell me his real name at that point." The Mega Lucario's eyes shone as he began to recollect the fond memories of his life as a Smasher. "Maybe he had a change of heart. Maybe he learned something new from the battle. Or maybe he trusted me… Well, whatever the reason was, he told me that his real name was David."

_He remembers…_ thought Mewtwo gratefully.

The Mega Lucario suddenly seemed to remember that he was being Deleted. He looked down at what was left of his body. Nothing except his shoulders, neck, and head remained now. "Ahhh…" He let out a long sigh. "It's…strange. I didn't know that dying would be so…quiet."

"So…you remember?" asked Red, refusing to allow the Aura Pokémon to focus on his rapidly dissipating body.

"I… I believe I do. It's still hazy, but it's better than nothing. Oh, would you look at that," the Mega Lucario said, noticing that only his head remained now. "My game is about to finish now, eh?"

"…_Arceus_, Lucario," murmured Red. "I hate how all this turned out, but I'm glad you're still the Lucario I remember in the very end."

"Everything is…disappearing…" The Mega Lucario appeared to have not heard the Pokémon Trainer. "So is…my sight…my mind…my memories… Where am I? Who are you?"

The quiet breeze gently lifted the blue and black pixels into the air.

_"…Who am I…?"_

Nothing.

-ooo-

Storm did not move. She hadn't moved ever since Aurastar had broken the news to her.

The news that Star had Erased a character in her fanfic, and that Aurastar had Deleted another character.

"…Deleted…"

None of the Smash Mansion residents knew what to say. They glanced at each other, eyes filled with apprehension. But they looked at Snake the most.

The mercenary was silent. When he read what Aurastar had said about Erasure and Deletion, he had become mute. He hadn't spoken a word for an unusually long time now, and it didn't look like he was going to speak any time soon.

Primid 0001 was worried. "…Snake?"

Snake simply walked into the family room, sat on the couch, and stared into space. His blue eyes were lusterless.

_"…I'm sorry…"_

Aurastar had returned. _"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"_ The blood seemed to have drained from his face as the words came out in choppy segments. _"I had no idea things would turn out this way. But it's unavoidable. I'm sorry."_

Mario put his hands on Storm's Dell laptop's keyboard and began to type. _"Don't-a worry, Aurastar."_ He read his words as he wrote them. _"We understand-a. Sometimes, people are forced to do the things-a that they want to avoid-a the most."_

"…Apologies are no use."

Mario and the others leaped up with shock when Snake spoke. His voice gave away no signs of how he was feeling.

"Saying sorry as many times as you want won't get back a life," he said, still gazing blankly ahead. "Once a life is done, it's done. It's just as Aurastar said. _Game Over._ No chance to _Continue_. It's over. Lucario is gone."

Palutena saw the despair in his eyes and left the laptop to sit next to the mercenary on the couch. Timidly, she put a hand on his arm. He did not react.

"Snake…" she said slowly, afraid that she would ignite the mercenary's hidden anger, "I… I know that saying sorry won't help. But—"

All of a sudden, Snake's head snapped up. His eyes, previously emotionless, were like two flickering flames now, burning bright blue.

"Of _course_ saying sorry won't help," he spat venomously. "_Nothing_ will help now. _Nothing at all__—_"

He abruptly cut off his words and put his hands over his eyes.

_"Damn…"_ he growled, almost beast-like, before swearing several times under his breath and asking no one in particular, "But can you forgive? Lucario, can you still forgive? Please. Forgive me."

"Snake…" Palutena spoke softly. "Lucario can't forgive anyone anymore."

"If only I were there—"

"You're blaming yourself… Does that make it easier for you? If you do that, you can keep the pain at a safe distance."

Angrily, Snake whirled toward her. "What the hell do _you_ know?" he snarled in her face. "Lucario is _dead_! No—he's _worse_ than de—"

_"Snake."_ This time, it was Amaterasu who growled. The white wolf stood before the mercenary, a fiery glow in her eyes. "Snake, listen. People die. But _death is not defeat_."

"Hey, that reminds me of this awesome quote! 'But man is not made for defeat,'" Pit recited with a proud grin. "'A man can be destroyed but not defeated.'"

Palutena was amazed. "…Since when did _you_ start quoting Hemingway?"

Amaterasu put her paws on Snake's lap. "You see? Snake, it's not over yet! Life isn't all about loss. It's true that we've lost an ally…and a very close friend. But you're not done, and we aren't either."

"…What are you saying?"

"Look, it's simple," said Neku. For once, he had chosen to remove his ever-present headphones and turn off the _TWEWY_ music. "What she's saying is that it ain't _Game Over_ yet."

The Smash Mansion residents smiled to each other, nodding.

"…That's exactly correct," said Storm. "It's not over yet. In fact, we're _nowhere_ near the end."

Sonic turned to her, beaming. "Of _course_ we're nowhere near there!"

"And there's more to it," said the Author. "It's about Lucario."

"What about him?" asked Jigglypuff.

"Well… We're nowhere near the end, and we're nowhere near _his_ end, either."

Shocked, Snake and the other Smash Mansion residents gawked at her. "What do you mean?" asked Snake hoarsely.

"Star Aurastorm Erased a character—Pikachu. But Aurastar didn't _Erase_ Lucario. He _Deleted_ him." She looked triumphant. _"We are nowhere near his end!"_

"But…!" Snake was starting to grow impatient. "…What do you mean, 'we are nowhere near his end'?! _Storm! TELL ME!_"

"Lucario's life—" Storm stopped and thought for a moment. "…No, wait. Let me try again. Lucario's _game_. He hasn't stopped at _Game Over_. Not yet. We are nowhere near the end of his life—and his game."

"…What the hell…?"

Storm smiled at her audience.

"In fact…he can still choose to _Continue_."

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Lucario

**Also known as:** Ferron

**Age:** unknown

**Species:** Lucario (Aura Pokémon)

**World of origin:** _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon_ universe

**Video game(s):** _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky_ with Gen. V and VI Pokémon

**Quote:** "What weapons do I have? I don't have any weapons. I don't _need_ any weapons. That's because I have my own reasons. I made a promise to someone. I told him that I would protect him to the very end, no matter how battered I was. And that promise is enough to keep me going forward!"

**Occupation****:** Lucario, who was known as Ferron in his early years as a Riolu, was a member of the legendary exploration team called Team Alpha until the Subspace Army kidnapped him from his world for their own villainous purposes. The Army forced him to evolve into a Lucario without the required daytime happiness and Sun Ribbon, and brainwashed him into serving Tabuu. During the Subspace Incident, Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers met him atop the Glacial Peak, and he and Meta Knight had a battle. Meta Knight won, and Ferron suffered amnesia, completely forgetting about his alliance with the Subspace Army as well as his name. He referred to himself as Lucario from then on and teamed up with the other fighters, befriending a human called Solid Snake along the way. Several months after the fighters defeated Tabuu and were renamed the Super Smash Brothers, a series of unfortunate events led to Lucario's forced re-alliance with the Subspace Army. After a Mega Evolution that went out of control, the Author's avatar was forced to Delete him to prevent further calamity.

**Fun fact:** As a Riolu, he was able to use Aura Sphere—a move that Riolu should not be able to use until evolving into Lucario. For this reason, he was targeted by the Subspace Army at a very young age.

**Current status:** _–Deleted–_

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

_**(1)**_ I mean—well, the London 2012 Olympics _did_ happen more than two years ago, y'know.

_**(2)**_ Primid eyes can vary in shape and color. Just read the _Super Smash Bros._ wiki.

_**(3)**_ …Donkeys can also be called asses, sooooo…

_**(4)**_ I actually did participate in my school's production of _Into the Woods_—as a member of the orchestra, that is. I can't sing, act, or memorize lines, but I believe I _can_ make music sound pretty good.

_**(5)**_ _Guardians of the Galaxy_ is a great movie that you should definitely watch!

_**(6)**_ A cracker launcher can be used sixteen times. The final firecracker is noticeably larger than the previous fifteen and causes a lot more damage, as well as releases a lot more smoke!

_**(7)**_ This lovely quote came from _Grey's Anatomy_, a TV show I know nothing about! It's strange how you can find great little tidbits of information from things that you don't know.

* * *

><p><em><strong>…Ohhhh, man. <strong>__**My writing has gotten a lot gloomier than it was several chapters ago, huh? **_***laughs ****weakly***

**Sonic:** Definitely can't deny that.

**Pit:** Any reason why?

_**Not…**_** *pauses***_** …Not really…**_

**Snake:** …You're hiding something.

_**Oh, yeah?**_

**Snake:** Yeah. I can tell. I've seen enough people trying to hide things. I've seen enough people trying to pretend that there was nothing going on.

***does not reply***

**Snake:** I can tell there's something on your mind, and I can't even see you.

_**…That's a story for later. **__**For now, see you later in Chapter 50—**_

**Jigglypuff:** _Hold on!_ Is there a difference between Erasing and Deleting or something?! C'mon, Storm, give us some hints!

_**—and**** rememb****er to review. Sorry, Jigglypuff, but now is not the time. For now, you may formulate your own hypotheses.**_

**Jigglypuff:** …But hypotheses are supposed to be _testable_. How the heck are Erasure and Deletion testable? _*suddenly realizes that no one is paying attention to her*_ Hey, guys! Guys! _GUYYYYYYYYS!_


	50. REALITY — A Message for France

**_…Something has happened in Paris._**

* * *

><p><strong><em>REALITY<em> — Chapter 50: A Message for France**

* * *

><p>Hello, everyone!<p>

It's that time of the year again—semifinals. Some of you should know about it, right?

This means that once again, Life at the Mansion: The Revenge of Subspace will be put on a who-knows-how-long hiatus. Don't worry! I promise I'll return. After all, this _is_ my greatest work of literature yet! (…If fanfiction could be considered literature, that is.)

…And now, I have a message of much greater importance.

* * *

><p>On January 7, 2015, in Paris, France, twelve people were killed by three gunmen for offending people of the gunmen's religion with cartoons.<p>

One of the victims—a policeman, injured by the gunfire and crawling along the sidewalk—was shot in the head by one of the three gunmen._ Point-blank range._

Look at this world we live in. Is it ideal? Certainly not. We could only wish for it to be while we are still alive.

In our world, people murder other people because of drawings.

_Because of humorous, satirical drawings that are meant to offend._

When did it become necessary to retaliate a pen with a gun?

The three murderers fled after they had completed the gruesome murder.

But it was not just murder. _It was a cowardly act of terrorism._ I daresay the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks had more dignity that these three. At least they were willing to die for their cause.

But these three? _They ran away._ Like _complete cowards_.

The world stood for France yesterday, and the world is still standing for France. We will never allow anyone to destroy our freedom of speech.

France…my heart goes out to you.

* * *

><p>When, on September 11, 2001, the United States of America became a victim of terrorism, France said:<p>

_"We are all Americans."_

When, on January 7, 2015, France became a victim of terrorism, we say:

_"We are all French."_

_**JE SUIS CHARLIE.**_

_**I AM CHARLIE.**_

**#CharlieHebdo**


	51. Lacunae

**_The message in Chapter 50 was much needed. I hope things are better by now._**

**_And heeeeeere's Chapter 51! Wow, this came along pretty fast._**

**_Also, just because 51 is around half of a hundred doesn't necessarily mean that this is definitely the halfway mark of this fanfic. I have no clue. Maybe we already passed the halfway mark. Maybe we aren't there yet. Maybe this _****is****_ the halfway mark. Who knows? All we can do is wait and see where this fanfic will take us._**

**_By the way__…a _lacuna_ (plural: _lacunae_ or _lacunas_) is a gap or an absent part. Try relating the chapter title to the chapter itself as you read it._**

**DISCLAIMER: Nintendo and all those other big game companies own everything!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 51: Lucanae<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Lots of things have happened today during Master Hand's absence.<em>

The words appeared on the computer screen as soon as they appeared in Samus' mind.

_So many shocking things…_

Seven Smash Mansion residents had been whisked away. Fox McCloud had returned to the mansion. Liquid Snake had returned to life. Aurastar had appeared, and a brief fight between him and his counterpart had quickly followed. And Pikachu had disappeared.

_Actually, no…he didn't disappear. He was Erased. The capital _E_ is intentional._

Erasure… Aurastar had said that to be Erased was worse than dying. He hadn't explained what made it worse, and Samus couldn't think of any explanation why. But she had a feeling that she wouldn't want to hear the explanation.

_The look on Aurastar's face was enough to let us know that Erasure was definitely not a preferred way to go. In fact, I think a nice, proper death would be better. Speaking of which, Lucario came back. But he wasn't himself…and he got wiped out, too._

_Two Smashers gone within the same hour… How long will it take for these painful events to end? How long will they continue?_

_…__Lots of things happened today. And I don't feel like talking about it._

_Samus Aran, signing off._

With a sigh, the bounty huntress shut the lid of her MacBook Pro, and the glowing Screw Attack symbol on the center of the lid faded. This was the first time in a long while that she had written something in her personal log; in fact, the last entry dated back to some day during the Subspace Incident. Samus had quickly skimmed through it and realized that she had written it the day before she had met Pikachu.

_Pikachu,_ she thought somberly. _What's gonna happen to you now, buddy?_

The Mouse Pokémon had been a great friend to her. Not only did he save her from a surprise attack by Ridley, but he also had helped her recover her precious Power Suit. Without the suit, she surely wouldn't have been able to survive until today.

But now he was gone, and she did not know what to do or think. She had gone through thick and thin with him. And now, all of a sudden, he had been taken away for good, whisked away by an enemy that no one had known of until merely a few months ago.

_You'll pay for everything you've done, Star,_ she thought, a trace of a tear shining in one of her blue-green eyes. She rubbed it away with a finger. _You'll be sorry you ever existed…_

Meanwhile, the Smashers, Assist Trophies, background characters, and guests in the library were feeling uneasy. A few of them were crying with grief after having watched not one, but _two_ Smashers be Erased. Several adults stood silently, maintaining their composure. Still others were either absentmindedly ambling around or speaking to one another in hushed whispers before separating once again. Two names went back and forth around the library.

_"Pikachu…"_

_"Lucario…"_

Fox McCloud clutched his head as though he were experiencing a migraine. "What the _heck_," he moaned. "I came home only to see two Smashers, like, completely _disappear_?"

"Hey, Fox…" Falco Lombardi approached him and put his arm around his shoulders. "I… I know it's hard to take in…'specially after all the stuff you've witnessed while you were gone. Lots of crappy stuff, yeah?"

The vulpine Smasher nodded numbly.

"Well…you ain't gonna see that stuff anymore, Fox—not as long as I'm still here. Oh, by the way…"

Falco pressed a Blaster into Fox's hand. As Fox stared at it in confusion, the avian Smasher grinned.

"Slippy made new Blasters for me, you, and Wolf, and I was supposed to deliver this one to you, but…you were kinda kidnapped before I could remember to do so," he said sheepishly. "And after seeing that you kinda broke your old one, I figured that now would be the perfect time to—"

"You talk too much," Fox snapped harshly. Falco was taken aback by his friend's brusqueness, and Fox immediately cursed himself in his mind. "Oh, _crap_… I'm sorry, Falco."

"Ah, shush it, Foxy. I'd act the same if I were in the same situation as you." The avian Smasher patted Fox's back. "I should also add that our new Blasters apparently can be customized or something…" **_(1)_**

At that moment, the large room quieted down. All eyes turned toward the hole in the wall as Mewtwo, Amber, and Carl slowly shuffled through it and into the room with despondent expressions. Amber and Carl were carrying an unconscious Ben, while a short-circuited R.O.B. floated behind Mewtwo, who was using his psychic powers to levitate him.

_"Red is on his way to the Pokémon Center," _said the Pokémon before anybody could ask about the Trainer's whereabouts. _"All three of his Pokémon were badly wounded."_

Some of the mumbling resumed as several Smashers turned to one another and muttered about the Mega Lucario's incredible power.

_"And__…__as you should all know…Lucario has been…_eliminated_, too."_

Carl murmured, "It was _Game Over_ for him" in a nearly inaudible voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Fox saw Liquid Snake smiling faintly to himself.

_Oh? What's so funny about that?_ he thought, his eyebrow twitching.

"He got out of control." All traces of Amber's usual boisterousness were gone. Her voice cracked several times as she said, "There was…n-nothing we could do. So Aurastar went and…"

"…did it," concluded Carl glumly.

"…Oh, no," Lloyd Irving whispered.

"I can't believe those newcomers had to witness all that crazy stuff when they _just_ arrived here," Klonoa mumbled. "That's really unfortunate."

"Well…we've sure gone down into deep crap now, have we?" remarked Cloud Strife. "First a bunch of Smashers disappear because of Crazy Hand, then Pikachu goes, and now Lucario goes. Oh, not to mention all the villains coming back to life left and right. And who knows what else that white-haired freak will do?"

"…He will return soon. I know it."

All eyes turned to Liquid. He stared back at the Smashers, an unreadable expression on his face.

"That boy will be a long-term enemy," he said. "He's a tough one to fight. I have nothing to say about any other enemies because I don't know any…yet."

"Wh-what do you think he'll do?" asked Lucas timidly, still hiding behind the Wii Fit Trainer.

"Well. One thing is for sure: he'll _eliminate_ more of you. Maybe, at some point, he'll even pretend to be on your side in order to make you lower your defenses and raise your suspicions of the other boy and the person called the Author. And then he'll stab you in the back—literally, perhaps—and carry on."

Narrowing his eyes, Fox said, "And how do you know all this?"

"What? You think that I've never been double-crossed before?" responded Liquid.

"Or that you've never been _the_ _double-crosser_ before?" snapped Samus in an accusatory tone as she reentered the library.

Liquid chuckled menacingly. "You just won't let that go, will you?" he said.

"You did exactly what you said," she replied. She approached the blonde-haired man, never moving her eyes away from his. "I read that you pretended to be on Snake's side. Then you revealed that you had been fooling him and his team the entire time…by impersonating Snake's mentor, whom you had _murdered_…"

"Hmm. Yes. I do like how you're basing your opinions on things you had read on the _Internet_."

"It's not like _everything_ there is false. I've read the things they wrote about me. They're all true. So I could easily say the same for the things they wrote about _you_."

"Don't make assumptions," Liquid warned. "It will bite back at you."

"Hell, like _you_ know anything!" shouted Samus angrily. "Didn't you _die_ because you had _assumed_ that Snake's FOXDIE wouldn't affect you?"

In a flash, Liquid was pressing the muzzle of his gun against the side of her head. A few Smashers shrieked with horror while Captain Falcon started forward.

"Now _that_," Liquid murmured softly, venom dripping from every word, "is a little out of line."

"…I see." Samus' voice never quavered. "Do you have a problem with that?"

The gun's safety clicked as Liquid released it.

Captain Falcon advanced toward Liquid furiously as he threatened, "Move your finger just a bit more and I'll—"

_"THAT'S ENOUGH."_

A telepathic voice resounded loudly in everyone's heads. A large, disembodied hand burst through the wall, making it crumble onto the ground. Liquid leaped back in surprise, Samus ducked to avoid the flying debris, and the Smashers let out a collective gasp.

_"Yoshi!_" yelped Yoshi.

"It's-a Master Hand-a!" Luigi translated.

Ignoring the fact that he had just willingly destroyed a part of his mansion—something that was unheard of until now—Master Hand whirled onto Samus. He was beside himself in rage. _"What in the world is going on in here?!"_ he demanded.

Samus flinched at the volume of the hand's voice. "I—we—"

_"And pray tell me why _that_ human is _alive_!"_ the hand roared, jabbing a finger in Liquid Snake's direction.

"I-i-it's a long story," Otacon managed to squeak. "Can we tell you later?"

_"Absolutely NOT! I want straightforward answers _NOW_!"_

"Master Hand, _please_ calm down!" said Fox sharply, making his presence known to the hand. Master Hand was shocked to see the vulpine Smasher standing there. "Liquid helped me escape from the Isle of the Ancients! Not to mention that he brought me back here and provided the Smashers some vital information regarding Project MGZ—"

_"But he—"_

"We _know_!" Fox yelled. "All of us are fully aware of his history, or at least part of it! But for the time being, he's an ally. And as far as I can see, he'll stay like that."

"Until he's killed, I guess," said Wolf. He sounded as though he were eager to witness Liquid's death, whenever that could be. "Didn't Aurastar say that dead characters must stay dead or else there'll be this thing called a time paradox?"

"…What _is_ that thing?" muttered Liquid, too astonished to point his gun at the giant, floating hand.

Ike heard him and laughed weakly. "He's Master Hand. I guess it's not customary to see a telepathic, disembodied hand in your parts, eh? He's a bit like the leader of the Smashers."

_"Fox McCloud…here at the mansion…and Liquid Snake…alive…"_ Master Hand's fury seemed to have completely dissolved, only to have been replaced by utter shock. _"…This is absolutely ridiculous…"_

Liquid managed to open his mouth and choke out, "How—how do you—"

"I should also mention that Master Hand knows just about every person, creature, and object in this universe, as well as every person, creature, and object that is related to some person, creature, or object in this universe, so don't bother to ask him how he knows your name," Ike whispered to him.

_"That is true,"_ agreed Master Hand. _"I know you, Liquid Snake. Not personally, of course, and I do not know the small and classified details, but I do know you. Twin brother of Solid Snake. Born in the 1970s. Secret location in New Mexico. Les Enfants Terribles. One of the three clones of Big Boss. Raised in Britain. Youngest member of the Secret Air Service. Prisoner of war at some point during the Gulf War. Rescued afterwards. Joined FOXHOUND after Solid Snake's retirement. Leader of FOXHOUND. One of the instigators of the Shadow Moses Incident. Excellent Hind D pilot. Prefers using the FAMAS rifle. Piloted Metal Gear REX against Snake. Killed Gray Fox. Killed by FOXDIE. Correct?"_

Liquid continued to gape at the hand, unable to comprehend the sheer amount of things that he knew about him. Most of it was supposed to be highly confidential… Even people of high governmental ranks weren't allowed to look at it. Normal people wouldn't even know about it.

…Then again, a giant hand that could think and speak couldn't really be considered "normal."

_"Another thing,"_ Master Hand said. He turned to Captain Falcon, who was the nearest Smasher to him. _"Where are Lucario and Pikachu? I have not been able to sense their presences ever since coming in close proximity to the mansion."_

The room instantly fell quiet, and Samus suddenly became tight-lipped. Captain Falcon gently pulled her back when he saw something shining in her eyes.

"About them…" he said slowly as he faced Master Hand. "We were…uh…paid a visit by Star Aurastar…"

_"…Who?"_

"Oh, right, you never met them yet. He's the archenemy of one of our allies, Storm Aurastar."

_"Ah, yes. I know about Storm. She is the Author of a certain work of fanfiction that we take part in. Continue."_

"And…Star… He, er…did something to Pikachu that…well, eliminated him…"

Master Hand remained silent. Samus shut her eyes, and Captain Falcon wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders as he said:

"He called it…Erasure…"

The hand did not reply. He hovered motionlessly above the ground, fingers turned toward Captain Falcon and Samus. He didn't speak until a few tense seconds later.

"…And I presume the same thing happened to Lucario."

_"Actually,"_ said Mewtwo, _"it was Storm's avatar who eliminated Lucario. Deletion, he called it."_

Master Hand was shocked. _"…Did things really get _that_ out of hand while I was gone…?"_

"It would appear so," mumbled Meta Knight dejectedly.

"…Literally," King Dedede couldn't help but add with a hint of a smirk. _**(2)**_

Master Hand turned away from the Smashers to look out to the snowy setting outside. He appeared to have forgotten that he had just smashed down one of the many walls of the Smash Mansion. The cold wind, which had increased in strength since Aurastar and Star's rapid departure, gusted into the library, making several people's teeth chatter.

_"…Remind me once more."_

Captain Falcon looked back to Master Hand as the hand faced him again.

_"Who is this individual you mentioned whose name is…Pikachu?"_

The F-Zero pilot stared back at him blankly.

"…I'm sorry, who?"

-ooo-

Amaterasu repeated Storm's words in a hushed whisper, her eyes wide with astonishment.

"…He can… He can still choose to _Continue_…?"

The Author looked quite pleased with herself.

"Yes," she confirmed with a wide smile, "he can. The _Continue_ button of his game is still there. If we act quickly enough, we can help him select the _Continue_ button rather than the _Exit_ button that results in a _Game Over_."

Snake was stunned. "…We can do that?"

Storm nodded. "It'll be a difficult task, but it's possible."

"But wait," Jigglypuff abruptly cut in, causing everyone's eyes to turn toward her. "Storm, you mentioned that while Star Erased Pikachu from your fanfic—and from our lives—Aurastar…_Deleted_ Lucario." She looked bewildered. "…So, uh…wh-what's the difference between the two?"

"I'm glad you asked. Get ready for a long explanation."

Each of the Smash Mansion residents immediately grabbed a chair or went to the couch so they wouldn't have to stay standing throughout the entire duration of the Author's explanation. Storm remained standing and crossed her arms.

"All right," she said. "Erasure and Deletion. These two words are synonyms, correct?"

"Oh, get _on_ with it already!" said Dark Link impatiently. "This isn't a first grade English class!"

"They may be synonyms when you think of them grammatically," continued the Author, ignoring the dark Hylian, "but in FanFiction terms, they're completely different things. It might be better to show you." She grabbed a pencil and a sheet of paper that lay on top of a pile of scratch paper, then wrote a name on the paper: _Star Aurastorm._

"So here's Star's name," she said. "Let's say he got Erased one day. Very unlikely, but still possible." She flipped the pencil around and rubbed at the name with the eraser until it was completely gone. "And now his name is gone. He's been Erased.

"Now let's say that I, for some stupid reason, decide to bring him back."

She wrote _Star Aurastorm_ again and showed the Smashers the paper. "Observe."

Primid 0001 looked at the name, confused. "…So? You just wrote his name again."

Mario, however, understood almost instantly. "The name is the exact-a same as before, but-a the handwriting is just-a _slightly_ different-a…"

Storm nodded, looking satisfied. "Exactly. The handwriting's different. You can't bring back the original when you Erase something or someone."

"But when you _type_ something instead…" Palutena thought aloud.

"Right!" Storm opened up a new document on her Dell laptop and typed _Star Aurastorm_, erased it by highlighting the two words and pressing the Delete button, and typed the name again. "It's exactly the same as before. So, with a bit of effort, you can bring back something—or some_one_—that's been Deleted. With Erasure, try as hard as you can, and you'll still never be able to get back the original."

"So _that's_ what you meant when you said Lucario's game wasn't over yet," Snake realized.

"Aurastar Deleted him instead of Erasing him, so there's still a chance!" the Author said excitedly. "If we hurry, we should be able to restore him to his Smasher self."

"But…Aurastar was acting like he had _Erased_ Lucario…"

Storm closed the document without saving it. "As far as he's concerned, Erasure and Deletion are the same thing. I didn't tell him because who knows what would happen if Star found out."

"I don't want to think about it," said Jigglypuff, shivering.

"Same."

There was still one more question lingering in Neku's mind. "Hey, Storm," he said. "Where exactly _is_ Lucario now?"

The Author looked at him, then at her feet. "Um… Currently, he's in his world's version of the underworld."

The Pin user blinked several times. "The what?"

"Okay, let's put it this way." Storm pointed at Amaterasu. "When someone in your world dies," she said, "where does he go?"

The wolf hesitated for a moment before answering, "To the sky. No matter what he did in his life, he will join the myriad of constellations. At least…that's what I believe…"

Storm nodded once before pointing at Pit.

"Um, um, um…the Underworld!" the angel yelled. "Y'know, Hades' place! Right?!" he asked Palutena, who nodded in reply.

"…I have no idea," said Dark Link when Storm's finger pointed in his direction.

"The UG, if you're lucky enough to be chosen for the Reapers' Game," said Neku. "If not…then it's probably either heaven or hell."

"Definitely hell for me," Snake said. "Heaven is nonexistent in my world—_mine_"—he gestured to himself—"not the ordinary citizens' world. We're all sinners."

"…Nothingness, I suppose," said Primid 0001. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure. And I'm not too enthusiastic to find out…"

"…Do I really have to give you an answer?" asked Jigglypuff uncomfortably. Storm's finger remained pointing at her. She sighed and mumbled, "I guess they'd…turn into ghosts until their final businesses are completed…and then they'd go to some sort of Pokémon afterlife…? I dunno…"

When Storm got to Mario and Sonic, they looked at each other, shrugged, and said together, "We don't know 'cause we don't know if there's even such a thing as _death_ in our worlds!"

"Thanks for your answers," said Storm with satisfaction. "Okay. Here's what I'm trying to say. Lucario is currently in _his_ underworld—which is what I meant by 'his world's afterlife.' So he, being from the Mystery Dungeon World in the Pokémon universe, is most likely hanging around in the Mystery Dungeon World's version of the…"

She pulled the laptop toward herself, opened a new Google Chrome page, and typed two words into the search bar.

"'Reverse World'?" read Primid 0001, seeing several articles on something called the Reverse World in the Pokémon franchise.

At the sound of the location, Jiggypuff's bright blue eyes lit up. "Oh!" she cried. "That's were Giratina lives!"

"You mean that Pokémon who's related to Dialga and Palkia?" asked Sonic.

"Uh-huh" was the reply. "The Reverse World is his domain. It's a place that is a direct reflection of the Pokémon world."

"But isn't it called-a the _Distortion_ World-a?" asked Mario, confused.

"That's what it's called in the games," answered Storm. "They called it the Reverse World in the Pokémon universe's Anime World. That's where Jigglypuff is from."

"…How do you know?"

"Once again, I'm the Author. Once again, how would I _not_ know?"

"Oh."

"Anyway, I have a hunch that Lucario is in his world's Reverse World. Just to let you know, he's from the Mystery Dungeon World."

"_That_ place, huh?" Jigglypuff said. "But none of the _Mystery Dungeon_ games has a place called the Reverse World. You find Giratina in this place called World Abyss!"

"I know," said Storm, who owned a copy of _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness_ that she had completed several times already. "But maybe…in the real, mystery dungeon-filled world…if you explore just a little farther, you can find an entrance to the Reverse World. Sort of like the Mt. Coronet or Spear Pillar of _Mystery Dungeon_."

"So…you're saying that the Reverse World is the underworld of the Pokémon universe…" Neku said slowly.

"There's never been any proof that the Reverse World could contain deceased Pokémon, though. But I figured that if living Pokémon live in the real world, then dead ones should live in the Reverse World… Still, it's just a hypothesis."

"Well, it's a damn good one, kid," said Snake approvingly. "Your hypotheses are pretty impressive. Now I just hope what you said is true."

"I know for sure that Lucario can be brought back," said Storm, smiling at the mercenary and mentally thanking him for his comment. "He's just…kinda trapped in a limbo right now. If we wait any longer, he might completely disappear. Now we just have to locate an entrance to Giratina's place and travel through the Reverse World without accidentally pissing him off like Cyrus and Zero did." **_(3)_**

"Well, let's hurry, then!" Primid 0001 said eagerly. "If I remember correctly, Giratina can use any reflective object as a portal to and from his domain—mirrors, for example."

"But there are thousands of mirrors all around," Dark Link pointed out. "You want to check them all? Be my guest."

"Wait," Storm broke in. "We should probably ask Aurastar to ask the Smashers if there's any way for us in my real world to contact Darkrai or Mewtwo, then get them to ask Dialga or Palkia about Giratina. That could increase our chances of finding an entrance without causing too much trouble here."

The Smash Mansion residents muttered and nodded, expressing the unanimous agreement. Then Storm's eyes widened.

"Oh," she said, "but what about Pikachu? He was Erased…and like I said, it's almost impossible to recover a Erase individual…" She turned to her audience, grinning expectantly. "So? What do you guys think?"

They looked at her silently until Pit, in a quiet, confused voice, asked:

"Who's Pikachu?"

-ooo-

Primid 0003 led Sora and Donkey Kong through the pitch-black corridor, the hologram of Data-Sora that stood on the device on Sora's wrist being the only source of light. By now, the sounds of Metal Gear ZERO causing destruction in its hangar had completely faded away. Everyone knew, however, that it would only be a matter of time until AntiSora caught up with them again.

"This way," the Primid said when the corridor split in three different directions. The two Smashers followed him through the corridor in the center. "Just a little more."

Donkey Kong glanced at his surroundings as he tramped after Sora. "What is this place, anyway?"

Primid 0003 answered him without looking back. "It was built during the construction of Metal Gear ZERO, so I'm not sure. I'm assuming these corridors were used as transport tunnels for the materials used for ZERO, seeing as how they all seem to lead to that hangar."

"I figured that transport tunnels would have at least _some_ illumination," said Sora, slightly miffed.

"Maybe they cut the power to save energy or something."

Data-Sora pointed ahead. _"The path splits again."_

"I know. Take the left one." Primid 0003 hurried through the corridor, which was slightly narrower than the previous ones.

"How do you know your way around this place?" asked Sora.

"I glanced at a map of this place's layout," the Sword Primid explained. "I memorized most of it."

"…_Most_ of it?"

"Always better than none of it."

The trio continued in silence. Data-Sora saw that there was currently no need for him to be there, so his hologram vanished and left only a light that allowed Sora to see several feet ahead of himself.

Donkey Kong decided to ask Primid 0003 a question that had been on his mind for a while. "Yo, Primid 0003," he said. "Why did you and some of your buddies decide to rebel?"

Primid 0003's pace did not slow down as he said, "It would be most helpful to ask that at a later time."

The gorilla pouted.

The corridor forked into another two pathways. This time, instead of confidently running through one of them, Primid 0003 slowed down and stopped.

"…Ah," he muttered. "Here's a problem."

Sora and Donkey Kong joined him. "Let me guess," said Sora. "You don't know which one to go through."

The Sword Primid did not answer. Sora immediately knew that he was right.

"Like I mentioned," Primid 0003 said, "I only got a glance of the map of this place. I didn't know there were even _more_ corridors… The number of pathways here could only mean that ZERO needed a _lot_ of supplies during its construction…"

"Yeah, tell me about it," said Donkey Kong. "So…which way?"

Primid 0003 carefully peered into each corridor. "There is a door at the end of both corridors," he reported. "I have a feeling that a trap lays behind one of them. There's no way to know which door leads to the warp door I told you about, however."

Data-Sora's hologram flickered back to life. _"Lemme see,"_ he demanded.

Sora walked forward and held out his hand. Data-Sora stared straight ahead in deep concentration.

_"…It's no good,"_ he then said with a sigh. "_Those doors are scan-proof."_

Donkey Kong swung his right fist in large, rapid circles. "Then I guess the only thing we can do is pick one and bash right through, yeah?"

As he rushed forward and went into the left corridor, Primid 0003 shouted, "Wait, what are you doing?!"

The door exploded before Donkey Kong could reach it. A grayish blur zoomed through the doorway and slammed into the gorilla so hard that he went flying backward and slammed into a wall thirty feet away. The blur zoomed around the room before rounding back to Sora. The Keyblade wielder yelled and ducked, narrowly avoiding the blur. Primid 0003, in the meantime, was horrified.

"Oh, no," he groaned. "It's SilverEXE!"

_"Silver__…__what?"_ asked Data-Sora.

"SilverEXE… It's what Silver the Hedgehog became after James McCloud infected him with Error Code EXE!"

Donkey Kong picked himself up from the ground. "SILVER!" he roared. "C'mon, now! It's me, DK! Don't you recognize me?"

Primid 0003 thrust his Beam Sword into the Smasher's path. "You _idiot_!" he berated him. "Silver the Hedgehog is no more! All that's left is this _killer_! He's SilverEXE now. An _EXE_!"

A hair-raising laugh filled the air, sending chills down everyone's spines. It took a moment for Sora to realize that SilverEXE was looking at him and his companions.

_"Heeheehee,"_ the hedgehog cackled. Thin streams of red liquid trickled out of his eyes and down his face. _"Who is Silver? What is there to know about him? Hahhhh__…no.__ It's no use. There is no Silver. Only SilverEXE."_

He floated into the air, bluish psychic energy surrounding his body, and shot toward Sora again. The Keyblade wielder instinctively sidestepped and raised his Keyblade and swung it, managing to hit SilverEXE's shoulder as the hedgehog passed by. Donkey Kong jumped up and threw a fist that SilverEXE dodged.

_"Do you want to play a game?"_ the hedgehog asked. _"Let's play a gaaaaame… There is but one rule: The last one standing may leave this place."_

He gestured behind himself. Data-Sora gasped when he saw a bright red door standing in the middle of the room that SilverEXE had come out of.

_"There's the exit!"_ he exclaimed.

Primid 0003 lifted his sword. "Well, I guess that makes choosing the doors a bit easier."

"But first, we gotta take care of _this_ guy!" said Donkey Kong as he readied another punch. "Got any tips?"

"No, but I know he's highly dangerous. He's nothing like the Silver you knew. His insanity knows no bounds. Exercise great—"

He was interrupted by a knife of psychic energy that whizzed past his face and embedded itself in the ground behind him.

_"—caution,"_ SilverEXE finished with a grin. He was already forming another knife in his hands. _"Are you ready?"_

_"How about _NO_?!"_ shouted Data-Sora.

Of course, he was ignored. Sora swung his Keyblade upward and sent out a Firaga spell that SilverEXE countered with Psychic Knife. **_(4)_** Donkey Kong leaped forward and, to his surprise, connected his fist with the hedgehog's shoulder. SilverEXE screamed and sent out a blast of telekinetic energy that sent the gorilla soaring into a wall once more. Primid 0003 zigzagged across the floor and stabbed at the ex-Smasher with his beam sword. SilverEXE felt the tip of the sword's blade of energy prick his side, and he smiled.

_"Primid 0003,"_ he said with malice, _"you traitorous scum. What will Master Tabuu say when I bring you to him?"_

"It doesn't matter what he says to me because there is _no way_ he will ever be _my_ master!" the Sword Primid spat back.

SilverEXE bares his fangs and dived down at Primid 0003. The Primid rolled aside and slashed at the hedgehog the moment the latter was on the ground. Sora helped out by flinging another Firaga, while Donkey Kong pounded at the ground with his large hands to create small earthquakes whenever SilverEXE's feet weren't in the air. Primid 0003 let out a yell when SilverEXE's claws scraped across his left arm, causing him to drop his sword.

_"Primid 0003!"_ hollered Data-Sora urgently. _"We can't fight this guy! We have to go _right now_!"_

Primid 0003 glared at the digital Keyblade wielder. "…Someone has to stay behind."

And he picked up his sword and charged at the enemy again.

SilverEXE screeched with laughter. _"So! You choose to sacrifice yourself! That is quite honorable of you. I like it."_

Primid 0003 made a backhand swing of his Beam Sword. The green blade sheared off a centimeter of the fur on SilverEXE's arm. "Oh, _shut up_," the Primid said with a snort. "What a lie. You only like the games that you play with your victims!"

_"Yes, that, too,"_ agreed the hedgehog as he swiped at Primid 0003 with his hands. _"Things are better when one chooses to stay behind and fight a futile battle. Do you hear me, Primid 0003? Master Tabuu already knows about Primid 0013's__…situation. It __will not be long before you are executed the same way. Do you hear me? It's no use to fight. It's no use to escape. It's no use to try. IT'S JUST—NO—USE."_

"Shut _UP_, will ya?!"

While Primid 0003 and SilverEXE continued with their fight, Data-Sora motioned wildly to the red door that stood less than thirty feet away from Sora. _"Well?"_ he said in a shrill, panicked voice. _"What do we do?!"_

Sora glanced at Primid 0003 and groaned. "I really don't want to leave him behind, especially after all he's done for us," he said with a pained look.

"Me, neither," Donkey Kong agreed. "But what if it's for the best?"

"Look, Primid 0003 could _die_ if we just run away now! We oughta give him a hand! Y'know, pay him back for giving _us_ a hand!"

"But—"

"Oh, screw this, I'm gonna help him!" Before Donkey Kong could stop him, Sora was already running toward where Primid 0003 and SilverEXE were fighting.

"Hey! SilverEXE, you freak!" Sora used Strike Raid and flung his Keyblade at the hedgehog five times. The Keyblade successfully clobbered the ex-Smasher each time, thanks to Primid 0003's distracting him with his Beam Sword. "You wanted to play a game, right? Well, let's play one, then! I'll tell you what—it can be _your_ game. Here's the fight you asked for! _Hah!_" He slashed the Keyblade downward and struck SilverEXE's left foot. _"Hah!"_ he cried again, this time whacking the hedgehog's ankle. When SilverEXE fell to the ground, moaning and grasping at his injured leg, Sora shouted, _"Finishing LEAP!"_ and drove his Keyblade into the ground, creating a shockwave that launched SilverEXE back into the air. Primid 0003 leaped up and somersaulted in the air, then kicked SilverEXE back to the ground. Donkey Kong let out a huff before whirling around like an EF5 tornado. _**(4)**_ The rapidity of his spinning created a small cyclone and actually dragged SilverEXE toward him.

_"Whoa!"_ said Data-Sora. Of course, he was ignored again.

Donkey Kong unleashed a deafening roar and punched SilverEXE in the face. Powered by his spinning, the blow was ten times more forceful than a fully charged Giant Punch. SilverEXE didn't even have time to cry out in pain before he went flying straight _through_ the wall that he himself had thrown Donkey Kong into.

The gorilla, feeling quite pleased with himself, smacked his massive hands together. "Payback at its finest!" he said with a grin.

"Jeez, DK!" cried Sora. "What kind of move was _that_?"

Donkey Kong paused, pondering the Keyblade wielder's question. "…Y'know what? I actually don't know."

"I think you just invented a completely new move right there, Donkey Kong," remarked Primid 0003, obviously impressed.

"…Hm, yeah," Donkey Kong eventually said. He flexed his muscles and announced, "All right, it's official! That move I did just now will be known as _Spinning Kong_!"

_"Funny… I feel like it's _already_ official somewhere,"_ said Data-Sora with a knowing wink. **_(5)_**

Just then, a screech filled the air, and a faint cyan light shone from the hole in the wall that SilverEXE had created moments prior.

"Ahhh!" Sora yelped. "SilverEXE is back!"

Immediately, Primid 0003 pushed Sora and Donkey Kong forward, forcing them into the corridor with the broken-down door that used to conceal the red warp door inside. The Sword Primid shoved the Smashers through the doorway, nimbly hopping over the piles of splinters at the same time, and gave the Smashers one final kick. Unable to regain their balance, Sora and Donkey Kong stumbled forward—and crashed into the red door that stood conspicuously in the middle of the otherwise empty room.

The door opened.

Donkey Kong heard Primid 0003 screaming something, but he heard no words. The last thing he felt was the wind that surrounded him as he and Sora fell through the doorway and into open space.

-ooo-

Storm Aurastar gawked at Pit, amazed at his cluelessness. "You mean to tell me…" she said slowly, "…that you really don't know who Pikachu is?"

The angel shook his head, confused at the Author's response. "I don't know who he is. But hey, why are you so worked up all of a sudden?"

Storm closed her mouth and looked to the other Smash Mansion residents for help. To her great astonishment, they all looked just as bewildered as Pit.

"Pika-_what_?" asked Amaterasu.

"I have never heard of him," said Primid 0001.

Dark Link just blinked his crimson eyes and shrugged.

"It sounds like a great name for some undiscovered Pokémon," Jigglypuff said with a high-pitched giggle.

Storm was horrified. She hadn't expected the effects to appear _this_ soon… Frantically, she reopened the program that she used to chat with her avatar and checked the time at which he sent her his last message.

_Let's see… Today at 2:35 P.M.: _"I'm sorry."

She glanced at the clock on the wall.

3:11 P.M.

_So it's been…what…thirty-six minutes? Already? Oh, crap…_

With an ashen face, she turned back to the Smashers. "It appears that the Erasing that Star did has taken effect," she said in a flat voice.

Without waiting for anyone to ask her what she meant, she went on.

"There's a major difference between Erasure and Deletion…besides the fact that you can't completely restore a Erased character. Here's the one thing that makes Erasure so dangerous: you will be _forgotten_.

"It's a terrible thing to be forgotten. That's why death is so much better than Erasure. When you die, you're gone, but you'll still be in at least one person's mind. Like…you're sill there in spirit. That kind of thing. But when you're Erased, that's it. That's the end. You're done and you're gone. There's no _Continue_ button; all that's left for you to press is _Game Over_. In a game, when you select _Game Over_, there's no memory of your progress. You're forced to start over from Square 1."

"And when you're Erased, everything that pertains to you is…gone…?" said Palutena softly. "Including anyone's memories of you?"

Snake seemed to understand what Storm meant. "'When your life reaches zero, the game is over,'" he said, quoting the words of an infamous but memorable man who had had close ties with his father until his death. "'There are no continues, my friend.' Seems like Star thinks on the same wavelength as Ocelot," he then added with a wry smile. "Do they know each other?"

"Not that I know of," answered Storm nervously. "Ocelot died, though, so Star shouldn't know him _personally_…which I hope is true…"

"Who's Ocelot?" asked Neku.

"Oh…Revolver Ocelot. Some guy that Snake fought several times in the past." One look at the expression on Storm's face, however, told everybody that Ocelot wasn't just "some guy."

"Anyway…" said Sonic, "about this…_Pikachu_ guy… What about him?"

"…Right." Storm's face remained serious, if not more. "Y'know…before Star Erased him…Pikachu was one of the most famous characters in the world. My world, your world…several words. He was as famous as Mario and Sonic. And he was the mascot of the _Pokémon_ series."

"Oh, so he _is_ a Pokémon!" Jigglypuff exclaimed.

"He _was_ one," Storm corrected the Balloon Pokémon, "up until the moment he was Erased. More than thirty minutes passed, and now you all have no idea who he is." She angrily muttered something under her breath. Mario stealthily leaned toward her and caught several words like "damn it" and "why him," along with a couple curse words that couldn't be mentioned in this fanfic.

"It makes me so _pissed_ to be aware that you've all completely lost _every_ memory of Pikachu," the Author seethed. "To you, it's like he never existed!"

Frustrated, she slammed the lid of the Dell laptop shut. A few Smashers jumped at the sudden sound.

"And the next thing you know, Star's gonna go back and take out another Smasher—or two—or more! And I'm just sitting here, unable to do anything and…!"

Storm couldn't find anything else to say. She shut her eyes and put her face in her hands, breathing heavily.

_Two, eight, seven, three, two, five, three… Two, eight, seven, three, two, five, three…_ The seven numbers appeared again and again in her mind, endlessly replaying, taunting her. _Stories anew he can create / By composing with the pen of fate… The star whose aura has no form / And reflects the aura of the storm…_ It had all begun with a couple of innocent Halloween-themed chapters. Why did things have to come to this? The Author had no answer, and no one could provide one. _Two, eight, seven, three, two, five, three… Thirty minutes…_

She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. "Stop-a crying," ordered a voice. She was startled to find that it was Mario speaking. "It-a won't do any good-a, will it-a?"

"…I know," the Author whispered. "But what can I do? I can't go to the Smash World. I'm stuck here. I have to watch all the chaos unfold, and I can't do anything. I don't know what to do. There would be many more lives wiped out by the time I _do_ know. All I can do is…sit and wait…uselessly…"

"I know exactly how you feel," said Dark Link. His tone was surprisingly gentle for a villain who had attempted to kill the Hero of Time multiple times. "It's the worst kind of torture—waiting when you know there's nothing you can do."

Storm mumbled something to herself. Mario raised a brow and said, "I'm-a sorry, what did you say?"

He leaped back when the Author abruptly raised her head and whirled toward the Smash Mansion residents. Her eyes were blazing.

"Two. Eight. Seven. Three." She sounded like she was trying not to punch someone in the face. "Two. Five. Three."

The Smashers looked one another, unsure of how to respond. Neku cleared his through throat after a few seconds of tense silence. "Ohhhh-kay… So?"

"Two plus eight plus seven plus three plus two plus five plus three equals thirty. As in _thirty minutes_. After thirty minutes of Erasure, the individual who is Erased is forgotten by all the inhabitants of the world he last lived in…" Storm paused to take a deep breath. "…as well as the world he _came from_."

No one said anything.

"Pikachu came from one of the worlds in the Pokemon universe. It's called the Mystery Dungeon World. He was known as Zane there, and after he and his partner saved their world twice, they became famous worldwide. Now that Pikachu is no more, it's like there was never a Zane. And his partner—his best friend—doesn't even _know_." She glared at her audience furiously. "His friends, allies, enemies—_every single Pokémon in that world_—they have forgotten him. If I went up to anyone in MDW right now and asked them if they knew a guy called Zane, they'd think I was crazy. _Now_ can you see the extent of the damage caused by Erasure?!"

Amaterasu was horrified. But she ventured to ask a question.

"And…those numbers—"

"Yes, the numbers," said Storm, cutting her off. "Two, eight, seven, three, two, five, three." She was beginning to sound distressed and even a little crazed. "'Equivalent to life in hell…' Two, eight, seven, three, two, five, three."

"All _right_, enough of that!" Snake yelled. "What about them?!"

Storm screamed.

_"IT'S THE ID!"_

The room quickly lapsed into a deadly silence. Even the birds outside had stopped singing.

In a much quieter voice, Storm whispered, "It's the ID" and looked away from the Smash Mansion residents again.

"…I don't understand," murmured Primid 0001 as loudly as he dared.

Storm's voice was nearly inaudible by now.

"…Star Aurastorm…was…"

-ooo-

Sora and Donkey Kong suddenly became aware of the bitter cold and the wind that howled at them. Then they realized that they had their heads stuck in deep snow.

In a frenzy, the two Smashers dug themselves out of the snow and struggled to make themselves warm in some way or another.

"J-j-j-jeez," Sora complained when he was that ice crystals had already begun to cling themselves to his hair and clothes. "W-w-we'd better g-g-g-get somewhere warm right n-n-now."

"You d-d-don't say," replied Donkey Kong, shivering. Clearly, his fur wasn't winter-proof. "L-l-let's go."

Data-Sora popped out from the mysterious device strapped to Sora's wrist. _"Hey,"_ he said. _"There's a small cave not too far from here. Get some branches and get in there! Sora can make a fire."_

The Smashers did as they were told and hurried to follow the digital Keyblade wielder's instructions. Within minutes, they were huddled in the said cave, warming themselves up with the fire that Sora had created with one of his fire spells.

"…So," said Donkey Kong after a while. "Are we really back in the Smash World?"

"Data-Sora says he scanned the area and located Smashville," Sora answered with a smile. "We're home."

The gorilla was immensely relieved. "Thank goodness… I've forgotten how long it's been."

"Well, you guys were supposed to be going to the 2012 Olympics or something. _2012!_" the Keyblade wielder said in a louder, more dramatic voice. "That was _more than two__ years ago_!"

Donkey Kong stared at him. "…Are you saying it's already 2015?!"

"Well, according to the calendar hanging on Storm Aurastar's wall, it's currently January 2015—_ouch!_"

Data-Sora looked miffed. He tossed away the laser that he had used to zap Sora with. _"Don't break the fourth wall,"_ he reprimanded his real-life counterpart before vanishing again.

For the next ten minutes, the Smashers sat close to the fire, watching the blizzard outside from within the safety of their cave. Sora took out his Keyblade and placed it next to the fire to thaw the ice that had frozen over the metal surface of the key-like weapon.

"…Yo, Sora."

The gorilla was watching him. "Did you…uh…happen to catch Primid 0003's last words before we…"

The smile on Sora's face faded and was replaced with a solemn look. He sighed, and the wind outside seemed to sigh in sorrow with him.

"…I did."

Donkey Kong waited expectantly.

"He said…'Even if it costs me my life.'"

-ooo-

By now, it was nightfall at the Smash Mansion. Several tiny flakes of snow were still falling. The wind had long died down and lessened to a quiet breeze. Curiously enough, every star in the sky was visible.

Samus Aran made her way up to the fourth floor of the mansion. She had decided to skip dinner in order to go up to the balcony of the mansion and gaze at the stars.

_Are stars just giant spheres of gas?_ she thought as she climbed the stairs that connect the third and fourth floors. _Or are they the spirits of the deceased?_

Earlier, she had gone to her room to read the personal log that she had typed up on her Mac. Much to her surprise, it contained an unfamiliar name that appeared at least once in almost every log after the first Subspace Incident-related log. Even the last log she had written included the name.

_"And Pikachu disappeared,"_ the entry had stated. _"Actually, no__…he didn't disappear. He was Erased. The capital _E_ is intentional."_

Shaking her head in confusion, Samus thought, I_ wonder who this__…Pikachu guy is…_

According to what she had recorded in her log, the Pikachu person had saved her from a surprise attack by Ridley and helped her retrieve her Power Suit from the Subspace Army. Samus thought as hard as she could, but she couldn't recall any time when someone rescued her or became a longtime companion during the Subspace Incident…

_Just who _is_ he?_

She reached the top step and stuck her hands inside the pockets of the jacket she had taken from her room. She could already feel the cold air nipping at her face, and she guessed that someone had left the sliding glass door open. As it turned out, a person had indeed apparently forgotten to close the door. The bounty huntress went to the door, paused, and carefully stepped through it and into the chilly air outside. She then slid it shut.

"Hello, there."

Shocked, Samus made a grab for her Paralyzer, only to realize that she had left it in her room. She smacked her forehead and groaned to herself before looking toward the source of the voice.

"What the _hell_?!" she nearly shouted.

Liquid Snake regarded her with a calculating look in his eyes. He was leaning against the wall in a relaxed position. "What brings you up to the balcony at a time like this?" he asked calmly. "I doubt you're unaffected by cold."

"I should be asking _you_ that," she said hotly, her hands subconsciously clenching into fists. "Who let you up here?"

"No one. I follow no one's rules but my own."

Samus was unable to find a reply. She narrowed her eyes and took a small step toward the blonde-haired man. Liquid noticed her unsureness and chuckled.

"There's no need to be so shy," he said. He gestured to a spot near where he stood. "I don't bite."

"I don't believe you," Samus muttered, but she joined him anyway, though not until she had quickly but thoroughly examined Liquid to see if he had any hidden weapons on himself. The bounty huntress gripped the balcony railing, shuddering slightly. She threw a glance at Liquid, who, despite wearing nothing but a pair of cargo pants, boots, and a trench coat with one torn sleeve, didn't appear to be bothered by the low temperature at all.

"This world is a strange place," he said. "Nothing like mine."

Samus said nothing and continued to listen.

"It feels even stranger to be in the same world as…_him_…only to discover that he isn't here, but in yet _another_ world." Liquid smiled. "It's quite…infuriating."

Samus refused to meet his eyes. "Why do you hold such a large grudge against Snake, anyway?"

"You already know. You said so yourself."

"Not the full story," she admitted. "Things online may tell the truth, but it's never complete."

Liquid was still smiling slightly. "No… _Nothing_ ever tells the truth."

Samus brushed several flakes of snow out of her long hair and flicked several strands out of her blue-green eyes. "I don't know about that… I haven't seen enough to reach that conclusion."

"You will. Soon."

"Seriously, though." Samus glowered at the man. "Why the grudge? Snake did nothing wrong."

"You still believe that?" Liquid sounded incredulous. "That he did nothing wrong? _Ha!_ You know nothing about him. He's never exposed his true colors to you, has he?"

"As far as I'm concerned, he's _much_ better than the likes of _you_," Samus shot back vehemently.

"He is a killer. I am a killer. _We are all killers._ How is he any better than me?"

"He may be a killer, but _he's still human_!"

Liquid opened his mouth to reply, but Samus wasn't finished yet.

"A while ago, he told me about his past," she said in a low voice. "FOXDIE, accelerated aging—all those things. He also told me the things you said about him." With a hard look, the bounty huntress recited, "'You enjoy all the killing.' Those were your exact words…right, _Liquid Snake_? Well, I'll tell you what. Snake clearly does _not_ enjoy it. He never confirmed this, but I know for sure that he tries to avoid having to kill anyone on his missions. He's not a monster. He's a _man_…a _human_ with actual thoughts and feelings." Samus stared at the man fiercely. "I see absolutely _nothing_ that identifies him as a sadist like _you_!"

She expected him to give her a snappish reply, but it never came. Instead, Liquid gave her a long look. The light in his cold blue eyes remained harsh.

"…You like him, don't you?" he said.

Samus' eyes widened, and her right fist shot forward to strike him. She was shocked when he grabbed her wrist and stopped the punch.

_His reflexes…!_

Liquid glanced sideways toward her. "Don't you?"

Samus was outraged. "Let me go," she muttered through clenched teeth.

"Promise that you won't attack me like that again. You will be sorry."

Samus said nothing. Liquid tightened his grip.

_"Well?"_

She somehow managed to avoid shouting a curse at him. "_All right!_ …I promise."

He roughly shoved her aside. Samus nearly slipped on the icy surface of the balcony and would have fallen if she hadn't grabbed the railing. Swearing at herself and Liquid in her mind, she recovered her balance and scowled. The snow was still falling, but it was starting to lighten. Liquid raised a hand to sweep the small piles of snow off his shoulders and watched the bounty huntress carefully.

"Women," he said quietly, "are never aggressive when it comes to a conversation about some particular man—unless they have…_affections_ for that man. It _has_ been like that in the past, it _is_ like that in the present, and it _will_ be like that in the future." _**(6)**_

Samus continued staring daggers at him. He ignored her.

"My brother…has never been so much of a ladies' man. How could he be one, with such a dark past? But he could still love. And that was exactly what happened. I saw the bond grow between him and that woman…"

"…What woman?" Samus asked carefully.

"Have you ever heard Snake mention someone by the name of Meryl Silverburgh?"

The name was unfamiliar. "…No."

He nodded in understanding. "She fell in love with Snake—in the middle of a damn _mission_, of all the possible times. At one point, she was captured and thus separated from him…" He laughed at the memory. "Ah, what an experience… She's much like you in several ways, you know. She tried to attack me whenever I mentioned Snake's name. Such desperation… Such foolhardiness… Such stupidity. Falling in love with a man who doesn't even have a _name_…"

"Snake has a—" Samus began furiously.

_"Aha."_ Liquid looked triumphant. "'I have a name,' he said to me. 'Snake has a name,' you almost said. Same exact response. But _no_." His voice gained a poisonous tone. "He is nameless, and so am I. Our pasts are not _our_ pasts; our futures are not _our_ futures. They don't truly belong to us."

"…Argh…" Samus put her hands back into her pockets and stared up at the sky. The stars were still twinkling. "You're pretty intent on proving your point, aren't you?"

There was no reply. Samus looked to her side—and was astonished to discover that Liquid had disappeared.

_Ah… You're just like Snake. Another professional of stealth._ She turned her head upward again.

_What he said… Could it be true? Do I really like Snake? …No,_ she thought. _Absolutely not. He's only a friend. But…_jeez_…!_ She glanced at the spot where Liquid had been. _He's sure got one ass of a brother__. No wonder they hate each other so much._

Samus put a hand to her forehead, feeling completely exasperated. Then she returned her gaze to the sky.

And she didn't know if she was just seeing things, but one star seemed to be getting larger and larger with every passing second—

"Ahhhh! Mama! We're going to craaaaash!"

Samus was startled. _Mama?_

As the star grew larger, the bounty huntress began to make out the silhouette of a tall, slim woman wearing a turquoise dress. She was clutching a round, star-shaped creature in her arms.

"Don't worry, Luma! We'll make it—we'll m—"

_CRASH._

Samus immediately leaped off the balcony. Thanks to her superb, Chozo-trained reflexes, she landed smoothly on the snow-covered ground without so much as a scratch or bruise. At the same time, the entrance doors of the Smash Mansion flew open, and Luigi burst outside.

"Mama mia!" he shrieked upon seeing the woman in the blue dress and the star-shaped creature lying in the snow. "Princess Rosalina?!"

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHARACTER PROFILE<strong>

**Name:** Pit

**Also known as:** Kid Icarus (erroneously), Pitty Pat (by Hades)

**Age:** Ageless?

**Species:** Angel

**World of origin:** Skyworld

**Video game(s):** _Kid Icarus_, _Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters_, _Kid Icarus: Uprising_

**Quote:** "Again today I will go soaring through the sky! My enemies, I'll dish 'em up in a stir-fry! Gracious goddess of light watches from up above! At dinnertime I always show the cook some love!"

**Occupation****:** Pit is the captain of Palutena's Army and Palutena's most loyal servant. He is one of the more chipper protagonists of the great number of _Nintendo_ games and one of the most naïve. He will do anything for Palutena, the goddess of light—as long as it's for the good of his and the humans' worlds, of course. Despite having no access to any form of electronic devices, he is very knowledgable on various video games, consoles, and platforms, including _Game & Watch_ and _Donkey Kong_.

**Fun fact:** Despite Palutena's valiant attempts to dissuade him from the thought, he still thinks that Komaytos look like little Metroids.

* * *

><p><span><strong>NOTES<strong>

_**(1)**_ This is a reference to _SSB4_! The customizing option is really fun to use. I mean, what's better than playing as a speedy Ganondorf or a powerful Jigglypuff?

_**(2)**_ Things got out of _hand_ while Master Hand was out. Get it?

_**(3)**_ Both Cyrus and Zero—Cyrus in the games and Zero in the movie—caused some major damage to both the real world and the Distortion/Reverse World. Both times, Giratina was thoroughly pissed.

_**(4)**_ If you forgot Silver's moveset, please see Chapter 15 and scroll to the bottom.

_**(5)**_ It _is_ official. In fact, Spinning Kong is one of the variations for Donkey Kong's up special move in _SSB4_.

_**(6)**_ …Well, I _think_ that's the case. (NO, there will be _NO_ sappy love story about Snake and Samus. It's overused, and I can't write romance stuff, anyway. Don't even try to ask.)

* * *

><p><strong>Amaterasu:<strong> I thought this fanfic was on hiatus.

_**Fortunately, I had time to do just one more chapter before starting to cram for my final exams!**_

**Palutena:** _*exasperated*_ …Go study.

_**Yes, Mom.**_** *leaves***

**Aurastar:** In that case, _I'll_ say the closing messages! And we don't have to wait for Master Hand to drag Crazy Hand away because we have no idea where Crazy Hand is.

**Jigglypuff:** _*timidly*_ And, um, about that one scene with the, uh…implied "Samus and Snake" thing—

***jumps back into the chapter*_ Like I said, there will be _NO_ sappy love story about them—_**

**Jigglypuff:** Okay, okay! But still—

_**THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE FIC AND WILL NOT BE ONE. DO YOU NOT SEE THAT "ROMANCE" IS NOT ONE OF THE GENRES? HUH? HUH?**_

**Palutena:** _*exasperated*_ GO…_STUDYYYYY_.

***scared*_ Y-y-yes, Mom!_ *runs away***

**Aurastar:** …All right, enough of that! See you next time in Chapter 52! Remember to—

**Dark Link:** —leave a damn review before I have to STAB YOU!

**Aurastar:** _*nervously*_ …And yeah.


End file.
